Jefferson Corner

When it comes to Iraq, no Iraqis so far was and is able to describe the Iraqi situation and the failure of the Iraqi people to form and build a modern nation state than Foulath Hadid, the honory fellow at St. Anthony’s College, Oxford as he eloquently expressed his views in an article published in the International Herald Tribune (Friday, October 20, 2006).
Mr. Hadid quoting the late King Faisal I, shortly before his death describing the Iraqis as “ There is still— no Iraqi people but unimaginable masses of human beings, devoid of any patriotic ideas, imbued with religious traditions and absurdities, connected by no common tie, giving ear to devil, prone to anarchy, and perpetually ready to rise against any government what so ever” The late king Faisal was somewhat correct in the last instance. However the Iraqis did not rise in mass and throw out Saddam and his Ba’athist gang. Too bad the Sunni Muslims did not join the Shiites and Kurds when they revolted against Saddam.
It is very clear that not George Bush nor any one in his administration bothered to read the history of Iraq before they set of their reckless, ill advices, ill planned, and ill executed war on Iraq. It seems when it comes to history, members of this administration to do not bother to read, or are unable to read.
No one in their right mind, will disagree that Saddam Hussein is a killer, a murder, a war criminal who had to go, but many disagree with the lies of George Bush and with the way he ramp the war on Iraq, as a war on terror down the throat of congress and the public.
It is hard to believe how Bush allowed Paul Bremer to execute the plans for the post war Iraq without any due considerations to its history and its very complicated social, religious, tribal and ethnic structure.
More troublesome is the fact that Bush and Rumsfeld continue to believe in the same in what they are doing and thinking they are on the right course when the facts on the grounds tell them they better change plans and change tactics.
Bush afraid to admit he made a major blunder and made the biggest mistake of his presidency continues to make believe and continue to advocate, “staying the course”. What course are you talking about Mr. President? Your course is nothing but a disaster and all of the provado you can give and pretend will not change the facts on the grounds.
The Late president Lyndon Johnson lied to Congress when he claimed the North Vietnamese attacked US Navy ships in the Gulf of Tonking, thus escalating a conflict the murdered over 55,000 of our finest soldiers, crippled for life hundreds of thousands of GI’s and killed and murder over a million Vietnamese, he left in disgrace which he deserved.
Bush is doing the same like Johnson, lied about Weapons of Mass Destructions and continue to lie about the ties of Saddam to terror and of so far the number of murdered and killed Iraqis is approaching the 700,000. Do we expect that Bush will admit his lies and his failures before the death toll in Iraq reach a million, I doubt it?
The only beneficiaries of the Bush’s War on Terror are the so-called “security and terror experts” and those companies that sell to Department of Homeland Security. I do not believe the nation is safer or safer under Bush leadership.
It is time for Bush to admit to the people of the US that he lied, he made believe and he should apologies to the families of the more than 700,000 who died in Iraq so far. He should apologies to the nation and for taking the nation for a reckless, and joyless ride these past 5 years.

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Original Post: 19 Nov 2005

Bayan Jaber Solaj, the Iraqi minister of interior not only should resign but should stand trial as well. The man is not only an arrogant minister who have a habit of insulting others (he called the Saudi “Bedouins” who could not teach him any thing) that is for sure, the Saudis could not teach such an arrogant and corrupt man any thing, he is too far gone to be salvaged by the Saudis and the Americans.
The discovery of “secret” prisons belonging to the ministry of interior where systemic abuse and torture takes places is enough reason for Solaj to step down and stand trial. The fact that he knew of such secrete prisons, and the fact that he know there was systematic torture of prisoners, are enough reasons for the man to get the hell out of the office and to take his place in the dock, in the court room with Saddam and his Baathist murderers.
Yes, one can understand the Shiite and what they had to endure during Saddam regime and one can understand the anger and frustration the Shiite have against the Sunnis who misruled and misused and abused Iraq and Iraqis for a long time, but that does not in any way ever, justify the abuses the Sunnis have to endure at the hand of Iraqi Shiites. This is not what this whole thing in Iraq is all about.
What the Iraqis need is not another Baathist regime like that of Saddam. What Iraqis need is not another Shiite regime like next door Iran responsible for the killing and murder of tens of thousands who challenged the mullahs of Iran. The Mullahs of Iran put to death, not supporters of the late Shah, but ordinary Iranians who saw that the Islamic revolution eating and devouring its sons and daughters. We do not need Shiite regimes like that of Iran. What the people of Iraq need is a democratic, secular state where citizens of Iraq can be equal in the eye of the law. What the Iraqi needs is not a secular criminal regime like that of Saddam’s Baathist regime, and do not need a regime of the Mullah, certainly, we do not need a regime like that of Paul Bremer and Solaj. Iraq and Iraqis more than ever needs freedom, freedom from fear, freedom of religion and from religion, freedom from war lords like those they had in Kurdish areas and certainly they do not need a Shiite or a Sunni majority, but an Iraqi democratic majority.
Hell broke lose when the Americans where caught on camera abusing prisoners in Abu-Ghraib prison, and the entire world jumped on the US demanding apologies and trials for those who committed such crimes. We should not demand less than that Now.
Well what the world now demands from Mr. Solaj is nothing less, and since he is directly responsible for authorizing such a systematic torture, then nothing short of resignation and trial will do.
I never could understand what is going on in Iraq and I like the recommendation of Dr. Salmeh, the former Lebanese minister of information and culture where he said in recent interview, that every one should have known that Iraq is quite an interesting and complicated country and once you open the door on such a complex problem you better come up with very original ideas, that address this strange combination of mosaic.
What is more surprising in the case of secret Iraqi prisons is the silence of the Shiite leaderships, a silence no less worrisome that the silence of the Sunni leadership at the ever increasing wave of suicide bombing and killing of innocent Iraqis committed by Sunni fighters. What Iraq needs is an outstanding secular leadership that keeps religious leaderships where it belong in the mosques and put criminal sectarian leadership behind bars for failing to stop all of the killings that is going on. The torture of Sunnis in secrete Shiite jails is no less dangerous that suicide bombing carried by Sunnis against Shiites. Iraq needs responsible leadership for a change not killers and murderers to rule it.

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I am one of those former veterans who supported the US objective of getting rid of Saddam Hussein, though I was not too comfortable and was not convinced with the arguments put forward.
Every one in the Middle East knew about Saddam and his crimes against his people and against all of his neighbors. Read the rest of this entry »

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