Metaphor: US is keeping choke hold on the new Iraqi Government

From Reuters
An Iraqi lawmaker accused a U.S. soldier of grabbing him by the throat and shoving him to the ground Tuesday after he parked his car in Baghdad's Green Zone.

``I don't speak English and so I said to the Iraqi translator with them, 'Tell them that I am a member of parliament,' and he replied, 'To hell with you, we are Americans,''' Sheikh told parliament, fighting back tears as he recounted the story.

The U.S. military said it was investigating the incident.


Reports from some Iraqi citizens and politicians say that they are afraid that the US won't really hand over control to Iraq, and US will try to dictate how the government will be run despite the official handover of power last year.

This incident, which may be as simple as a soldier being touchy because of potential car bombs, nonetheless signifies the rough handling of Iraq's sovereignty. This could harden peoples perspective of the US as callous when it comes to respecting human rights. The Abu Ghraib scandal already has made a piercing blow to the image of the US in Arab countries. Recently, there was an insurgent attack on Abu Ghraib that injured 44 US Soldiers. Shortly after the photographs of prisoner abuse at Abu Ghraib surfaced in 2004, Bush stated that they would shut down the notorious prison . This would be seen as a gesture to the Arab world that this type of abuse was not acceptable. Nearly 1 year later the Abu Ghraib prison is still in use.

What's the Message

What can we learn from this incident?

These are possibilities:
-The New Iraqi government will be suspicious of the US.
-Sovereignty in Iraq will be limited.
-Further skirmishes displaying US authority over Iraqi's sovereignty will occur.

Some things seem certain:
-It is doubtful the US soldier who grabbed the parliament member will apologise.
-The US military will have another investigation to add to it's already huge list, including the attack on an Italian Journalist and her rescuers.
-The US media will not play this up, as the new pope will dominate headlines for the next few days.

Stay tuned as other recent events may tie into this.