Interview / Vicious circles closing in

Ha'aretz (Jerusalem) ^ | 4 October 2002 | Micha Odenheimer

[Jabba the Nutt]

A journalist, human rights activist and intellectual, Thomas von der Osten-Sacken is considered one of Germany's leading authorities on human rights in Iraq. He began traveling to Iraq in 1991, when he spent eight months doing humanitarian work in the southern part of the country just after Saddam Hussein crushed the Shi'ite uprising there. In 1992, Von der Osten-Sacken co-founded an aid and advocacy organization called Wadi, operating in Iraqi Kurdistan - the semi-autonomous safe haven carved out for Kurdish refugees after the Gulf War - and on behalf of Iraqi refugees in Germany. He spends part of each year in Kurdistan where Wadi has founded the first shelter there for women in distress and is also involved in helping the local government reform the prison system that has been left over from Iraqi rule. In Germany, Wadi advises Iraqi opposition groups and works closely with the Coalition for a Democratic Iraq.

Von der Osten-Sacken, 34, publishes articles in German magazines such as Jungle World and Konkret, and has co-edited a book on Iraq called "Saddam's Last Battle?", which is due to be published next month. He is one of the relatively few contemporary German writers and thinkers on the left who consider themselves pro-Israel and have developed a left-wing critique of the anti-globalization left in today's Europe. Along with his other activities, he is conducting research for his doctoral thesis on German-language Zionist newspapers in the 1930s for the German literature department at the University of Frankfurt.

	Thomas von der Osten-Sacken: "The most regressive and dangerous elements in the Arab and Islamic world depend on Saddam Hussein."

[Shermy]

Thanks for the ping.

[keri]

Yes, it is encouraging.

I hope this administration has the will and courage to finish off Hussein & Co., and won't back off.

On a related note, the "no blood for oil" crowd is likely to get us all in a lot of deep, deep trouble. The longer we wait, the harder the job becomes.Time is not on our side with this one.

Thanks again, Mitchell.

[Nogbad]

In fact, it is a bit surprising that so many on the left have turned into apologists for terrorists.

When Khomeini left his exile in France and returned to Iran
the press of the left in France was ecstatic.

Somehow they can't seem to recall this
whenever I mention this to my leftist acquaintances,
one of whom also was in France at the time.

The Communist Party of Iran also supported Khomeini.

Most of them are dead now, of course.

[Alamo-Girl]

Thanks for the heads up!

[Mitchell]

And, of course, long before that, the left in the West contained many who defended Stalin.

But the current version of leftism seems different -- more dissolute perhaps, falling apart. For one thing, the experience of history has demonstrated the failure and futility of socialism and the evil of communism. The left has no overarching themes left, just talking points.

And where are the liberals of today who are like Scoop Jackson or John Kennedy, in terms of their commitment to the defense of our civilization in argument, in public policy, and in military action? (I have fundamental political disagreements with much of those two people's politics, but nevertheless there used to be a place for liberals who believed in our civilization and supported a strong defense of it.)

[Nogbad]

In response to my pointing out that the left supported Khomeini:

And, of course, long before that, the left in the West contained many who defended Stalin.

But the current version of leftism seems different -- more dissolute perhaps, falling apart.

But there is a big difference.
Stalin was a communist, Khomeini hardly could be called a leftist.
It was the same weird mentality then that many of the left are displaying now.
I think that's where this 'dissolution' all began.
In effect they said we support anyone who attacks the USA
(or the USA via the Shah.)

I thought it was extremely weird at the time,
but what is happening now is just a continuation of this tendency.