The following is an archived copy of a message sent to a Discussion List run by the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
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Dear Colleagues,
It is not often that I repond to the many controversial opinions
being propagated here. But this one is the limit in taking liberties with other peoples' feelings
and destiny.
There are 4 main paragraphs.
Paragraph 1 introduces us to John Pilger's book, Hidden Agendas which I welcome. The penultimate
sentence includes the phrase: ..." to refute any crap the Bush administration comes out with."
Irrespective of the language used, I have no problem with the opinion as I am not an apologist of
Bush, nor of Saddam for that matter.
Paragraph 4 quotes from Pilger's description of the evils visited upon Vietnam by the then US A
governments. Again, I have no problem with this statement of historical facts. As the discussion
list (CASI) is about Iraq as is the current world topic, I see a remarkable similarity between
Vietnam then and Iraq now and in the past.
Paragraph 3 links the aforementioned and I have no adverse comment on it .
Paragraph 2 complains about the media's reference to Saddam being " prepared to gas *his own
people* ...". He distorts its interpretation by asking if "it is implying that it's OK to go and
use chemical weapons against the peoples of other countries, but it is much worse to do it to your
"own" people." To add insult to injury, he concludes this paragraph by making the parting shot:
"Incidentally, I am sure the Kurds are proud to hear that they are thought of as "Saddam's people".
This is a deliberate literal misinterpretation of the semantic sense of the phrase "own people". I
would not have otherwise insulted the intelligence of the readers by explaining the intended sense
of the phrase as that of the relationship between the ruler and the ruled, the oppressor and the
oppressed, the culprit and the victims. Therefore, the Kurds are no more "proud" of Saddam than the
Jewish people are of Hitler or the Palestinian Arabs are of Sharon. As an Iraqi Kurd I object most
strongly. Nobody is authorised or excused to make such outrageous statements in our name and claim
they are "sure".
I respectfully request that the list members read at least the second paragraph for themselves and
make their own judgements.
Furthermore, I reiterate my personal observations that this facility is infiltrated by apologists
of the Iraqi regime, who shall remain nameless. They are hyperactive in the list and one of their
markers is the absence of the situation of the human rights of the Iraqi people under the current
regime.
Finally, I call for an unconditional apology forthwith by the author. Failing that, I reserve the
right to go public.
Yours sincerely,
Muhamad
>>> "Diarmuid" <diarmuidfogarty@onetel.net.uk> 09/19 7:34 am >>>
[ Presenting plain-text part of multi-format email ]
I've just finished reading John Pilger's Hidden Agendas (1998), Vintage Books. As I read more and
more, I was struck by the failure of any of the world's press to juxtapose the very recent history
of US government excursions into other nation states and the claims made against Evil Saddam
Hussein. The horror of Viet Nam should be more than enough to refute any crap the Bush
administration comes out with. Letīs see...chemical weapons, weapons of mass destruction,
deliberate targetting of civilians, torture, political assassination etc. Yes, the US government
was responsible for all of the above.
Then a horrible thought occurred to me. We're always being fed the line of how Evil Saddam is a man
so diabolical that he is even prepared to gas *his own people*. Could it be that the USUKAxis is so
cynical that it is implying that it's OK to go and use chemical weapons against the peoples of
other countries, but it's much worse to do it to your 'own' people. Incidentally, I am sure the
Kurds are proud to hear that they are thought of as 'Saddam's people'.
Finally, Pilger's book (a must read for all, I would have thought) made me realise how events such
as the war against the Vietnamese people and other things have assumed so much of an iconoclastic
status that it is too easy to forget the very real human suffering that went on there (and
continues to this very day). Thanks to people like John Pilger, Felicity (aw shucks), Martha
Gelhorn etc, that side reemerges, never to be forgotten.
Fellow contributors might like to read Pilger's chapters about Viet Nam as they reflect on whether
or not war against the Iraqi people is really the lesser of two evils. The detailed description of
the US troops officially sanctioned massacres, the damning list of the effects of Agent Orange,
generations on down the line, the number of dead, the length of the war, the blind eyes turned
towards the corrupt puppet regime of the Saigon government, the dehumanisation of fellow human
beings, the base lie that underwrote the whole escapade, the foul lies that granted the USA a
dignified defeat, the prostitution of the whole country, the destruction of the country's natural
heritage, the debasement of the cultural traditions, the slavery forced on the working people, the
privatisation of non profitable schemes such as hospitals and schools, forced on the people by the
World Bank, the vast sums of money which must be paid back by the government to the USA for
'helping' them 'resist against evil' - all this may well await your family and friends in
Baghdad...always assuming that they are not blown to bloody bits by a USUK bomb or gunned down in
their beds by USUK troops or poisoned slowly by USUK weapons or maimed by trophy-hunting USUK
warriors or left babbling wrecks as they watch their partners abused and killed by USUK heroes.
As I write, I have noticed that the shorthand for the USA and UK alliance has turned itself into a
truly apt acronym.
_______________________________________________
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_______________________________________________
Sent via the discussion list of the Campaign Against Sanctions on Iraq.
To unsubscribe, visit http://lists.casi.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/casi-discuss
To contact the list manager, email casi-discuss-admin@lists.casi.org.uk
All postings are archived on CASI's website: http://www.casi.org.uk