Posted on 05/09/2003 10:16:59 PM PDT by kattracks
During the confusion that accompanied the liberation of Baghdad last month, bands of thieves roamed the city on an orgy of plunder.
Some bands attacked the National Museum and made away with numerous objects, including at least 170 regarded as unique. Others looted the villas and palaces of the fleeing Ba'athist dignitaries, much like Ali Baba ransacking the den of the 40 thieves.
The activities of these thieves attracted massive media attention.
Other bands also at work, stealing government and Ba'ath Party documents, have attracted little media attention. Who they were and what they managed to steal remain mysteries. What is certain is that a brisk market in stolen document is already in operation in Baghdad.
Some Iraq experts describe the documents as " weapons of political and diplomatic mass destruction." For they narrate the secret story of over 30 years of Ba'athist rule. In that period, thousands of politicians, diplomats, journalists, do-gooders, peaceniks and officials of an unknown number of countries in the Middle East, Europe and North America were on the payroll of Saddam Hussein's regime.
Some of Saddam's former collaborators who later joined his opponents in exile have revealed that the Ba'athist regime pursued a policy of targeting politicians and opinion-makers in all countries where Iraq had a presence.
" Putting journalists and politicians on the payroll was a well-established policy," says Khalid Kishtaini who worked for the Iraqi Cultural Office in London in the 1980s.
Kishtaini, a prominent writer who later joined the opposition, also reports that the office had instructions to obtain documents from all the recipients of Iraqi largesse, possibly for future blackmailing exercises.
Saad al-Bazzaz, another writer who also worked with Saddam before defecting to the opposition, confirms this." The principle was that everyone could be bought, if the price was right," al-Bazzaz says. " You would be surprised to know who was in Saddam's pay."
European, especially French, and Middle Eastern political parties and individual politicians, received cash or anonymous donations through front organisations, including fake charities.
Sometimes, the regime directly invested in creating Arabic language newspapers in Europe, especially London and Paris. At other times it provided subsidies, mainly through the purchase of large numbers of each favoured publication.
A number of documents implicating a British member of parliament, a French former official, a Qatari personality, and several Palestinian and Egyptian press and television journalists have already been leaked and publicised. But these represent only the tip of the iceberg.
According to our information part of the documents have been " acquired" by the Iraqi National Congress (INC) led by Ahmad Chalabi.
At least another batch of Ba'ath Party documents is believed to be in the hands of the British intelligence.
A prominent Jordanian-Iraqi businessman with links to various French political parties is believed to have acquired another batch.
It is important for the US-led coalition to trace these documents and collect them in one place for future use. It must acknowledge the fact that these documents are as much the property of Iraq as are the stolen items from the Baghdad Museum. Thus a ban should be imposed on smuggling any of the documents outside Iraq, possibly for sale or blackmail.
The coalition must also fix the rules under which these documents could be made available to investigative journalists, researchers and historians. Some documents might be needed as evidence in the trial of the fallen regime's leaders. The documents must be made public as quickly as possible. There is no sense in respecting "top secret" time limits set by a fallen despot.
A selective use of the documents could become a weapon in the political power struggle that is already taking shape in Baghdad. Malicious leaks of documents could be used for character assassination against Arab and ethnic Kurdish politicians who had, at one point or another, made deals with Saddam.
The real value of the documents lies elsewhere.
Properly studied they would reveal how a large number of multinational companies, no doubt encouraged by major industrial nations, helped Saddam Hussein create his war machine. For example, who gave him the heavy bombers that in 1983 destroyed Iran's main oil export terminal at Kharg Island? And which European company sold him the chemicals that he used for massacring 5000 Kurdish men, women and children in Halabchah in 1988? Which French company built Saddam's numerous palaces and bunker? And which German company provided the electronic surveillance and communication systems used in them? And what about the British companies that helped Saddam built his " Supergun", known as "The Fist of Allah"?
The documents could answer other questions.
What was the exact role of the Iranian secret service, the SAVAK, in financing and helping the Ba'ath between 1958 and 1968?
Who encouraged Saddam to invade Iran in 1980?
Who provided him with billions of dollars of loans and cash at a time his regime was on the verge of bankruptcy?
And who gave him the wrong signal to invade Kuwait?
The documents would also show how a regime that ought to have been banished from the family of nations was not only tolerated but also positively supported and encouraged by many governments, including almost all the major democracies.
Iraqi leaders who should have been treated as criminals were given red carpet reception in major capitals, including Washington, London, Paris and Moscow. Saddam Hussein became an honoured guest in Jacques Chirac's private home in Correze at exactly the time that the Ba'ath was massacring thousands of political opponents in 1976. Tareq Aziz was always welcome whenever he dropped by for tea with the Pope in the Vatican. Nizar Hamdoun, one of Saddam's diplomatic minions, spent many weekends in Arkansas with Bill Clinton when the latter was Governor.
We also have Arab politicians and intellectuals who, rather than fleeing the Ba'athist regime like pest, helped it acquire a legitimacy that it did not deserve.
It was not surprising that Saddam became a prisoner of his illusions.
Right to his bitter end he must have believed that some of those who had feted and flattered him and, in exchange, been bribed by him, would somehow get him off the hook again.
The documents would show the collective guilt that lies behind Saddam's vicious rule. This does not absolve Saddam and his cohorts. But it would show the world how cynicism disguised as Realpolitik and combined with greed masquerading as business, can help create a monster.
Saddam's fate, if properly documented and narrated, could become a cautionary tale both for would-be tyrants in the Third World and the Western officials, businessmen and politicians who, when dealing with non-Western nations, are prepared to ignore their own laws and the basic rules of ethics.
Saddam must answer for his crime. But those who helped and encouraged him for three decades should also be named and shamed.
Amir Taheri is the Iranian author of 10 books on the Middle East and Islam. He can be reached through www.benadorassociates.com
©2003 Amir Taheri
Well, well, well.........why am I not surprised???
Methinks you answered your own question.
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