Saddam Hussein Should Have Been Left To Run Iraq?
Both President Obama and President-elect Donald Trump believe the
United States never should have invaded Iraq in 2003.
The war in Iraq and its chaotic aftermath in many ways prefigure
the present moment in the Middle East; it triggered a sectarian
unraveling that now haunts both Iraq and Syria and looms large in the
minds of an Obama administration wary of further intervention in the
region's conflicts.In a new book coming out this month, John Nixon, a former CIA officer who
interrogated Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein after he was captured by
coalition forces in December 2003, details his encounter with the
toppled despot and the varied discussions that followed.
Early on, Hussein warned that the occupation of Iraq wouldn't be as much of a "cakewalk" as Washington's neoconservatives assumed at the time.
Early on, Hussein warned that the occupation of Iraq wouldn't be as much of a "cakewalk" as Washington's neoconservatives assumed at the time.
Nixon now reckons Hussein had a point and that a ruthless strongman like him was necessary to "maintain Iraq's multi-ethnic state" and keep both Sunni extremism and the power of Shiite-led Iran, a Hussein foe, at bay.When I interrogated Saddam, he told me: “You are going to fail. You are going to find that it is not so easy to govern Iraq.” When I told him I was curious why he felt that way, he replied: “You are going to fail in Iraq because you do not know the language, the history, and you do not understand the Arab mind.”
"Saddam’s leadership style and penchant for brutality were among the many faults of his regime, but he could be ruthlessly decisive when he felt his power base was threatened, and it is far from certain that his regime would have been overthrown by a movement of popular discontent," he wrote.
"Likewise, it is improbable that a group like ISIS would have
been able to enjoy the kind of success under his repressive regime that
they have had under the Shia-led Baghdad government." (ISIS is another
name for the Islamic State.)
This may all be rather true. Trump himself insists that regime change should no longer be in Washington's interest and has embraced dictatorial leaders such as Egypt's President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi.
"Although I found Saddam to be thoroughly unlikeable, I came away with a grudging respect for how he was able to maintain the Iraqi nation as a whole for as long as he did," wrote Nixon.
"He told me once, 'Before me, there was only bickering and arguing. I ended all that and made people agree!'"
Many Arab commentators, though, reject the simplicity of the assumptions here — that if not ruled by tyrants, their nations would automatically turn into breeding grounds for militancy.
That's a logic, after all, that serves the autocrats. Moreover, there's a direct connection between the heavy-handed policies of the region's autocrats and the conditions that spawn extremism and deepen sectarian animosities.
Pluralistic, multi-ethnic societies have been the norm, not the exception, for centuries.
This may all be rather true. Trump himself insists that regime change should no longer be in Washington's interest and has embraced dictatorial leaders such as Egypt's President Abdel Fatah al-Sissi.
"Although I found Saddam to be thoroughly unlikeable, I came away with a grudging respect for how he was able to maintain the Iraqi nation as a whole for as long as he did," wrote Nixon.
"He told me once, 'Before me, there was only bickering and arguing. I ended all that and made people agree!'"
Many Arab commentators, though, reject the simplicity of the assumptions here — that if not ruled by tyrants, their nations would automatically turn into breeding grounds for militancy.
That's a logic, after all, that serves the autocrats. Moreover, there's a direct connection between the heavy-handed policies of the region's autocrats and the conditions that spawn extremism and deepen sectarian animosities.
Pluralistic, multi-ethnic societies have been the norm, not the exception, for centuries.
Source: Washington Post, Agency
US CONTRACTOR PAYS UP MILLIONS OVER ABU GHRAIB ABUSE
WASHINGTON: A US defence contractor accused of helping torture
prisoners at Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison has paid former detainees
more than $5 million to settle a lawsuit, according to regulatory
filings obtained by AFP on Wednesday.
The plaintiffs, 72 former detainees, alleged that L-3 Services Inc.
(now called Engility Holdings) and others, “either participated in,
approved of, or condoned the mistreatment of prisoners by United States
military officials,” according to the document.
“On October 5, 2012, we and the plaintiffs agreed to resolve and
dismiss the action in return for a payment of $5.28 million,” the
company wrote in its third quarter report to the Securities and Exchange
Commission.
Abu Ghraib prison became infamous after the publication in 2004 of photographs showing Iraqi detainees being humiliated and abused by their US guards in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.
Abu Ghraib prison became infamous after the publication in 2004 of photographs showing Iraqi detainees being humiliated and abused by their US guards in the aftermath of the 2003 invasion.
The scandal led to the sentencing of 11 soldiers to up to 10 years in prison.
- The majority of the abuse took place at the end of 2003, when CACI and L-3 employees were working in the prison, US military courts have said.The initial complaint was originally filed on May 5, 2008, the company stated, adding that multiple cases were consolidated into a single lawsuit to be heard in federal court in Maryland.
- It said it agreed to settle after first losing a motion to dismiss the complaint in 2010, and an appeal of that decision in 2012.
Source: Agency
IRAQI SUNNI ARABS PROTEST U.S PLAN FOR KURDISH PATROLS
BAGHDAD – Hundreds of Sunni Arabs opposed to the presence of Kurdish troops in disputed areas of northern Iraq demonstrated Saturday against a plan to deploy a mixed force of American, Kurdish and Iraqi soldiers in the area.
Courtesy: AP
- More than 300 people in the Sunni-dominated town of Hawija, once an insurgent stronghold, gathered in a stadium to protest the inclusion of Kurdish troops in these patrols.
- The split between Iraq's majority Arabs and the Kurdish minority, which controls a semiautonomous region in the north, is one of the most significant long-term threats to the country's stability, U.S. and Iraqi officials say.
- Sunni Arabs fear the Kurds are looking to add Arab lands to their semiautonomous region.
- The top U.S. military commander in the country believes al-Qaida in Iraq is taking advantage of tensions between the Iraqi army and the Kurdish militia, the peshmerga, to carry out attacks on villages not guarded by either side.
- To try to fill the gap, Gen. Ray Odierno last month proposed the idea of a mixed force that would include U.S. troops serving in an oversight role to help Kurdish and Iraqi soldiers work together to secure areas along that fault line.
- The issue has come to the fore with a series of deadly bombings targeting villages outside the tense city of Mosul, where al-Qaida in Iraq and other Sunni insurgents remain active despite numerous U.S.-Iraqi military operations.
- Odierno said the deployment of the U.S.-Iraqi-Kurdish protection forces would start in Ninevah province, which includes Mosul, then extend to Kirkuk and to Diyala province north of the capital.
- The plan, which would represent a departure from a security pact that called for Americans to pull back from populated areas on June 30, has yet to be approved.
- Odierno said a high-level meeting between Iraqi, Kurdish and U.S. officials would be held in September, but the U.S. military could not confirm if the meeting had occurred or provide other details about the progress of the proposal.
- The demonstrators in Hawija, west of the disputed oil-rich city of Kirkuk, held banners that called the plan a violation of the constitution and the security agreement, which took effect on Jan. 1 and replaced the U.N. mandate for foreign forces.
- Resentment against the plan is building among Arabs in the town and other areas that are dominated by Arabs, said the head of Hawija's city council, Hussein al-Jubouri.
- "Arabs in this and other disputed areas reject this proposal because they say it will provoke sectarian divisions among residents, and it is a violation of the constitution," he said.
- In Baghdad, a senior parliament official said Odierno's plan was still being studied and no final decision had been reached.
- "There were reactions against it and we are studying these reactions in order to evaluate this plan," said Abbas al-Bayati, chairman of parliament's security committee.
- "The problem is that the presence of American forces in these areas will violate the U.S.-Iraq security pact, so to approve this plan it must be modified to conform with the pact," al-Bayati said.
- He said the opposition from Arabs in Kirkuk and other places stems from their objections to having Kurdish forces on patrol in those disputed areas.
- At the heart of the dispute is the oil-rich city of Kirkuk as well as villages in Ninevah province that the Kurds want to incorporate into their semiautonomous area despite opposition from Arabs and minority Turkomen ethnic group.
- A minister in the Kurdish regional government supported the plan for mixed patrols Saturday, calling it a good step toward resolving unsettled disputes with Iraq's central government.
- The minister, Mohammed Ihsan, said he met with American military officials in the Kurdish city of Irbil on Wednesday to discuss the plan.
- "We have agreed on the American proposal ... It is a way to build trust and goodwill between both sides to resolve the lingering problem of disputed areas," Ihsan said.
BRITAIN FAILED SUFFERING SOLDIERS
Soldiers traumatised by the horrors of war are being helped to recover by reliving their experiences in a computer-generated of the war
The Army's most decorated serving war hero has accused the Government of failing soldiers suffering from mental trauma resulting from combat in Iraq and Afghan
istan.Lance Corporal Johnson Beharry, who was awarded the Victoria Cross for twice saving the lives of colleagues in Iraq while under heavy rocket fire, told The Independent it was "disgraceful" that some veterans were struggling to receive treatment.
He said the Government was relying on military charities to cover its own deficiencies and called on it to act to better help the growing number of his comrades suffering from severe combat stress, depression and mental breakdowns.
"These are people who have served this country," said Cpl Beharry, in his most outspoken interview since receiving the VC four years ago.
"Why can
't they get treatment? I don't think the Government is doing enough for soldiers. Those who are still serving get some form of help for combat stress but even those who are serving don't get enough support."The 29-year-old, still a serving soldier, displayed the courage which earned him the country's highest honour by standing up for the thousands of servicemen and women who are still suffering from post-traumatic and combat stress in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Cpl Beharry broke his silence to reveal that almost five years after he suffered severe injuries saving his friends, he is still racked by mental anguish and excruciating pain.
While he is aware he has received first-rate treatment, he has spoken out on behalf of less high-profile personnel, criticising the fact that charities have been forced to step in where the Government has failed.
In the last three months of 2007 alone, 868 military personnel presented with a problem at the MoD's mental health departments and 69 were so severe they had to be admitted as inpatients.
While just 43 were diagnosed as having full-blown post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD), hundreds more were deemed to have mood or adjustment disorders or depressive illnesses.
A report on the Ministry of Defence's Departments of Community Mental Health (DCMH) said there was a "significantly higher rate of PTSD among those deployed to the Iraq or Afghanistan theatres of operation".
Courtesy: The Independent U.K.
DESPERATE DREAMS
INTRODUCTION (English version)
For my Guest Today, I had invited VIOLET, an International Blogger from a war-torn province of Mosul in Iraq. Like Izatie from new Zealand, let share what she has to say about her life in Mosul, Iraq.
For my Guest Today, I had invited VIOLET, an International Blogger from a war-torn province of Mosul in Iraq. Like Izatie from new Zealand, let share what she has to say about her life in Mosul, Iraq.
“Oh Mosul ! that beloved city of Iraq . I can't live without this city guys!. I just can't. How can I even breathe an air except its air. How can I spend my morning without smelling the beautiful fragrance of flowers in my garden and without breathing the cool breeze in every spring morning in this city of two springs . yes, my friends. There are two springs (seasons) during the year in this beautiful city one after winter and the other nearly the autumn season .. ain't that obviously so nice!!??
As a student who has finished her high school from nearly three months or more, I was thinking what college I'm going to join?- I had made up my mind since childhood but that thinking was just for averment - . Here in Mosul there is one governmental university that called : University of Mosul, and other non-governmental universities.
Here as opposite of nearly the whole world, the governmental schools are better than non- governmental school. It has text books that used in the US, in England and even in Canada.
In fact, that was not the only thing. There are too many colleges are ignored here and are not taking the proper care like: the Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, and even Medicine and Pharmacy; When the Engineering is the most requested career in other countries like Malaysia which is one of the countries that Iraqis go to for getting jobs or escaping from the actual situation.
As a student who has finished her high school from nearly three months or more, I was thinking what college I'm going to join?- I had made up my mind since childhood but that thinking was just for averment - . Here in Mosul there is one governmental university that called : University of Mosul, and other non-governmental universities.
Here as opposite of nearly the whole world, the governmental schools are better than non- governmental school. It has text books that used in the US, in England and even in Canada.
In fact, that was not the only thing. There are too many colleges are ignored here and are not taking the proper care like: the Engineering, Biology, Chemistry, and even Medicine and Pharmacy; When the Engineering is the most requested career in other countries like Malaysia which is one of the countries that Iraqis go to for getting jobs or escaping from the actual situation.
Doctors were threatened here , the best doctors of the world ever have left Iraq to find peace and to work for other countries while Iraq is the most deserved country that they must serve.
I heard of too many doctors and Iraqi scientists who had to leave Iraq for NO REASON at all and have to suffer the pain of being away from their homes. They are treasure… people!!! In other countries that they left to ,United Arab Emirates(UAE) for example, they are at the head of their career and no one can deny their competence.
Why do they have to leave Iraq ??!!!
Actually I was thinking of my future and I was feeling so depressed. Please tell me something that will give my hope back… I usually get to be in this situation .. the psychologists – in fact – I refer it to the routine… oh till when should I afford this tragedy?? please forgive me my friends .. people get to be depressed sometimes.. and this time I just can't hide it anymore!!
I wait for the next opportunity that makes me here again.. till that time all I can say: please pray for me and wish me a good luck. Tommorow, could mean nothing"
I heard of too many doctors and Iraqi scientists who had to leave Iraq for NO REASON at all and have to suffer the pain of being away from their homes. They are treasure… people!!! In other countries that they left to ,United Arab Emirates(UAE) for example, they are at the head of their career and no one can deny their competence.
Why do they have to leave Iraq ??!!!
Actually I was thinking of my future and I was feeling so depressed. Please tell me something that will give my hope back… I usually get to be in this situation .. the psychologists – in fact – I refer it to the routine… oh till when should I afford this tragedy?? please forgive me my friends .. people get to be depressed sometimes.. and this time I just can't hide it anymore!!
I wait for the next opportunity that makes me here again.. till that time all I can say: please pray for me and wish me a good luck. Tommorow, could mean nothing"
EPILOGUE
The old city of Mosul is on the west bank of the Tigris River. It is a maze of narrow alleyways filled with mud-brick homes and drab mosques. The majority of the city's Arab residents live on the west bank, and U.S. forces rarely enter the area because their armored vehicles cannot fit. Kurdish officials say that has made the western quarter a haven for Baathists and Islamic militants, who launched last month's rebellion from the old city.
Once a key trading post on the fabled Silk Road, Mosul linked Persia to the Syrian capital of Damascus and to ports along the Mediterranean. Like many great cities, Mosul straddles a river. It is a cosmopolitan city made up of Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Turkomen, Assyrian Christians and Yazidis.
Once a key trading post on the fabled Silk Road, Mosul linked Persia to the Syrian capital of Damascus and to ports along the Mediterranean. Like many great cities, Mosul straddles a river. It is a cosmopolitan city made up of Sunni Arabs, Kurds, Turkomen, Assyrian Christians and Yazidis.
Sunday, 02 November 2008
BAGHDAD - Hundreds of terrified Christian families have fled Mosul to escape extremist attacks that have increased despite months of U.S. and Iraqi military operations to secure the city
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VISITORS GEOFLAGS SINCE AUGUST 26, 2009
