When I was a child, I often heard that America “raised” Saddam, that he was her son. He was conceived the moment, if not before, he attempted to topple Iraqi President Abdul Kareem Qassim. It was 1959 and President Qassim had barely been in power for a year, but he was already Iraq’s most popular leader and America’s least favorite one. He had carried out anti-American and anti-corporatist policies like nationalizing foreign oil companies in Iraq, withdrawing Iraq from the US-initiated right-wing Baghdad Pact, and decriminalizing the Iraqi Communist Party. He also resurrected a long-standing Iraqi claim to Kuwait.
Saddam’s attempt on President Qassim’s life having failed, he fled to Egypt, where his nursing and rearing began. Hussein repeatedly visited the US Embassy and met with CIA agents interested in the downfall of the Qassim government. After his return to Iraq, in 1963 and with help of the CIA, President Qassim was assassinated, and in the process, thousands of Iraqis were massacred. While the brutalities of the Baathist regime aroused international protests, the United States was among the first nations to recognize the new government, and arms shipment began immediately.
At this point the CIA continued to hold Saddam’s hand and, step-by-step, they and the State Department led him into power. They offered a list of 800 Iraqi communists to the Baathist insurgents – all were killed. Meanwhile, western business interests, such as Mobile, Bechtel and British Petroleum began operations in Iraq. And in 1968, the final Baathist coup brought Ahmad Hassan Al Bakr to power. He placed his cousin, Saddam Hussein, in charge of the State Security apparatus.
In 1979, Saddam Hussein seized power in a palace-coup and by 1980, the incoming Reagan administration, seeing the Islamic revolution in Iran as a threat, encouraged, if not coached, the subsequent Iraqi invasion of Iran with promises of arms, money, and intelligence. In addition to billions of dollars in arms, the Reagan administration provided the Iraqi Regime with chemical and biological weapons, including Brucella Malitensis (a bacteria that can damage major organs; Bacillus Anthracis (cause of anthrax); histoplasma capsulatam (cause of a disease attacking lungs, brain, spinal cord, and heart; clostridium perfringens (a highly toxic bacteria causing systematic illness; clostridium tetani (highly toxigenic substance).
These were given with full US knowledge of the repressive nature of Hussein’s regime, and his support of international terrorists such as Abu Nidal. Back then, Saddam was loved unconditionally, practically patted on the back for what today Busch considers “unaccepted” behavior. For instance, after Iraq used U.S. supplied chemical weapons against Iranian troops and the Kurds, the Reagan administration resumed normal diplomatic relations with Iraq, and removed it from the list of countries that support terrorism.
The Iran/Iraq war stretched on for eight years, claimed over a million lives and bankrupt Iraq. After the war ended in 1988, Kuwait flooded the world oil market, lowering oil prices worldwide. It was rumored that Kuwait not only refused negotiations but assured Iraqis they’ll keep the prices low even if it meant that the Iraqi women will have to prostitute themselves for ten dinars. During his court sessions some fifteen years later, Saddam cited this exact statement to the judge, which he claims was made by Kuwaiti officials.
Hussein’s pleas to OPEC ignored, he considered military action against Kuwait. When he informed the US about his plans to invade Kuwait, US Ambassador April Glaspie told him: “We (the United States) have no opinion on your border dispute with Kuwait. James Baker (then Secretary of State) has instructed our official spokesman to emphasize this instruction.” Given this green light to invade Kuwait, Saddam Hussein did so. The Bush administration immediately began preparations for war. Iraq offered to withdraw from Kuwait in exchange for arranging a Middle East peace summit, but was also ignored.
In this invasion, hundred of Americans and tens of thousands of Iraqi civilians died. And civilian infrastructure – including power generators and water treatment facilities – were considered to be “Legitimate Military Targets” – although the Geneva Convention, article 54, claims “It is prohibited to attack, destroy, remove or render useless objects indispensable to the survival of the civilian population.”
Afterwards, over 5 million Iraqis had no access to clean water, which resulted in growing epidemics of Cholera, Typhoid, and diarrhea. Understaffed, overflowing hospitals, without power, were unable to provide even the most minimal treatment. And 1.5 million Iraqis died as a direct result of the harshest sanctions regime in world history.
Then, even though there were no links between Iraq and the terrorist who executed the 9/11 attacks on the World Trade Centers, the Bush administration found Saddam to blame and launched a second war against Iraq. Since then they’ve used a number of reasons, like liberations and such, to remain in Iraq, or to excuse their role in that country’s unbelievable downfall.
In four years, the violence and the number of dead bodies found buried or laying in the streets have outnumbered those whom Saddam had murdered in the thirty years he was in power. And Saddam had a mission regarding Iraqi lives – to destroy whoever crossed him politically, whereas both the Gulf War, Operation Iraqi Freedom and everything in between have caused aimless massacres for the Iraqis – sort of the way Saddam did with Halabja. All these attacks were done in the name of war against the enemy.
When Saddam dropped poison gas on the Kurdish city of Halabja, which occurred during the Iraq-Iran war, it wasn’t because he was mad. It was because Halabja was then held by Iranian troops and Iraqi Kurdish peshmerga guerillas allied with Tehran. Throughout the war, Iran had supplied Iraqi Kurdish rebels military support.
So all these attacks, whether by the United States against Iraq or Saddam against Halabja and Dejail were done in the name of war against the enemy. Except that Halabja and Dejail happened quickly. The death of Iraqis since 1991 has been slow, painful, degrading, and spreading wildly like an incurable disease. But that’s another story. Back to the parent and child.
The lengthy relationship between Saddam and the CIA is what makes the Middle East and Europe distrust the United States. Many factors make the world view us as the “bad guys.” For instance, in 1991 when Iraqis rose against Saddam, the United States, afraid that change would put its majority Shi'ites and thus Iran in power, stood by with its forces as the Republican Guard crushed the rebellion. In 1996, the CIA fled and left the INC people in the hands of Saddam as Iraqi tanks moved into the Kurdish-controlled zone to destroy them.
From beginning to end Saddam served his so called parent. Even in his death he was a good son. He was hung by Shi’ites in a ruthless manner that “by chance” was videotaped and distributed on the Internet, giving America’s least favorite Islamic sect the ugliest reputation possible. Now who the hell is going to be sympathetic towards Shi’ites – in other words, Iran – when the Arab world itself found them despicable for killing a man in a manner that completely goes against the teachings of the Quran?
Weam Namou was born as a minority Christian in Baghdad, Iraq and came to America at age ten. She is the author of The Feminine Art and The Mismatched Braid. http://www.HermizPublishing.com | |
