NetNews Usenet Archive 1993 #3/NN_1993_3.iso/spool/alt/activism/21242

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From: [e-mail] (Hank Roth)
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs
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Date: 23 Jan 93 04:41:00 GMT
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/* Written  8:58 am  Jan 21, 1993 by newsdesk in igc:headlines */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
/* Written 10:04 pm  Jan 20, 1993 by pnmideast in igc:mideast.gulf */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs

/* Written 12:50 pm  Jan 20, 1993 by [e-mail] in igc:pacnews.sample */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
From: Pacific News Service <pacificnews>
Subject: Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs

/* Written 12:34 pm  Jan 18, 1993 by [e-mail] in igc:pacnews.storie */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
COPYRIGHT PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
450 Mission Street,  Room 506
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-243-4364



MIDDLE EAST PERSPECTIVE -- 875 WORDS

ARABS SEE SADDAM AS SYMPTOM -- NOT CAUSE -- OF
REGIONAL PROBLEMS

EDITOR'S NOTE: For most Arabs and Muslims Saddam Hussein is
more symptom than cause of the evils that afflict the region. Further,
they believe the U.S. is possibly seeking to destroy the only Arab
country that can succeed as a modernized nation. Voices are growing
louder throughout the Middle East demanding that the U.S. and its
Western allies stop selectively enforcing U.N. resolutions against some
countries, while ignoring them entirely in the case of others. PNS
commentator Rami Khouri, former editor of the Jordan Times, is a
well-known TV and radio commentator and analyst based in Amman.

BY RAMI KHOURI, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

AMMAN, JORDAN --   Is Saddam Hussein, as the West and its Middle
Eastern allies believe, the personification of Hitler or Stalin? Worse, is
he, as some in the West proclaim, a reflection of a demented political
morality that has special appeal in this region inclined to excess,
romanticism, violence and authoritarianism?

Or, is Saddam frightening to the West because he represents a long
overdue historical revenge -- the inevitable antidote to the last century
of Western exploitation of Iraq's and the region's strategic location and
resources?

As the United States applies renewed military pressure on Iraq, many
people in this region respond with the following questions:

*Why does the U.S., along with its perpetually outraged, always
obedient ally Great Britain, lead such a determined effort for
compliance with U.N. resolutions in Iraq but not in other parts of the
Middle East? Do they think that we are either so stupid, weak,
desperate or bludgeoned by history that we will either miss or forgive
their mounting track record of double standards and duplicity?

*By what standards does the suffering of innocent civilians in Iraq elicit
international protection but the wholesale savagery against the people
of Bosnia-Herzegovina does not?

*Who sets the rules about the imposition of no-fly zones in the absence
of United Nations action, as is the case in southern and northern Iraq?
What follows next: no-drive zones? no-eat zones? no-raise-your-voice
zones? no-think zones?

*At what point does the macho militarism and political racism of the
United States and its North Atlantic sidekicks prove so ugly, in terms
of the death, disease and suffering of the same Iraqi civilians the West
says it is trying to protect, that the world demands a relaxation of the
embargo against Iraq and decides that Baghdad has complied with the
terms of the relevant U.N. resolutions?

*How is the suffering of Iraqi Kurds in the frigid mountains of
northern Iraq different from the suffering of hundreds of expelled
Palestinians in the frigid mountains of southern Lebanon, other than
that the United States is the primary financier and supporter of the
Israeli state that expelled the Palestinians?

The point is, all of these questions will remain in the minds of people
throughout this region well after the rule of Saddam Hussein. While
most of us are critical of the Iraqi political culture, our criticisms of
Western political culture are much stronger because they are much
older. We see Saddam Hussein as a symptom, not the cause, of our
regional problems. The politics and psychology of this region -- ever
since the British and the French bombarded Alexandria and Damascus
in the 19th century -- have grown out of the perception of the ordinary
Arab/Muslim that he or she is unable to lead a life that affords dignity,
prosperity and stability.

It is no surprise, therefore, that when some people in this region were
given an opportunity to express their sentiments through elections in
the period 1987-92, the majority voted for political forces that were in
opposition to, or sought significant policy changes in, the established
political power structures. This happened in Sudan, Algeria, Jordan,
and Kuwait, where elections were quite fair, and where the modern
Arab world experienced the unusual sensation of people freely
expressing their political and national sentiments. It would have
happened also in any other Arab country that dared to hold free
elections in which the full spectrum of political forces participated, but
no other Arab countries did so.

Iraq alone in the Arab world has the human, mineral, financial, land
and water resources to develop into a strong and viable state. It was
probably inevitable that at some point in modern history, a
combination of factors would prompt Iraq in particular to marshall its
resources in a bid to revive indigenous Arab pride and check the bitter
legacy of foreign intervention.   (The only other Arab countries that
come close to Iraq in terms of national material and human resources -
- Syria, Egypt, and Algeria -- all also played a significant anti-imperial,
anti-colonial and anti-Western role during this century.)

The grassroots impulse for drastic political reconfiguration around the
Middle East is very clear for those who have the capacity to see the
reality of this region. This impulse is intimately associated with the
mass legacy of anti-Western, anti-imperial anger. The conduct of the
U.S.-led coalition simply exacerbates this mass sentiment, and probably
ensures that the region will give birth to future leaders that are just as
demagogic, violent and ruthless as Saddam Hussein, let alone other
leaders who have defined this region in recent decades.

The key question that remains unanswered is: which demagogic,
violent and ruthless Middle Eastern leaders will the West finance, arm,
defend and support, and which ones will it bomb back into a state of
mass suffering and national dependence? And will the West find itself
again attacking Arab and Islamic states that it had previously found
useful as expedient bases, temporary allies, or simply as convenient
political cover in a cheap game that lends itself to shallow friendships
and false appearances?

Iraq and the West today can teach us much about these crucial topics,
should anyone dare to deal with the real issues at stake, and the real
forces at play in the region.

(01181993)    **** END ****     COPYRIGHT PNS


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