One of the more striking realizations while in Iraq was this concept of a poverty of consciousness. For some Iraqis, there was the belief that if someone else had something good, they could not have it. So, in order to have anything, they had to take it from another. By contrast, if you had it, they assumed you had stolen it from them. Their envy of the West was far beyond reason. People have a poverty of consciousness in every culture, but in Iraq, it was made prominent by the extreme ways that it was expressed.

The horrible contradiction for this group was that they were sure they were superior to Westerners in every way. They were more devout. They worshiped the correct god. They were god’s chosen people. Then how could it be possible that the West grew rich, while they grew e

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