The Passing of a Dictator
The Washington Post marks the death of Saddam Hussein and reviews his life’s history in this article:
During Hussein’s years in power, he strove to harness his country’s bountiful supply of oil to build Iraq into a major power in the Middle East and reclaim the glory of past Arab civilizations.
[...]
Saddam Hussein al-Tikriti was born on April 28, 1937, in the village of Auja, a cluster of mud-brick huts outside Tikrit, north of Baghdad. His father, Hussein Majid, was a peasant who disappeared before his son was born. His mother, who remarried, entrusted Hussein to the care of an uncle, Khayrallah Tulfah, an army officer and opponent of the British-backed monarchy then ruling Iraq.
Hussein started elementary school when he was about 10. At 18, he moved to Baghdad with Tulfah and enrolled at the Karkh high school. Soon after, he joined the Baath (or Renaissance) Party, the Arab nationalist movement founded by a Syrian Christian in the 1940s. Its members were angered by what they saw as the subservience of Arab peoples under European colonialism, and they yearned to create a single socialist Arab state.
Hussein became known as “a party strongman, and in 1959, at age 22, he participated in an attempt to assassinate Gen. Abdul Karim Qassem, the Iraqi ruler who had overthrown the monarchy with other military officers the year before.” After the failed assassination attempt, he went to Egypt for a time, and upon his return to Iraq assumed an even greater role within the Ba’ath party. His position was secured when a relative, Gen. Ahmed Hassan Bakr, seized power and Hussein became the number two man responsible for the intelligence and security services. In 1979, he led a palace coup which moved Bakr aside and he “simultaneously assumed the titles of president, prime minister, chairman of the Revolutionary Command Council, secretary general of the Baath Party’s regional command and commander in chief of the armed forces.”
In 1980, Hussein tried to take advantage of instability in neighboring Iran, where Ayatollah Khomeini’s Islamic revolution had recently ousted the shah, by bombing Iranian airfields and sending his troops over the border. The eight-year Iran-Iraq war that ensued cost hundreds of thousands of lives on each side and left Iraq staggering under a debt estimated at $75 billion. It was in this war that Hussein first used the chemical weapons he would later turn on his own people in Kurdistan.
Over the course of the war, the U.S. government under presidents Ronald Reagan and later George H.W. Bush sought to weaken Iraq’s bonds with its rival, the Soviet Union, as well as to prevent Iran from expanding its power in the region. It provided Iraq with hundreds of millions of dollars in subsidies, along with weapons and military intelligence.
Near the end of the war, Hussein inaugurated another bloody campaign, this time against the Kurds in northern Iraq, who were aligned with Iran. During the 1987-88 Anfal campaign, a systematic effort to destroy rural Kurdish life, the Iraqi military dropped poison gas on villages, bulldozed homes and killed, tortured and displaced hundreds of thousands of people. The Kurdish government estimated that 182,000 people died in the campaign.
The article goes on to describe his invasion of Kuwait, the result of the 1st Gulf War, and the years of sanctions that followed. Then it mentions the period of time that we are all more familiar with: the second invasion of Iraq and Saddam’s capture.
What the article does not do is adequately outline how involved the US government was with Iraq and in particular, with Saddam Hussein all throughout his career.
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For that you’ll need to go to Juan Cole’s blog, Informed Comment. Juan notes,
The tendency to treat Saddam and Iraq in a historical vacuum, and in isolation from the superpowers, however, has hidden from Americans their own culpability in the horror show that has been Iraq for the past few decades.
He goes onto outline US government involvement in Iraq stretching back into the 1950’s and moving forward to the very active period of engagement during the 1980’s as a result of the Reagan and George H. W. Bush administrations. Some of the participants’ names will be very familiar.
But as one commenter on Salon put it,
It’s easy … to forget that missing WMD notwithstanding, Saddam Hussein was a monster. He killed people on a mass scale. ... He created and ruled over a system that destroyed the lives of countless Shia and Kurd Iraqis, and many Sunnis too. The US didn’t have to force or cajole the shaky new Iraqi regime and its imperfect, nascent judicial system into trying Saddam. If anything, US influence was used to exercise a measure of constraint so that he was not tortured and then strung up in a public square for the cathartic edification of the Iraqi people.
...as soon as Saddam was captured, he was a dead man, and not because of the US; it was because of the Iraqi people, and the demand from a strong majority of Iraqis from all backgrounds that some sort of justice
- belated and imperfect as it may be -be meted out to their oppressor. In the end, we were just observers to this final, shabby, and inevitable act.
Considering this point in history brings two thoughts to mind - first, how important it is to know the history of our country and its involvement with other countries and people on this small planet, and second - how important is the co-equal status of the three branches of our government. Congressional advice and oversight of our foreign policy is crucial to our nation’s future security.
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Violet,
I especially agree with your final sentence. Congressional oversight has been wandering in a dense self inflicted fog for the past 6 years, and Congress has only itself to blame. When Bush was given the authority to independently “determine” when military force was necessary to protect us from Iraq, Congress surrendered most of its claims to co-equality and oversight. I know many might not agree with my interpretation. Unpredictably, who could have known that our President would lie to us and the rest of the world only to seek revenge for his father, enhance the wealth of large capitalization firms and multinational oil companies without a care for our national treasure and those serving in the all volunteer military? (I guess if one puts it that way, it is not so hard to predict after all.)
John Kerry has repeatedly said he regrets his vote. Others have said the same. Still there are other Senators not willing to admit they made an error. My concern about this is not that Senator Kerry is necessarily a better person because of his admission, but rather that he has come to recognize that the delicate balance of power prescribed in the Constitution is best maintained when its precepts are faithfully adhered.
Thank you, Violet.
Odd, isn’t it, that CNN isn’t reporting any of this?
Robert Fisk has a damning indictment of the US role in the rise and fall of Saddam Hussein:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2112555.ece
Although I’m opposed to the death penalty in most cases, I don’t really have a problem with seeing murderous dictators swing. It’s barbaric, but I see the justice in it.
What I don’t understand is the timing. There are so many questions still unanswered. Why the rush to execute for a 25 year old crime when there is so much still to be learned? Saddam was not tried for his other crimes which resulted in more loss of life than the one that resulted in his hanging. The whole truth of those egregious deeds may never be known to the world.
I’m concerned today that the violence, already escalating, will become worse, and that more of our troops and more innocent Iraqis will die as a result. Our troop death toll will reach 3,000, likely in the coming hours, and Saddam was the key reason the administration gave for our involvement in Iraq (it’s changed a number of times, but I think he’s still used as part of the current rationale). Have we created in some minds a martyr from this quagmire? Will more die for this horrible dictator, even now that he’s gone?
I’m saddened to know the role we played in putting Saddam in place. I know the truth is that it’s not the first or likely the last time we’ll do it and I’m disheartened to know that we’ve lost an opportunity to learn, and learn from, the whole truth, much of which I fear will be buried with Saddam.
Hmmm… you know, people have tied the timing of the Rumsfeld resignation to the election, but I’m not convinced. Would his remaining in the administration have redirected the spotlight back on the US and our involvement in the rise of Saddam? I don’t often credit Mr. Bush for strategic decisions, but I’m inclined to give him (and whoever talked him into it) points in the CYA category. The enabling of Saddam is yet another dark chapter in Mr. Rumsfeld’s ugly past.
This is another terrific collection of articles. I especially like the piece at Juan Cole’s blog. It’s an excellent time line of the events linking the U.S. to Saddam’s rise. If you haven’t yet, you must watch Eric Blumrich’s Flash slideshow linked at the end of Cole’s post.
From Liberal Values, evidence that it’s Bush, not Kerry, that the troops dislike:
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=824
And, getting back on topic, today’s news reports that Saddam Hussain is still dead, but so are many others:
http://liberalvaluesblog.com/?p=822
Sigh.
I should be getting ready for some cheery, bleary New Year’s Eve party or other right now.
Instead, I’m checking to make sure I’ve got my warmest gloves and my driest shoes and all my layers of cold-weather jacketing handy.
Why is that, you ask? Well, it is winter here. And cold weather is scheduled to hit us hard sometime in the next few days.
And, unfortunately, so is something else.
There’s probably something similar scheduled where you live. If not, there certainly should be. And it’s not too late for you to add your own voice to those who will be standing out in the cold here just a few too-short days from now.
Here’s the email reminder I received a few days ago:
The guidelines for scheduling the day of local vigil have been changed to:
* if 3,000 U.S. deaths announced on a Sunday, vigil will be following Tuesday afternoon
* if announced on a Monday, vigil will be Wednesday
* if announced on a Tuesday, vigil will be Thursday
* if announced on a Wednesday, vigil will be Friday
* if announced on Thursday, Friday or Sat., vigil will be following Monday
Vigil venue will be at the Federal Bldg on corner of State Street and South Park Row, [redacted]. The time (4:30 to 5:30 p.m.) and other details remain the same. Here is new phone number to confirm: [redacted]. See you there!!
As of Dec. 17, 2006, the official death count was 2,946. [Now, December 30, the total stands at 2,998.]
Here is the media release for this action:
As the majority of Americans continue their preparations for celebrating the holiday season, the Pentagon will soon be announcing the 3,000th death of a U.S. soldier in Iraq.
‘The 9/11 Peace Initiative [one of many local peace-activism groups here] and its many coalition partners are preparing to mark the 3,000th death with plans for a mostly silent vigil to take place at the [redacted] Federal Building on State Street in downtown [redacted]. “With the major religious holidays upon us, we are especially concerned for the many families and friends in the US, Iraq and other nations who will be grieving those who have died in this tragic war,” explained [redacted], organizer. “Our purpose is to stop the war and end this suffering.”
‘Members and friends of the 9/11 Peace Initiative will gather within 48 hours of the military’s announcement. Beginning at 4:30 and lasting an hour, a tolling bell and peace cranes will remind downtown commuters of the suffering of the war. All are invited to participate. [A subsequent all-night candlelight vigil has been proposed as well.]
‘An immediate withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq, rather than an increase in U.S. military forces, is the answer sought by the local peace movement.’
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peacemaking is not a passive verb,
Otter
(A friend of mine who lives in Tasmania posted this to another American political blog this morning—her name is Wendy, as in “Wendy From Oz”, and she’s posted here before under the nickname “woz” as well—and I thought it was telling enough about the way we’re seen elsewhere in what our leaders like to call the “free world” that it deserves reposting here today...)
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Does it strike you as odd? The very people who are so easily terrorised are those who have committed such terror themselves. How can they live any way other than in fear? Well, I’m quite prepared to let them live the rest of their days in fear, as long as I don’t have to. Provided I can live in a democracy (reclaimed of course), amongst people of all races and creeds, I will be without fear.
In just under 3 hours it will be January 1st, 2007 in Australia. My thoughts and dreams are on a much grander scale than they’ve ever been for the start of a new year. 2007 MUST be a peaceful year. I look forward to you reclaiming your American democracy, your constitution, your bill of rights and all of the other things that have been taken away from you over these past 6 years. I hope you are able to ensure that such precious possessions can never be squandered by the paranoid hysteria of perpetrators of atrocities wherever in the world there is wealth to be extracted.
I look forward to the dumping of those terrible hysteria-induced laws about our friends and neighbours and ourselves. And of course, I hope with all hope, and even more, that David Hicks is allowed to come home.
Posted by: woz at December 31, 2006 05:08 AM
Posted by: woz at December 31, 2006 05:08 AM
Posted by Otter | December 31, 2006 12:42 PM
Thank you for posting this Otter. I have been at a lost for words on the happenings of the last few days .
Sure Saddam was a brutal dictator and he deserved his own special place in hell, but for me as an American I feel as I am a part of that hanging. I am against the death penalty, no matter who it is. What really was accomplished by killing him, we had him boxed up, he had no power, no palaces, no rule and a life of confinement a living hell, IMO. What did killing him accomplish ? We are still at war, now that the evil dictator is gone, now after there were no WMDs, now that they had no yellow cake from Africa , etc. When will this charade end and when will we say enough is enough ?
There are a lot of people in this country who need a kick in the butt to wake them up from this insanity. I am tired of being a part of an immoral war, and I so desperately want the America I grew up in back for my kids and grandkids. Is that to much to expect ?
We have 2 years left with our own brutal dictator in power, how far will we as Americans let his rule, his power, his incompetence shred away from our moral beliefs. The insanity has got to stop, we are all paying a terrible price for it.
fedup
“I am tired of being a part of an immoral war, and I so desperately want the America I grew up in back for my kids and grandkids. Is that to much to expect ?”
Ditto. It’s not too much to expect. Our kids and grandkids will live in a different world, due to progress and technology...but we MUST preserve our country’s heritage, values and democratic ideals for them. I think that’s why we here all work so hard on supporting Senator Kerry. He gets this.
I, too, have been at a loss for words over the Saddam thing. I don’t mourn him...I mourn DEEPLY what all this says about US.