Najeeb Kazmi 

The Butcher of Baghdad and the shame of Mesopotamia

(In response to AKBER CHOUDHRY’s write-up and letter) 

At this time when political scenarios are changing very rapidly by the minute, it is, indeed a daunting task to comment upon a political snapshot and to do an honest, impartial analysis because the truth of the moment fades away into a new reality the next moment. Furthermore issues that appear simple are often multi-faceted and have their roots in political system, governance and social framework of the society.  

Amidst the current furore and debate on the punishment and the timing of Saddam’s execution, I came across a write-up by Akber Choudhry posted on FOTH and CMU websites. The write-up contained a lot of emotional mumbo jumbo. In particular, it was very disturbing to observe that a group of people like Akber, who claim to be intellectuals, have started to portray Saddam as an “Arab Hero” and an “Arab Lion" and have even gone so far as to compare him to a famous Kurdish general, Salahuddin Ayubi. This “lack of judgement” indicates the true nature of their mental disorientation and historical ignorance. 

History tells us that Salahuddin was a brave man who, directly or indirectly did not kill or advocate killing defenceless, innocent, people. He is known to have willingly fought only against and killed brave crusader generals and warriors. On the contrary, Saddam and his cohorts, being devoid of any moral principles, were experts in eliminating, killing, torturing, burning alive and detonating innocent, helpless dissenters, Kurds, Shias and in particular the non combatant women and children, over an extended period of time. Akber is advised to browse the net and view video clips and tons of other information available showing the “work” of these “devils of Iraq”, before attempting to glorify them.  

I would like to let Akber know that Saddam, in reality, was a criminal and a coward, who was pulled out of the rat hole, where he was hiding (with a suitcase containing millions of US $ in cash). He, later started to show his stubborn tribal attitude of “Arab supremacy” and “disobedience” against his long time masters and mentors, the United States, but never actually talked about or presented a written statement detailing the nature of his discreet political relations with various US establishments and how he was used by them, to achieve specific political goals in the Middle Eastern region. 

In his sentimental letter, Akber has preferred to quote only those last words of Saddam and an “unknown Arab woman”, that are sensational and controversial and are fully reflective of Akber Choudhry’s personal bent of mind like…quote: “Down with the Americans and the Persians” and “He was an Arab and died like a true Arab” (only Akbar Chaudhry knows what is so great in being an Arab). A butcher who attacked and invaded Iran with the arms and help of United States through Saudi Arabia and was responsible for eight (8) long years of misery, killing and maiming of thousands of people, a racial supremacist who never hid his hatred of “Persians”, is the newfound hero and role model of Akber Choudhry. 

I still remember the time when I was deputed to work at a power station in a town near the border of Saudi Arabia and Iraq during the Iraq-Iran war and watched and heard Saddam on Saudi and Iraqi television channels repeating slogans like “Al-akhu-al Arabi and Al udu-al-farsi” hundreds of times a day, meaning “the Arab Brothers and the Persian enemy”. All the other rhetoric had clear references to Arab supremacy and openly made fun of all the others, including Persians as having no right to exist as equals, in the region. Saudi’s let him use their media for propagation of this racially motivated (Arab race) agenda and at that time there was no mention of Islam on the media at all. I fail to understand how could Akbar equate despots and cowards like Saddam to Salahuddin Ayubi?  

A funny sentence caught my attention in Akbar’s letter stating that eliminating Saddam is an attempt to “castrate the Arab world and the emasculation of the Muslim Ummah”. There could be nothing farther away from truth than this statement as everyone knows that Saddam had nothing to do with the Muslim Ummah, and he actually worked against the real unity of Muslims all his life. He was, in essence a conspirator and a coward who targeted not only his political opponents, but also eliminated all voices of dissent within his own rank and file. He is even known to have killed with his own hands, hundreds of his own trusted Baathists, which also include some original founders of the Movement. The only people he could be compared to are Hitler or Stalin, both of whom had no regard for any intellect, democratic values, tolerance or difference of opinion.

Role of USA as a neo-colonialist power of our time:

There is absolutely no denying the fact that United States is and has been playing a very sinister role in the Middle East and Asia. Only factor which Akbar forgot to mention is that by doing so, US is and has been portraying its own national character as the neo-colonialist power of the present times. Students of social sciences and politics understand that it is a historical inevitability that the appetite of the neo-colonialists powers will increase exponentially with time, for greater influence and greater access to resources, in an effort to sustain world capitalism and to satisfy the insatiable appetite and profit greed of multi-national corporations. The regions that are the weakest, politically and socially and also possess natural resources are more vulnerable to neo-colonialist onslaught, Iraq being one of such countries. Under Hassan-al-bakr and Saddam, Iraqi political system comprised of a mixture of dictatorial, tribal, Arab nationalistic, secular and cultish traditions and was always very weak, internally. This was primarily due to the fact that the combined majority of Kurdish and Shia population of Iraq were always excluded and were victims of hatred of the Bathist regime and despised by Saddam, himself. Saddam did not even acknowledge that Shia’s of Iraq were true “Arabs” and used to declare them “Persians”, and mocked them.

Having said that, people who still think that USA and other neo-colonialist powers are keen to establish democratic societies in the Middle East, are surely living in fool’s paradise. The only objective of these powers is to capture new resources and new markets as their economic system which is based upon human greed, will crumble, so it isn’t about killing a million here or there, it is about business, which is above all norms of humanity and social justice. Being aware of these facts, rulers in the Middle East should have strived to ward off the neo-colonialist evil from their lands by establishing better social and political systems, by involvement of a broader cross section of Arab population and raise the political awareness, instead of becoming lackey’s of imperialism and resorting to adhoc measures to legitimize their rule. This could not have been possible, because most, if not all-Arab countries have non-representative dictatorial regimes or monarchies that do not represent the will of the people.           

Few words about the method and timing of Saddam’s execution:

Personally, I do not approve capital punishment and believe that it should only be given as a last resort, when nothing else is considered appropriate. In the case of Saddam’s execution, it appears that the immense hatred of him, actually found its way into the arena where he was hanged. At this very dangerous time in the Iraqi history, there is always a likelihood that the sharp polarity, which already existed in the society, may have encroached far deeper than was anticipated, which resulted in someone yelling, “go to hell”. This behaviour is absolutely undesirable, but is explainable.

In my opinion, the timing of execution is not an issue. If the execution were done two weeks later, the result would still have been the same. It would have been better if he were sentenced to life imprisonment in a remote island, for rest of his life. There, he would have had the company of his cohorts and his brothers-in-crime, where they could all spend rest of their life reflecting on the gravity of their crimes against humanity. That would have been a more appropriate punishment.

Which side are you on? 

It is appalling how Akber Chaudhry has tried to trivialize and legitimize horrendous crimes against Iraqis, by calling his genocide as a “natural outcome” and “a normal part of the business of governance”. He sounded like a spokesperson of Saddam in North America, although he claims that personally, he was not an admirer of Saddam. Have a glimpse of how he minces words to make his mentality known:

Ø      “So what? How many Confederate families hated Abraham Lincoln when he put down a foreign-financed rebellion in the southern part of his country with brute force”

(and you still complain about the treatment of alleged terrorist Muslim detainees by USA, If you believe in what you said above, should you really complain?…so what if they are bullied, it all goes with the territory)

Ø      “The United States egged him on against Iran. Iran tried to destabilize him using its Shia clergy connections. He had the conspirators executed. Such is statecraft and we all live with it”

(By your standards, Bush is a fine person as what he is doing is part of his ‘statecraft and we all live with it’, though you never let go an opportunity to bitch against him. Isn’t it?)

Ø      “Saddam's convoy was attacked in Dujail. He ordered an investigation and “duly constituted judges” pronounced death on the attackers and their supporters. During his trial, he was personally exonerated. His actions were in his official capacity as head of state – he did not shoot someone with a revolver in his office” 

(Go and tell International Crimes Tribunal at Hague not to pursue cases against Radko Mladic, Radovan Karadic etc. as they also fall in the same category. Go and contest against “Nuremburg trials” as practically none of the Nazi officers executed, shot anyone personally, but were held completely and totally responsible for the massive crimes committed against innocent Jewish people and were executed).   
 

Saddam's Legacy and Prayer 

Saddam leaves behind a dreadful legacy, of a butcher and a coward. One may disagree with the manner he was executed, as I do, but that does not change the facts stated above. Looking ahead, I wish, pray and hope that peace and common sense prevails in the land of “Hussain Ibn-Ali”. I also pray that Iraq steer clear of the dirty games of neo-colonialists and imperialist powers of this era and stay united as one nation with a pluralistic, secular society, not influenced by either Saudi Arabia, Iran, nationalistic or religious considerations. We wish and hope to see Iraq as a vibrant society with high literacy level, commitment to science & technology, development of its people and democracy. This is the only path on which Iraq could ward off all forms of political and economic aggression and preserve its integrity.