The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
Views expressed in this archived message are those of the author, not of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
[Main archive index/search] [List information] [Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq Homepage]
>Barry Rubin is a known zionist propagandist and his rantings do not belong to this list, philippa ===== Original Message From Zohar David <davidz@mofa.gov.il> ===== >-----Original Message----- >From: Barry Rubin [mailto:meria@mail.biu.ac.il] >Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 5:04 AM >To: @ashur.cc.biu.ac.il >Subject: The Region: Iraq, Lies, and Videotape > > >The Region > >By Barry Rubin > > If you want to understand the Middle East, you must pay close >attention to the tremendously important event that took place on April >12, 2003. > The story is this: U.S. forces captured the Saddam Hussein >International Airport at Baghdad. Iraq's Information Minister Muhammad >Sa'id al-Sahhaf announced that on the night of April 11-12, there would >be a big surprise attack using suicide squads. > Several hours later, he stated that the Republican Guard had >recaptured the airport, that U.S. "mercenary" forces were on the run, >and that Iraq was generally winning the war. He even promised that in >one hour the government would take foreign journalists on a tour of the >airport to show it was in Iraqi hands. > No tour took place. Indeed, not only was the airport still held >by the Americans, but there had been no Iraqi attack that night at all! >This amazingly brazen lie seemed like the last gasp of denial from a >regime that was on the verge of being overthrown. > But that interpretation was dead wrong. This story was not >bizarrely unusual; it was stupefyingly typical of what has been going on >in the Arab world, and not just Iraq, for decades. > The big lie, the ridiculous exaggeration, and whatever you want >to call it is typical. Time after time, regarding Israel or on other >matters, Western media, governments, academics, and large elements of >public opinion have been accepting such things as accurate or at least >put them on a par with other versions of events. > Yet now the lesson of the Baghdad airport scam should be learned >once and for all: this is the way things work so very often in the Arab >world. > This does not mean that most Arabs are happy with this >situation. But there should be no doubt that the distortion of truth is >ongoing and widespread. To watch just about any Arab television network >or read just about any Arab newspaper is to be told that Iraq is winning >the war, that the Iraqi people support Saddam, that allied forces are >committing massive atrocities, and that the attack on Iraq is motivated >by the worst possible motives. > How can people cope with the world when provided with such false >information? Is it any surprise that anti-Americanism grows and that >moderation or peace is impossible on the basis of such beliefs. It is >laying the basis for still more disasters for the Arabs themselves. > On April 4, Jihad al-Khazen, former editor of al-Hayat, wrote a >column in that newspaper entitled (in the English version) "American >Fools." To understand the significance of this article one must know >that Khazen is a moderate in the Arab media context. He has lived a long >time in the West and might be expected to be one of those doing the most >to help his readers deal with reality. > Here is how his column begins: "Members of the Likudist gang >inside the American administration, which Secretary of State Colin >Powell asserted its existence by denying it, have pervaded universities, >research centers and the administration." He explains that this group is >responsible for current U.S. policy and supports the "Nazi" practices of >Israel. As for the war in Iraq, the people see the allied forces as >"invaders" facing widespread resistance even among Shia Iraqis who hate >America more than they hate Saddam. Khazen explains that Israeli agents >tell Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld what to say and describes the >American general picked to run the transitional civil government in Iraq >is "radical Sharonist Likudist." > If this is what one of the smartest, most rational, familiar >with the West, and relatively moderate Arab writers can say, how can the >Arab world possibly--from the standpoint of its own interests--deal >effectively with the United States in diplomatic terms? > In addition, there is a great myth that must be exploded: it is >not U.S. policy as such that engenders so much hatred toward the United >States in the Middle East but rather the total misrepresentation of what >that policy is and what the United States actually does. > But one of the type of people Khazen hates was eliminated this >month. Michael Kelly, the Washington Post columnist, died in an accident >while covering the fighting in Iraq. Dozens of journalists gave tribute >to his personal attributes and wonderful family, both of which are true. >Yet virtually no one pointed out what Michael Kelly actually thought >about the Middle East. He was possibly the most articulate journalist >expressing what I call the alternative view of the region. > What Khazen and his colleagues do not understand is that their >failure to comprehend-or acknowledge-what is happening in their own >region and their total disinterest in giving a fair assessment of U.S. >policy will do them far more harm than all the alleged Zionist >imperialist gang in the world. > >Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs >(GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International >Affairs (MERIA) Journal. > >Barry Rubin's latest books are: > --The Tragedy of the Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2002). >http://gloria.idc.ac.il/publications/books/tragedy.html > --With Judy Colp Rubin, Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East >(Oxford University Press, 2002). >http://gloria.idc.ac.il/publications/books/anti-american_terrorism.html > >Forthcoming: >With Judy Colp Rubin, Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography (Oxford >University Press, 2003). > >_______________________________________________ >Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. >To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss >To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk >All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk _______________________________________________ Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq. To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk