tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post8670683911308441030..comments2024-03-24T11:22:15.548+00:00Comments on Lustig's Letter: The Middle East: bring back Saddam Hussein?Robin Lustighttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00578195216460807588noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-14174379288155360152013-06-02T15:23:17.682+00:002013-06-02T15:23:17.682+00:00Democracy in Iraq - and by extension the rest of t...Democracy in Iraq - and by extension the rest of the Middle East had to start at some point.<br /><br />If Saddam had not been toppled, it's quite possible that Syria would have not retreated from their occupation in Lebanaon, and that the whole Arab spring may not have even happened yet, or to the extent that it has.<br /><br />And it's a fair question to ask whether the people of the Middle East would be better off under dictators rather than on the path of democracy, given the explosive nature of Islamist politics and the black hole that its removal creastes - but really had Saddam been left in charge all it would have done is to delay the invetitable, the Arab spring, until some unknown future point. <br /><br />So, in the short term, it could be argued that the Middle East is not necessarily much better off with the Arab Spring, but in the long term, it's the only way. Unknownhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04598760750501799415noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-49483136909977816582013-05-31T15:22:07.212+00:002013-05-31T15:22:07.212+00:00American response bombings has been to delay plans...American response bombings has been to delay plans for withdrawal of troops from Iraq. Obama’s election promise was to withdraw troops from Iraq by May this year. Not only is that obviously not going to happen but we learned after his election that “withdrawal” meant leaving 50,000 troops as ‘trainers’ as well as 4,500 special forces + tens of thousands of para-military contractors.<br />These attacks are providing the US with an excuse for delaying even its token withdrawal however, we need to think about who is behind them.<br />My guess: US, CIA, using local groups. US will never leave Iraq while there is oil in the ground. US didn’t go there in the first place, nor build its mega-embassy in order to leave. Attacks are not the work of a small group. It’s a large, well disciplined, well financed group with substantial support.<br />Accuse Al-Qaeda, but I don't think so. Al Qaeda is standard US scare story. Accuse Iran, but I don't think so.<br />All propaganda – like Saddam’s nuclear programme, his weapons of mass destruction, his collaboration with Al-Qaeda, his mobile chemical laboratories: All now official lies.<br />This is certain: the US invasion caused extraordinary devastation in Iraq and its continued presence is THE problem for Iraqis. It’s most likely that because they have no intention of leaving, it’s the US itself that is behind the attacks, or maybe the Israelis on their behalf. Yes, the Israelis are in Iraq and they have no love for Arabs. In 2005 they were reported to be training Kurds in northern Iraq, now a semi-autonomous region. With the Israeli-US axis operating in Iraq anything is possible. The Israelis, CIA, US and UK military all regularly assassinate suspected militants along with innocent men, women & children. They consider no-one to be innocent. Nor would false-flag provocations be beyond the US-Israeli axis. On 8 June 1967 the Israelis attempted to sink the USS Liberty in an attack that left 34 American sailors dead & 173 wounded.Gaye Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03881763124748309634noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6942478546968158905.post-56265541677306514792013-05-31T15:05:19.570+00:002013-05-31T15:05:19.570+00:00If terrorists succeeded in spreading something &qu...If terrorists succeeded in spreading something "dirty" throughout the US that ended up causing hundreds of thousands of cancer cases & birth defects over a period of many years, they would be guilty of a crime against humanity far surpassing Sept. 11th attacks. With its legal war, US & its Coalition of the Willing, the campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan, have done just that. If the physical environment is so unsafe and unhealthy that one cannot safely breath, then the outer trappings of democracy have little meaning. At least under Saddam, the Iraqi people could stay healthy & conceive normal children. Few Americans are aware that in getting rid of Saddam, we left something much worse in his place: white phosphorus, depleted uranium, etc.Gaye Berryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03881763124748309634noreply@blogger.com