Mandela picks Iraq over U.S.

DURBAN - In an extraordinary twist to the current tensions between the United States and Iraq, former South African president (and Nobel Peace Prize winner) Nelson Mandela has not only sided strongly against President George W. Bush, but appears on the point of being recruited to a stratagem by Saddam Hussein to block U.S. military intervention.

Mandela has uttered stronger and stronger statements critical of Bush. Originally he attempted to telephone the U.S. President to communicate his views, but Bush did not take his calls, so Mandela phoned ex-president George Bush Sr. to complain about his son and ask for his criticisms to be passed on. When this failed to move Bush Jr., Mandela declared the U.S. threat of pre-emptive war to bring about regime change in Iraq meant that the United States, not Iraq, was now "a danger to world peace." He followed this up by announcing that "some people" were saying that the United States was flouting the United Nations' authority because Kofi Annan, the UN Secretary-General, was a black man.

Last week Mandela went further still, no longer putting such allegations in the mouths of "some people," but openly charging that the Bush administration was acting out of racist and white supremacist motives in not "obeying" Kofi Annan. "No country, however powerful it may be, is entitled to act outside the UN. When UN secretaries-general were white we never had the question of any country ignoring the United Nations, but now that we have got black secretaries-general like Boutros Boutros-Ghali and Kofi Annan certain countries that believe in white supremacy are ignoring the UN for racist reasons."

At the same time, Mandela has declared himself willing to serve on a panel of "12 wise men" proposed by Saddam Hussein to oversee the UN inspectors, provided this plan finds acceptance with the UN. The panel is quite clearly intended to create a supra-national body that will interpose itself between Iraq and possible Anglo-American intervention. Quite clearly, the idea would be to pack the panel with personalities likely to oppose U.S. action. Already Saddam has mentioned ex-president Jimmy Carter as a possible member, clearly in anticipation that Carter would share Al Gore's critical attitude towards the Bush position.

Moreover, Saddam is hoping to push onto such a panel figures whom he can covertly influence or control. One such is former president Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia. Kaunda, who progressively ran the Zambian economy into the ground during his 28 years in office, also ran seriously short of dollars by the end and Saddam stepped in to provide aid. Kaunda's friendship with Saddam blossomed as Kaunda discovered that they shared the same birthday, and was then afforded a diplomatic coup when Saddam released a British prisoner, Daphne Parish, to him -- allowing Kaunda to present her back to a grateful Britain. Kaunda happily had one of the main streets in Lusaka, Zambia's capital, renamed as Saddam Hussein Boulevard.

Naturally, Saddam's leverage with Kaunda increased immensely after he fell from power in 1993. Kaunda, suddenly bereft of the state patronage and funds he had relied on, needed Saddam's subventions all the more. In return he has been a frequent, albeit somewhat gloomy, attendee at state functions in Baghdad. Naturally, in putting forward Kaunda's name as one of the "wise men" Saddam makes much of his role in supporting the cause of African freedom: There is no mention of these ties which would make it extremely hard to imagine Kaunda taking any other side but Saddam's.

Mandela's case is more complex. He shares the general Third World nervousness at the new doctrine of "regime change" -- for if the United States is to start deposing Third World dictators on general principle, many of Mandela's friends and donors would be at risk. In the run-up to the 1994 election in South Africa, Mandela raised prodigious sums of money for his African National Congress -- including from such undemocratic regimes as Libya, Saudi Arabia, Suharto's Indonesia -- and Saddam's Iraq.

Moreover, South Africa's apartheid regime had sold Iraq hundreds of thousands of giant 155mm howitzer shells in the 1980s, big enough to contain poison gas or chemical/bio-weapons. Saddam probably still has many of these and unlike his Scud missiles, they are not vulnerable to being shot down by Patriot anti-missile missiles. Once Mandela came in, further such arms deals were done, including -- or so strong rumour within the South African military community has it -- a shipment of depleted uranium in 1995 which, while unusable for the construction of nuclear bombs, could be used to give extreme penetrative power to projectiles. This relationship was consolidated by a series of oil deals from which there was generally a rake-off to ANC party funds.

All of which means that the United States is unlikely to pay much heed to Mandela's criticisms, let alone to entertain the "12 wise men" proposal. Its use would, rather, be to embarrass the United States, to win sympathy for Iraq throughout the Third World, to strengthen the pro-peace camp in the European Union and perhaps also appeal to black Americans among whom Mandela remains a magic name.

Nelson Mandela, feels very comfortable and at home with murderers as Fidel Castro, Saddam Hussein, Robert Mugabe, and every other communist African tyrant, birds of a feather flock together. Mr. Mandela is not morally qualified to criticize President Bush after condoning and supporting the criminal records of those tyrants.

Furthermore, Nelson’s wife Winnie revealed their true color and those of the ANC at Munsieville, on April 13, 1986, when she said: "With our boxes of matches and our necklaces ["necklacing:" a torture in which a gasoline-filled tire is placed around the neck of a victim and set ablaze], we shall liberate this country." (South African Digest, April 18, 1986, p. 324)

WINNIE MANDELA'S NECKLACING

Winnie Mandela has been tied to kidnappings and assaults, as well as disappearances that took place. She also has been quoted as saying, "With our matches and our necklaces, we will liberate South Africa," referring to the practice of placing gasoline-soaked tires around the necks of those some anti-apartheid activists consider "traitors", and lighting them on fire.

Unlike most of their counterparts in the United States, the progressive movement in south Africa refused to keep silent in the face of Mandela's brutality.

In fact, the first reports of the assaults and killing were published by an anti-apartheid newspaper, not the press controlled by or supportive of the government. Anti-apartheid organizations in south africa, such as the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) and the United Democratic Front (UDF), were quick to condemn such violence on the part of Mandela.

The UDF/COSATU statement read, in part, "We are outraged at Mrs Mandela's obvious complicity in the recent abductions and assault of Stompie.... We are outraged by the reign of terror that the team [Mandela's body guards, also known as the Mandela United Soccer Club or the Mandela Football Club] has been associated with. Not only is Mrs Mandela associated with the team, in fact, the team is her own creation. We are of the view that Mrs Mandela has abused the trust and confidence which she has enjoyed over the years.... The Mass Democratic Movement hereby distances itself from Mrs Mandela and her actions."

This rebuke from her former allies in the anti-apartheid movement came only five months after another challenge to her image as a well-liked opposition leader. In September 1988, Mandela's home in Soweto was burned down by local "comrades," apparently in retaliation for a sexual assault against a student leader by members of the "football club." (Apparently, real sexual abuse is acceptable to Mandela and her friends, as long as it is heterosexual.)

The attack on Mandela's home appears to have been prompted as well by ill-feeling generated by Mandela's rather comfortable lifestyle, which includes ownership of a Mercedes, in the midst of the widespread poverty in Soweto.

According to a source in the anti-apartheid labor movement, the public condemnation of Mandela by COSATU and UDF was prompted by pressure on the part of Soweto residents fed up with the activities of Mandela and her associates. Prior to the killing of Stompie Seipei, opposition among other anti-apartheid activists to Mandela's thugs had led both Oliver Tambo and Nelson Mandela to call on her to disband the club.

Thomas Sowell discussed the mindset of Mandela's supporters: "Long before the present ugly episode, Winnie Mandela was justifying the hideous practice of burning political enemies alive. How could anyone have romanticized such a person? Like too many other issues, South Africa is not approached as a serious question about the fate of millions of flesh-and-blood human beings, but as a symbolic issue providing yet another backdrop for our own moral preening. Those who are preoccupied with showing that they are on the side of the angels are quick to find angels to side with. Winnie Mandela was just one of those angels."

Just as many American leftists once ignored credible evidence that progressive leaders like Lenin and Castro were brutalizing and killing dissidents, most leftists today continue to fawn over Mandela, despite the fact that even many of her former allies have seen her for the bully she is and have spoken out against her. People who are serious about liberation, sexual and otherwise, need to have a consistent commitment to personal freedom and be willing to speak out whenever people are unjustly attacked, whoever the attacker may be. Hypocritically covering-up and apologizing for the excesses of progressives puts into serious doubt the left's stated commitment to a free society.

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