|
CounterPunch
December
20, 2002
Will the US
Betray Iraqis Again?
by SAYED MOUSTAFA AL-QAZWINI
Since the seizure of Iraq by the Baath Party in
1968, Iraqis have suffered deplorably, facing constant coercion
and degradation. In their own country, they have been stripped
of the fundamental rights to which all human beings are entitled:
self-determination and freedom from hunger. Yet their rallying
cries have gone unheeded -- not only by neighboring countries
but the entire international community. Even pronouncements by
the United Nations and major human rights organizations have
been unsupported by any real conviction.
Prior to Saddam Hussein's attempt to
annex Kuwait and declare it the 19th province of Iraq in August
1990, his relationship with the United States was strong. This
was true even though the American government knew very well that
Saddam was using biological and chemical weapons against his
own people and had ordered countless tortures, imprisonments
and killings targeting any person or organization that defied
his rule. I know of this personally; 19 members of my family
were subjected to such trials. Even now, we are unaware of my
grandfather's whereabouts since his abduction 13 years ago at
the age of 86.
Nonetheless, before the Kuwait invasion,
America chose to remain silent on events within Iraq, and, even
worse, continued to support Saddam politically, financially and
militarily because of U.S. strategic interests.
U.S. policies changed when Saddam invaded
Kuwait, which America considered a key country. Overnight, Saddam
went from ally to foe. But that was not the case when Saddam
invaded Iran and began a war a decade earlier.
There is a tremendous lesson to be learned
here: Had the United States acted to help liberate the Iraqi
people from Saddam's tyranny before 1990, then perhaps Kuwait
would never have been invaded and the Persian Gulf War would
never have occurred. Today, people would not be worried by the
threat of a new war in Iraq.
The history of these events is why Iraqis
are skeptical when the United States uses words such as ''liberty''
and ''democracy.''
Kuwaitis cried for liberty after the
1990 invasion, and overnight America came to their defense. But
when Iraqis pleaded for such liberty for more than 30 years,
they were ignored. And when the United States finally did act
against Saddam, it ended up betraying the Iraqi people.
Remember, during the gulf war, then-President
George Bush told the Iraqi people that the United States would
provide military support to their fight to overthrow Saddam.
Instantly, the Iraqi spirit was replenished, and Iraqi men took
up arms to liberate their country -- only to be slaughtered by
Saddam's army when American troops were ordered to stop all military
action in Iraq in March 1991. In my birth town of Karbala, in
southern Iraq, thousands of Iraqis who rose against Saddam were
either executed or imprisoned.
Today, America has another President
Bush, who also says he is determined to get rid of Saddam, to
bring democracy to Iraq and to end the suffering of the Iraqi
people.
This would be a heroic undertaking, if
true. Iraqis desperately want an opportunity to once again live
in safety and freedom, and welcome any nation that would release
them from the bonds of Saddam's regime.
Nonetheless, Iraqis living in and out
of Iraq remain worried and skeptical, despite the encouraging
rhetoric of the United States.
Worried in the sense that the people
living in Iraq could once again see their nation's infrastructure
destroyed and innocent lives lost during a war, all for one man.
Skeptical in that they fear they will
once again be deceived by an American promise to assist if they
rise up against the regime, a promise that later would be abandoned.
Most of all, worried that after all has
been said and done, Saddam will remain in power -- and the Iraqi
people he has so long tormented will continue to suffer under
his dictatorship.
Sayed Moustafa Al-qazwini is Imam at The Islamic Educational Center of
Orange County.
Yesterday's
Features
Gregory Wilpert
Coup
de Petrol in Venezuela
Adam Engel
Mis-Perceptions
of Palestine:
It's All About Olive Oil!
Patrick Cockburn
Iraqi
Opposition Summit Papers Over Rivalries
Kendall Clark
The Real
Distractions of Trent Lott
Anthony Gancarski
Ariel
Cohen, American Hero
Walt Brasch
A Lott
of Questions
Alexander Cockburn
Why Strom Won in '48
Rich Procter
Hi! We're Republicorp
Russell Mokhiber and Robert Weissman
Of Caviar and Capitalism
Robert Fisk
Journalists
Are Under Attack for Telling the Truth
CounterPunch Available Exclusively
to Subscribers:
- CounterPunch Special:
The Persecution of Gershon Legman by Susan Davis: Smut, the Post Office, Commies
and the FBI;
- Reeling Democrats: Is Pelosi the Answer?
- Gandhi v. Hitler: the Secret Race for the Nobel
Prize;
- Sullying Mario Savio's
Memory;
- Lynching Then and Now;
- Earn While You Learn: Chris Whittle and Child Labor;
The Case of the Pompous
Professor;
- The Class Struggle in
Boston: All that
Effort, But What Did They Get?
Remember, the CounterPunch website is
supported exclusively by subscribers to our newsletter. Our worldwide
web audience is soaring , with about seven million hits a month
now. This is inspiring, but the work involved also compels us
to remind you more urgently than ever to subscribe and/or make
a (tax deductible) donation if you can afford it. If you find our site useful please: Subscribe
Now!
Or Call Toll Free 1 800 840 3683
home / subscribe
/ about us
/ books
/ archives
/ search
/ links
/
|