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Re: [casi] He was betrayed



'Blue Pilgrim' writes:

> The highest ideals of the Ba'aths should be rekindled and developed:
> pan-Arab association and cultural vitality with freedom for all
> people.  Muslim extremism must give way to Muslim enlightenment, tolerance,
> and compassion.  It is as counterproductive to ignore the faults of  Saddam
> and Ba'athism as to ignore their virtues.

and I think he (assuming 'Blue Pilgrim' is a man) is right. His mailing
ignores Saddam's virtues, and the Al-Moharer article ignores his faults. It
is very difficult to get a more measured understanding though it is, and has
always been, very important.

The question as I understand it boils down to this: to what extent where the
crimes of the Baath regime under President Hussein a consequence of
necessity in a very tough struggle for survival - with the price of failure
being the collapse into anarchy that we are seeing at the present time?

Since at least 1982, when the tide turned in the Iraq/Iran war, the Iraqi
state has been faced with imminent destruction, first at the hands of the
mullahs, in alliance with the Kurds; then through the economic sabotage
being conducted by Kuwait (I follow the understanding of this given by Crown
Prince Hassan of Jordan, the man currently tipped by Richard Perle as a new
monarch for Iraq. His article defending Jordan's refusal to participate in
the UN war against Iraq can be found at my website
www.politicsandtheology.co.uk), then at the hands of the United Nations,
then at the hands of our own government in alliance with the United States.
These were extreme situations and it is hardly surprising that they produced
extreme reponses. Look at the US response to the much less extreme danger
they faced after the attacks on the World Trade centre and Pentagon in
September 2001.

I, like anyone else sitting in an armchair in the comfort of a long
established and stable political structure, can imagine a different, kinder
policy that might have worked. But since my 'long established and stable
political structure' has the habit of engaging in aggressive wars on the
flimsiest of pretexts I don't feel in a position to get too self righteous
about it.

Best

Peter


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