Re: David Shapero,November 13 at 2:43 am.

Mr.Shapiro writes,

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Iraq (was) a truly secular country under his rule?!?!
Who writes these fantasies?

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It is I,Sodium,who wrote what you biasly and ignorantly claimed to be “fantasies?”.

My “fantasies?”,sir?!,have been based on my countless business trips I had made to Iraq in the 1970s and 1980s,on behalf of an American multi-nationals corporation. I had managed   business operations for the whole Middle East,including Iraq on behalf of that corporation.

Therefore,based on my direct contact with
Iraq and many of its people,with whom I had the privilege and pleasure of meeting/negotiating or having pleasant converstions with them over simple lunches or over cups of minted-sweetened tea,I stand firmly with my “fantasies?!”,regardless of what you and your ilk may say. Reasons:

(1) Saddam Hussein,a brutal dictator? Yes,indeed,he was;but that was not the point in contention. What was in contention was his biography as an integrated whole,that might be of some help in approaching the “truth” about his legacy as a secular Iraqi President whose secularism could be found in the way he ruled Iraq for almost 30 years.

(2) Saddam’s secularism was certainly expressed very cleary in appointing Mr.Tarik Aziz,an Iraqi Christian,as his Minister of Foreign Affairs.

(3) Saddam’s secularism was expressed in appointing Dr.Sadoun Hamadi,an Iraqi Shii Muslim,as his Prime Minister. Saddam was a Sunni. I personally met and knew Dr. Hamadi and had interesting conversations with him occasionally when he was still a Ph.D. student at University Of Wisconsin,in the middle of 1950s-a fascinating mind I had the pleasure of exchanging views with.

(4) Saddam’s secularism could be found in his Vice-President,Mr Izat Hasan Ibrahim,an Iraqi Sunni Muslim Kurd.

(5) Saddam’s secularism could be found in the fact that the numbers of the members of his political party called “Ba’ath Party” comprised Iraqi Shiis,Sunnis,Christians and even some Iraqi Kurds who placed their Iraqi nationalism above their Kurdishism.     

(6) Saddam’s secularism could also be found in the fact that the majority of his army that fought in the war against Iran for eight years,1980-1988 was Iraqi Muslim Shia. A Similar situation existed in his Ba’ath Party. Most of the members were Iraqi Shia. The Sunni,Christian and other ethnic Iraqis were minority compared to the numbers of Shia in both situations,his army and Ba’ath Party.

(7) As to Jews,I refrain from making any firm assessment about his secularism in relation to them at this time. However,I can say this: I recall reading some newspapers articles,in some Arab countries,in which Saddam was quoted of saying that he encouraged the Iraqi Jews who left Iraq in the late 1940s and early 1950s to return to Iraq as loyal Iraqi citizens like any other Iraqi citizens,but I could not confirm that. Anyone who is interested to know why Iraqi Jews left Iraq in late 1940s and early 1950s should read a book entitled “Ben Gurion’s Scandles” by Naeim Giladi,an Iraqi Jew,who helped smuggling the Jews of Iraq to Israel. He now lives in the United States. No further comments from me on this. one may be able to obtain a copy of this book from a nesletter called “The Link”,published in New york City.

Questions that must be raised:
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* Did Saddam Execute or assassinate Shii clerics? Yes he did,but only those who were puppets to his arch-enemy,Iran.

* Did Saddam kill some Iraqi Kurds? Yes,he did,but only those who were collaborators with Iran or CIA and Israel.

I do not condone either killings,but objectivity is my goal,regardless of what ignorance of Iraq and its complex society may say. Because of such an ignorance of the mosaic of Iraqi society,America ended-up in QUAGMIRE in Iraq.

In short,Saddam Hussein was NO threat to America,
Period.

He was a threat only in the warmongering mindsets like you,sir?!

Iraq a truly secular country under his rule?!?!  Who
writes these fantasies?

The Government severely restricted or banned outright
many Shi’a religious practices and for decades
conducted a brutal campaign of murder, summary
execution, arbitrary arrest, and protracted detention
against religious leaders and followers of the
majority Shi’a Muslim population and sought to
undermine the identity of minority Christian
(Assyrian and Chaldean) and Yazidi groups. The regime
systematically killed senior Shi’a clerics,
desecrated Shi’a mosques and holy sites, interfered
with Shi’a religious education, and prevented Shi’a
adherents from performing their religious rites.
Shiites were prohibited from publishing or
broadcasting.

Iraqi citizens were not allowed to assemble legally
unless it was to express support for the government.
The Iraqi government controlled the establishment of
political parties, regulated their internal affairs
and monitored their activities.
Police checkpoints on Iraq’s roads and highways
prevented ordinary citizens from traveling abroad
without government permission and expensive exit
visas. Before traveling, an Iraqi citizen had to post
collateral. Iraqi women could not travel outside of
the country without the escort of a male relative.
The activities of citizens living inside Iraq who
received money from relatives abroad were closely
monitored.

Jews were banned from entering the country - as were
any other religious leaders of denominations or sects
that were deemed undesirable by the Sunni regime.

Secular?  That only exists in a society where all
religious views are given the freedom to exist.  When
the state determines who is to be acceptable, that,
my writer friend, is a despotic cult of religious
intolerance.

The New york Times can shun anything written constructively and objectively about Saddam Hussein but cannot refute the following achievements done during his rule of Iraq,inspite of,or because of,his brutal and iron-fist dictatorship:

* He provided security and decent living for the vast majority of Iraqis,even during 8 years of ferocious war against Iran,from 1980-1988.

* He emancipated Iraqi women. During his rule a visitor could see them holding important governmental
positions,in academia,in the General Assembly and as important and active members in his political party called “Ba’ath Party”.

* He was the force behind eleminating illitracy in Iraq completely and he succeeded to a large measure.

* Perhaps out of fear of harsh punishment,if caught,corruption was unheard of in all governmental levels.

* Iraq was a dynamic and progressive country under his rule.

* Iraq was a truly secular country under his rule.

* Most importantly,for the United State,Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and his highly educated members of his Ba’ath Party (called Ba’athists) had kept Iran’s ambitions,for regional hegemony,under leash and constant check at all times. He kept the theocracy in Iran in Iran. Period.

Whatever the aim of the blind subjectivity of The New York Times,it cannot cover the obvious achievements Iraq had accomplished under Saddam Hussein,the brutal dictator and the thug of Baghdad!!

Would someone explain to me how the captured “Saddam” had grown a beard so fast and why his teeth were so bad?