From: pnews@igc.apc.org (Hank Roth)
Newsgroups: alt.activism
Subject: Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs
Date: 23 Jan 93 04:41:00 GMT
Nf-ID: #N:cdp:1296500488:000:7109
Nf-From: cdp.UUCP!pnews    Jan 22 20:41:00 1993


/* Written  8:58 am  Jan 21, 1993 by newsdesk in igc:headlines */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
/* Written 10:04 pm  Jan 20, 1993 by pnmideast in igc:mideast.gulf */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
From: <pnmideast>
Subject: Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs

/* Written 12:50 pm  Jan 20, 1993 by pacificnews@igc.apc.org in igc:pacnews.sample */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
From: Pacific News Service <pacificnews>
Subject: Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs

/* Written 12:34 pm  Jan 18, 1993 by pacificnews@igc.apc.org in igc:pacnews.storie */
/* ---------- "Saddam Symptom not Cause of Probs" ---------- */
COPYRIGHT PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE
450 Mission Street,  Room 506
San Francisco, CA 94105
415-243-4364



MIDDLE EAST PERSPECTIVE -- 875 WORDS

ARABS SEE SADDAM AS SYMPTOM -- NOT CAUSE -- OF 
REGIONAL PROBLEMS

EDITOR'S NOTE: For most Arabs and Muslims Saddam Hussein is 
more symptom than cause of the evils that afflict the region. Further, 
they believe the U.S. is possibly seeking to destroy the only Arab 
country that can succeed as a modernized nation. Voices are growing 
louder throughout the Middle East demanding that the U.S. and its 
Western allies stop selectively enforcing U.N. resolutions against some 
countries, while ignoring them entirely in the case of others. PNS 
commentator Rami Khouri, former editor of the Jordan Times, is a 
well-known TV and radio commentator and analyst based in Amman.

BY RAMI KHOURI, PACIFIC NEWS SERVICE

AMMAN, JORDAN --   Is Saddam Hussein, as the West and its Middle 
Eastern allies believe, the personification of Hitler or Stalin? Worse, is 
he, as some in the West proclaim, a reflection of a demented political 
morality that has special appeal in this region inclined to excess, 
romanticism, violence and authoritarianism?

Or, is Saddam frightening to the West because he represents a long 
overdue historical revenge -- the inevitable antidote to the last century 
of Western exploitation of Iraq's and the region's strategic location and 
resources?

As the United States applies renewed military pressure on Iraq, many 
people in this region respond with the following questions:

*Why does the U.S., along with its perpetually outraged, always 
obedient ally Great Britain, lead such a determined effort for 
compliance with U.N. resolutions in Iraq but not in other parts of the 
Middle East? Do they think that we are either so stupid, weak, 
desperate or bludgeoned by history that we will either miss or forgive 
their mounting track record of double standards and duplicity?

*By what standards does the suffering of innocent civilians in Iraq elicit 
international protection but the wholesale savagery against the people 
of Bosnia-Herzegovina does not?

*Who sets the rules about the imposition of no-fly zones in the absence 
of United Nations action, as is the case in southern and northern Iraq? 
What follows next: no-drive zones? no-eat zones? no-raise-your-voice 
zones? no-think zones?

*At what point does the macho militarism and political racism of the 
United States and its North Atlantic sidekicks prove so ugly, in terms 
of the death, disease and suffering of the same Iraqi civilians the West 
says it is trying to protect, that the world demands a relaxation of the 
embargo against Iraq and decides that Baghdad has complied with the 
terms of the relevant U.N. resolutions?

*How is the suffering of Iraqi Kurds in the frigid mountains of 
northern Iraq different from the suffering of hundreds of expelled 
Palestinians in the frigid mountains of southern Lebanon, other than 
that the United States is the primary financier and supporter of the 
Israeli state that expelled the Palestinians?

The point is, all of these questions will remain in the minds of people 
throughout this region well after the rule of Saddam Hussein. While 
most of us are critical of the Iraqi political culture, our criticisms of 
Western political culture are much stronger because they are much 
older. We see Saddam Hussein as a symptom, not the cause, of our 
regional problems. The politics and psychology of this region -- ever 
since the British and the French bombarded Alexandria and Damascus 
in the 19th century -- have grown out of the perception of the ordinary 
Arab/Muslim that he or she is unable to lead a life that affords dignity, 
prosperity and stability.

It is no surprise, therefore, that when some people in this region were 
given an opportunity to express their sentiments through elections in 
the period 1987-92, the majority voted for political forces that were in 
opposition to, or sought significant policy changes in, the established 
political power structures. This happened in Sudan, Algeria, Jordan, 
and Kuwait, where elections were quite fair, and where the modern 
Arab world experienced the unusual sensation of people freely 
expressing their political and national sentiments. It would have 
happened also in any other Arab country that dared to hold free 
elections in which the full spectrum of political forces participated, but 
no other Arab countries did so.

Iraq alone in the Arab world has the human, mineral, financial, land 
and water resources to develop into a strong and viable state. It was 
probably inevitable that at some point in modern history, a 
combination of factors would prompt Iraq in particular to marshall its 
resources in a bid to revive indigenous Arab pride and check the bitter 
legacy of foreign intervention.   (The only other Arab countries that 
come close to Iraq in terms of national material and human resources -
- Syria, Egypt, and Algeria -- all also played a significant anti-imperial, 
anti-colonial and anti-Western role during this century.)

The grassroots impulse for drastic political reconfiguration around the 
Middle East is very clear for those who have the capacity to see the 
reality of this region. This impulse is intimately associated with the 
mass legacy of anti-Western, anti-imperial anger. The conduct of the 
U.S.-led coalition simply exacerbates this mass sentiment, and probably 
ensures that the region will give birth to future leaders that are just as 
demagogic, violent and ruthless as Saddam Hussein, let alone other 
leaders who have defined this region in recent decades.

The key question that remains unanswered is: which demagogic, 
violent and ruthless Middle Eastern leaders will the West finance, arm, 
defend and support, and which ones will it bomb back into a state of 
mass suffering and national dependence? And will the West find itself 
again attacking Arab and Islamic states that it had previously found 
useful as expedient bases, temporary allies, or simply as convenient 
political cover in a cheap game that lends itself to shallow friendships 
and false appearances?

Iraq and the West today can teach us much about these crucial topics, 
should anyone dare to deal with the real issues at stake, and the real 
forces at play in the region.

(01181993)	**** END ****	 COPYRIGHT PNS


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