Behind The Music: Saddam Hussein
Read all about here (and it's QUITE a read.)
What was Saddam REALLY thinking? It's pretty surprising. And, strangely, it makes a lot of sense. I just wish someone in Washington had been paying attention. In the world we live in now, we can't afford to make these kind of mistakes.
On Saddam and the United States:
"Saddam did not consider the United States a natural adversary, as he did Iran and Israel, and he hoped that Iraq might again enjoy improved relations with the United States, according to Tariq ‘Aziz and the presidential secretary."
"In 2004, Charles Duelfer of ISG said that between 1994 and 1998, both he and UNSCOM Executive Chairman Rolf Ekeus were approached multiple times by senior Iraqis with the message that Baghdad wanted a dialogue with the United States, and that Iraq was in a position to be Washington’s 'best friend in the region bar none.'"
On Saddam's tightrope act:
"The Iran-Iraq war and the ongoing suppression of internal unrest taught Saddam the importance of WMD to the dominance and survival of [his] Regime. Following the destruction of much of the Iraqi WMD infrastructure during Desert Storm, however, the threats to the Regime remained; especially his perception of the overarching danger from Iran."
"In order to counter these threats, Saddam continued with his public posture of retaining the WMD capability. This led to a difficult balancing act between the need to disarm to achieve sanctions relief while at the same time retaining a strategic deterrent. The Regime never resolved the contradiction inherent in this approach. Ultimately, foreign perceptions of these tensions contributed to the destruction of the Regime."
"Saddam wanted to avoid appearing weak and did not reveal he was deceiving the world about the presence of WMD. The UN’s inconclusive assessment of Iraq’s possession of WMD, in Saddam’s view, gave pause to Iran. Saddam was concerned that the UN inspection process would expose Iraq’s vulnerability, thereby magnifying the effect of Iran’s own capability."
$100 says George W. doesn't ever bring any of this up in his stump speech. Because we all know that, apparently, a commander-in-chief doesn't make mistakes, or admit them anyway (except maybe in a few appointments here and there).
[SORRY. Sorry. BAD biased blogger. Bad. 50 laps for me.]
3 Comments:
Very interested Peta...good findings...and a great insight into the conflicts...hmmm...
Oh yeah, blogs can be biased and pursuasive, it is the State of the Union addresses and presentations to the United Nations that are supposed to be truthful, fair and based on facts...(oops, I just messed up too)
I always thought we went to war because of the violations of the various UN mandates... violations that meant this wasn't another war, but the continuation of the first Gulf War. It twas a cease fire which brought back troops.
Anyhoo, I figure a man who buries women and children(with toys still in their hands) deserves to have his toes and thumbs cut off and beg underneath the tables of his betters. Hard for me to be impressed with using Saddam as a moral force against anyone.
But it's true, there's a candidate who has made no mistakes, who has had one clear opinion on Iraq since the beginning. Only, bits and pieces of this consistent opinion leaked out at different times, which were not at all changes of policy.
I am curious why GWB gets questions about his past record, while Kerry doesn't. Kerry, I think, served in the Senate for twenty years... but these days I'm not sure. No matter if he did, I would expect him to answer like Bush... for any question on mistakes becomes instant fodder for the opponent.
And, if a couple of years from now the Iraqis are living free, and voting and whatnot, history won't see anything that happened as a mistake. If this happens, folks will be using their relationship with Bush in future elections just as Kerry used his relationship with Reagan.
I've got no interest in drumming up sympathy for the devil in Saddam's clothing. I'm just a little disgruntled about the fact that all of our combined foreign policy brainpower couldn't come up with a more articulate solution than "bomb the hell out of Baghdad."
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