Let's be wise, not just smart, in dealing with Iraq During a recent stay in Amman, I met many foreign diplomats and trading company officials who deal with Iraq rather than with Jordan. The number of specialists in Iraqi affairs appears to be on the rise. I happened to meet one of them, the manager of a Danish trading company, at the airport. The man, who had just come back from Baghdad, told me about the city's Al Rashid Hotel, a state-run hotel usually used by foreign visitors. According to the man, the entire floor of the hotel's main lobby features a mosaic portrait of former U.S. President George Bush.
Guests have no choice but to step on the portrait to reach the front desk.
To this day, the elder Bush remains an abominable enemy to Saddam Hussein. The hatred stems not only from Saddam's humiliation at being defeated outright in the Persian Gulf War, but also from subsequent sanctions imposed on Iraq on the initiative of the United States. During the Gulf war, the United Nations imposed economic sanctions on Iraq until it withdrew from Kuwait. Later, the United Nations continued sanctions as a way of getting Iraq to accept inspections to prevent it from developing weapons of mass destruction. In 1996, while continuing sanctions, the United Nations nonetheless allowed Iraq to export oil under U.N. surveillance to enable it to buy humanitarian supplies with oil revenues.