Posted on 12/27/2002 8:13:35 PM PST by Pokey78
Saddam is simply the latest focus for the west's racist abuse of Arabs
The preparations for a war on Iraq are moving inexorably forward, despite UN intervention, formal and popular opposition, and Iraqi ingenuity and compliance. The real motives for this projected attack, despite a plethora of public pronouncements, remain confusing and mysterious. Many Arabs see in it a variety of sinister plots involving control over their oil, neo-colonialism in their region and the machinations of a hegemonic Israel. Much of this has been ascribed to the Arab obsession with conspiracy theories, and yet there is an anti-Arab theme running through the debate over Iraq. A deep and unconscious racism imbues every aspect of western conduct towards Iraq - and by extension the Arabs in general.
Ever since the first Gulf war, America and its western allies have portrayed the conflict as a fight with one man, Saddam Hussein, apparently existing in a void in which the 22 million Iraqi inhabitants do not feature. Even the name of the 1991 military campaign against Iraq - Desert Storm - helped reinforce this concept of an empty land. The Iraqi leader is always referred to by his first name, not in endearment of course but, in the Arab view, to denigrate his status; no other president of a sovereign state is addressed in this way.
Arabs call him Saddam as well, but the reasons are quite different. As an Arabic personal name, it is almost unique and hence could be a surname. This implies no disrespect, as in the west. The language used about him by western leaders reinforces that disrespect: "What we have done is put Saddam back firmly in his cage"; "he knows what he has to do" (Tony Blair, 1998 and 2002); "Saddam is bottled up", (US vice-president Dick Cheney, 2001). The epithets applied to the Iraqi leader are so virulent as to demonise him beyond reason. All sense of who he really is, a petty local chieftain, albeit a brutal and ruthless one, and third world dictator in the mould of many others before him, has long vanished from the debate.
No wonder that in this scenario, the Iraqi people - the real victims of the west's sanctions against Saddam Hussein - have been ignored. Their feelings go unremarked, except when it has been politically expedient to adopt one or other group among them - the Marsh Arabs, the Shi'a community in southern Iraq, the Kurds. Under the latest UN security council resolution (1441), Iraqi scientists and their "immediate families" can be moved out of Iraq for interrogation, like so many inanimate objects. This ignores both the rights and wishes of the people concerned but also the crucial fact that Arab families are traditionally extended. The immediate members make up a fraction of a much larger whole, and all are important. No Iraqi would submit to any procedure that might endanger this extended family. In response, the US is considering issuing subpoenas demanding their presence outside Iraq.
To Arabs, resolution 1441 evokes nothing less than the image of a sadistic UN schoolmaster flogging an errant Iraqi pupil. At the same time, strenuous western efforts have been made to groom Iraqi opposition groups for government - though they are notorious for being unstable and fractious - without the slightest concern for their legitimacy in Iraq or their acceptability to the Iraqi people. Undeterred, the US backed a major Iraqi opposition conference in London to elaborate a future post-war strategy for Iraq. Reports spoke of petty squabbling and rivalry among the 50 or so groups there, while the US envoy was making "the real decisions" in private meetings taking place alongside the conference.
Likewise, the planning of the war on Iraq and its aftermath is callously unconcerned with the human consequences. Arab states considered necessary for launching the war have been coerced into acquiescence with the American plan, irrespective of the effects on their populations and governments. Thus, the Syrian president paid a first ever official visit to Britain - part flattery, part arm-twisting. A sop to Arab feeling comes in the shape of Sawa, a sugary US radio station in Arabic recently established and aimed at wooing younger Arabs. Tony Blair has suddenly announced he will host a conference on Palestine, presumably ahead of the attack on Iraq. Worthy as this initiative would appear, one must suspect that it is yet another sop to the Arabs and a ploy to ensure their compliance over Iraq.
There is open talk of an interim US governorship for Iraq after the anticipated fall of the present regime and an imposed leadership, possibly chosen from the same unreliable Iraqi opposition parties. As preparations to attack an Arab country intensify, the US continues its unabashed support for Israel, without regard for the suffering of the Palestinians.
It might be argued that all this is no more than evidence of what nations do to others when they are going to war. But it is difficult for Arabs to see it as anything other than a perpetuation of western colonialism in their region. This had as its basis a racist disregard for the wishes of native peoples, who were there to be exploited or manipulated at will. Their lives were considered worthless and their cultures inferior.
Iraq's history under British rule in the 1920s, when popular opposition was crushed by military force, including the use of mustard gas, is a vivid reminder of such attitudes. In 1921 Winston Churchill, then colonial secretary, wrote in an official communication: "I am strongly in favour of using poison gas on uncivilised tribes." Later, he added that the gas used against the Iraqi rebels had "excellent moral effects".
The creation of Israel in 1948 against the will of the native population is another classic example of colonialism. The 1917 Balfour declaration, which paved the way for this, consigned the Arab majority to the status of "non-Jewish communities". That dismissal of the indigenous population made possible the subsequent takeover of Palestine by European Jews.
America's intention to wage an unprovoked war on Iraq is redolent of this earlier colonialist tradition. The racism underlying this emanates from an anti-Arab culture in the US that gained strength after September 11, though it was well established before. Hollywood made several overtly anti-Arab films long before September 11, notably True Lies in 1994, which depicted Arab terrorists bombing American cities. The mass media and countless cartoons now depict Arabs in overtly racist ways and go unpunished; Arabs are being harassed and intimidated, and 2,000 are currently being held without trial in US jails.
I recall that a similar culture prevailed in the UK during the 1956 Suez crisis and the 1967 Arab-Israeli war, when Nasser was the arch-villain and all Arabs were crudely targeted. Today, in Britain, such overt anti-Arabness is unacceptable, so it takes subtler forms. Saddam-bashing, a sport officially sanctioned since 1991, has made him the perfect surrogate for anti-Arab abuse. It is tragic that the Arabs themselves - those who are providing facilities for this war - should have colluded with an enterprise so irrational, destructive and demeaning.
· Ghada Karmi's memoir, In Search of Fatima: A Palestinian Story, is published by Verso. She is former president of the Palestinian Community Association in Britain
ghada.karmi@btinternet.com
And, so, we get down to the nub of it. She is a Palestinian. She hates Jews. She hates Israel. She hates the United States....
Yada, yada, yada...
The Germans got the message the hard way. As did the Japanese and the Italians. The Russians got the message the easy way. This maroon obviously needs to get the message the hard way. If she survives, she will learn. If she does not, there is no longer a need to educate her.
This is the nature of all wars. We kill the enemy until the survivors agree to stop fighting, unconditionally. Until they say, as did Chief Joseph of the Nez Perce said, "I will fight no more, forever."
Did I miss anything?
Congressman Billybob
Click for latest column on UPI, "Ignorance in America" (Now up on UPI wire, and FR.)
***ALBAWABA.com - The Middle East Gateway: "SADDAM SAYS IRAQ READY TO FIGHT" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Saddam Hussein said Tuesday that Iraqis were ready to fight a holy war against the United States...") (122502)
ESPN.go.com: "THE HORRORS OF SADDAM'S 'SADISTIC' SON" by Tom Farrey (ARTICLE NOTE: The son is identified as Uday Hussein.) (122302)
GOOGLE Search Term: "UDAY HUSSEIN"
***U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE: "ILLUSTRATIVE EXAMPLES OF OMISSIONS FROM THE IRAQI DECLARATION TO THE UNITED NATIONS SECURITY COUNCIL" (121902)
U.S. DEPARTMENT OF STATE - Fact Sheet: "CHEMICAL - BIOLOGICAL AGENTS UPDATE" (December 2002)
HAARETZ DAILY.com: "REPORT: SADDAM PLANNED TO USE BIOLOGICAL WEAPON AGAINST ISRAEL" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "The document says that Iraq sent three MiG-21 planes to bomb Israeli targets with regular bombs to check whether they were able to penetrate the Israeli air defense system. At the second stage, three more MiGs armed with conventional weaponry were to be sent to Israel as a diversion, together with a Sukhoi airplane armed with biological weapons. But the operation failed during the first stage, when the three MiGs were downed over the Persian Gulf a short time after takeoff.") (122302)
SEATTLE TIMES.com: "JUDGE SETS BAIL FOR MAN ACCUSED OF AIDING IRAQ" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "A federal judge has set bond at $100,000 for an Iraqi American accused of illegally funneling millions in cash and goods into Iraq in violation of U.S. trade sanctions. U.S. Magistrate Judge John Weinberg yesterday said prosecutors had failed to show that Hussein Alshafei was a flight risk, or that his money-wiring business had helped finance "weaponry or war preparations in Iraq." The judge added that rumblings of war and "popular sentiment against Iraq" must not undermine the law.") (122502)
SEATTLE PI.com - SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER: "12 LINKED TO IRAQ MONEY-LAUNDERING PLAN" (121902)
***ISLAM-ONLINE.net: "MULLAH OMAR URGES JIHAD AGAINST U.S. WAR ON IRAQ" by Hasbanullah Mutawakel, IOL Correspondent (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Peshawar, December 18 (IslamOnline) - Taliban leader Mullah Mohammad Omar exhorted Muslims on Tuesday, December 17, to prepare for Jihad against the United States if it unleashes a military offensive against Iraq. In a statement published in the Pakistani Mashraq newspaper, Mullah Omar stressed it was time for the Islamic nation to stand in the face of world atheism and to attack American interests worldwide.") (121802)
***Quote.BLOOMBERG.com News: "UN ENLARGES IRAQ TEAM; AZIZ WARNS OF TERROR THREAT (Update 4)" (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Any U.S. move against Iraq to rid the country of weapons will mean the "hatred against the United States will reach its peak," Aziz said on the U.S.'s "Fox News Sunday" program. It would prompt attacks against U.S. citizens at home and abroad, he said, without specifying who might carry out the strikes.")(121602)
ISLAM-ONLINE.net - News: Cairo. "AMERICAN UNIVERSITY STUDENTS PROTESTS U.S. WAR ON IRAQ" (ARTICLE SNIPET: "AUC professors who have formed "Faculty4Pal" helped organize the protest and plan to invite next year a children's theater group from Aida refugee camp near the Palestinian West Bank town of Bethlehem, Mehrez said. Around 5, 000 Egyptian and foreign students attend AUC, which was founded in 1919 by American scholars and is incorporated in the U.S. State of Delaware, where it is licensed to confer degrees. Although an American institution, AUC's students staged several anti-U.S. rallies...") (121802)
TELEGRAPH.co.uk: "SYRIANS 'SMUGGLING ARMS TO BAGHDAD'" by Con Coughlin (ARTICLE SNIPPET: "Western intelligence officials have discovered that at least 52 crates containing new air-defence systems and spare parts have been smuggled into Iraq from Syria since the start of December. The Russian-made equipment, which has been purchased through a Belorussian middleman, was taken into Iraq through al-Walid border crossing earlier this month.") (121502)
ALBAWABA.com: "REPORT: SYRIA BOOSTS DEFENSES ALONG BORDER WITH ISRAEL; ASSAD: HAMAS, ISLAMIC JIHAD REPRESENTS MILLIONS OF PALESTINIANS" (121302)
DefenseLINK.mil - AMERICAN FORCES INFORMATION SERVICE: "IRAQ BIO WEAPONS PROGRAM LARGER THREAT THAN IN 1991" by Kathleen T. Rhem, American Forces Press Service (121602)
WHITE HOUSE.gov: "SADDAM HUSSEIN'S IRAQ: A DECADE OF DEFIANCE AND DECEPTION"
IRAQ WATCH.org
GLOBAL SECURITY.org: "PUBLIC EYE PICTURE OF THE WEEK - 2002"
FREE CONGRESS.org - THE FREE CONGRESS FOUNDATION - Notable News: "ONE WHO DARES CALL IT 'TREASON'" -Commentary by Paul M. Weyrich (COMMENTARY SNIPPET: "So how does Rep. Edolphus Towns (D-NY) justify holding a reception for the Mujahedin-e Kalq? The U.S. State Department, since 1994, has listed this group as one of the most dangerous terrorist groups in the world. The State Department says that this Marxist-Muslim group has killed many Americans and had blown up a number of U.S. facilities in Iran. This group participated in the seizure of the U.S. Embassy in Tehran in 1979. This group had a falling out with the Ayatollah Khomeni, according to The Washington Times, so the group fled to Iraq and now is funded by Saddam Hussein. The group helped Hussein fight the Kurds in the North of Iraq when chemical weapons were used.") (112502)
GOOGLE Search Term: "MUJAHEDIN-E KHALQ"
GOOGLE Search Term: "MUJAHEDIN-E KHALIQ"
GOOGLE Search Term: "MUJAHEDIN-E KALQ"
FREEREPUBLIC.com - Discussion Threads - Search Term: "IRAN AND IRAQ"
***NATIONAL POST.com: "AL QAEDA PLANNING URANIUM BOMB: UN" by Steven Edwards (121102)
***MSNBC.com: "REPORT: AL QAEDA DEAL FOR NERVE GAS U.S. Suspects Nerve Agent VX Was Smuggled Through Turkey" (121202)
I do not want to commit genocide against you.
I am not a racist.
I merely want to deny you from having anything more technical than stone tools and furs for the next century or so, until you can develop a philosophy that allows you to act better than animals.
Thanks.
I wonder if this ditz has ever noticed that Arabs happen to be Caucasians, like the majority of Europeans and Americans? How, then, can she claim that taking action against a brutal Arab dictator is racist?
Of course, for hate-filled leftists, anyone who doesn't share their specific hatreds is a racist, making the term as they use it almost meaningless.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.