In 1991, with smoke still billowing off the Gulf War, President George H. W. Bush – the first President Bush – called on the Iraqi people to rise up and liberate their country from the rule of Saddam Hussein. Thousands did, and were slaughtered when Washington decided not to push the U.S. military into Baghdad.

Now the U.S. military is again circling Iraq. Positioning troops. Polishing invasion plans. Preparing for a potential attack and long occupation of what they imagine as a post Saddam Iraq.

But what about the Iraqi people this time? And not just oppressed Kurds and Shi’ites, but Iraq’s heartland Sunnis. Will they dance in the streets and throw flowers at boys from Birmingham and Boise, as Dick Cheney predicts? Or will they resist?

This hour, On Point: if war comes, where will the Iraqi people stand this time?

Guests:

Zainab Al-Suwaij, executive director, the American Islamic Congress