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The Iraq regime is on the verge of being overthrown. Although this is enormously dissapointing to us all it is definately true. Martin Amsterdam. 'To us all'? Speak for yourself - I've been looking forward to those Baathist bastards biting the dust for years now. Shame it's the wrong people at the other end of the gun, but you can't have everything. The real issue, of course, is not who is going to rule over the people in Iraq, but who the terms of the rule. The way things are going, the US, UK, UN, EU and the rest of the canting crew seem determined to install a slightly kinder, slightly gentler, form of exploitation. Look for the debt. Who will service the debt? If you get a chance to talk to the media, talk about the debt, the debt, and the debt. Chris Williams ----- Original Message ----- From: "pjw8" <Philippa.Winkler@NAU.EDU> To: "casi-discuss" <casi-discuss@lists.casi.org.uk>; "Zohar David" <davidz@mofa.gov.il> Sent: Monday, April 07, 2003 4:03 PM Subject: RE: [casi] FW: The Region: Iraq, Lies, and Videotape > >Barry Rubin is a known zionist propagandist and his > rantings do not belong to this list, philippa > > ===== Original Message From Zohar David <davidz@mofa.gov.il> ===== > >-----Original Message----- > >From: Barry Rubin [mailto:meria@mail.biu.ac.il] > >Sent: Sunday, April 06, 2003 5:04 AM > >To: @ashur.cc.biu.ac.il > >Subject: The Region: Iraq, Lies, and Videotape > > > > > >The Region > > > >By Barry Rubin > > > > If you want to understand the Middle East, you must pay close > >attention to the tremendously important event that took place on April > >12, 2003. > > The story is this: U.S. forces captured the Saddam Hussein > >International Airport at Baghdad. Iraq's Information Minister Muhammad > >Sa'id al-Sahhaf announced that on the night of April 11-12, there would > >be a big surprise attack using suicide squads. > > Several hours later, he stated that the Republican Guard had > >recaptured the airport, that U.S. "mercenary" forces were on the run, > >and that Iraq was generally winning the war. He even promised that in > >one hour the government would take foreign journalists on a tour of the > >airport to show it was in Iraqi hands. > > No tour took place. Indeed, not only was the airport still held > >by the Americans, but there had been no Iraqi attack that night at all! > >This amazingly brazen lie seemed like the last gasp of denial from a > >regime that was on the verge of being overthrown. > > But that interpretation was dead wrong. This story was not > >bizarrely unusual; it was stupefyingly typical of what has been going on > >in the Arab world, and not just Iraq, for decades. > > The big lie, the ridiculous exaggeration, and whatever you want > >to call it is typical. Time after time, regarding Israel or on other > >matters, Western media, governments, academics, and large elements of > >public opinion have been accepting such things as accurate or at least > >put them on a par with other versions of events. > > Yet now the lesson of the Baghdad airport scam should be learned > >once and for all: this is the way things work so very often in the Arab > >world. > > This does not mean that most Arabs are happy with this > >situation. But there should be no doubt that the distortion of truth is > >ongoing and widespread. To watch just about any Arab television network > >or read just about any Arab newspaper is to be told that Iraq is winning > >the war, that the Iraqi people support Saddam, that allied forces are > >committing massive atrocities, and that the attack on Iraq is motivated > >by the worst possible motives. > > How can people cope with the world when provided with such false > >information? Is it any surprise that anti-Americanism grows and that > >moderation or peace is impossible on the basis of such beliefs. It is > >laying the basis for still more disasters for the Arabs themselves. > > On April 4, Jihad al-Khazen, former editor of al-Hayat, wrote a > >column in that newspaper entitled (in the English version) "American > >Fools." To understand the significance of this article one must know > >that Khazen is a moderate in the Arab media context. He has lived a long > >time in the West and might be expected to be one of those doing the most > >to help his readers deal with reality. > > Here is how his column begins: "Members of the Likudist gang > >inside the American administration, which Secretary of State Colin > >Powell asserted its existence by denying it, have pervaded universities, > >research centers and the administration." He explains that this group is > >responsible for current U.S. policy and supports the "Nazi" practices of > >Israel. As for the war in Iraq, the people see the allied forces as > >"invaders" facing widespread resistance even among Shia Iraqis who hate > >America more than they hate Saddam. Khazen explains that Israeli agents > >tell Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld what to say and describes the > >American general picked to run the transitional civil government in Iraq > >is "radical Sharonist Likudist." > > If this is what one of the smartest, most rational, familiar > >with the West, and relatively moderate Arab writers can say, how can the > >Arab world possibly--from the standpoint of its own interests--deal > >effectively with the United States in diplomatic terms? > > In addition, there is a great myth that must be exploded: it is > >not U.S. policy as such that engenders so much hatred toward the United > >States in the Middle East but rather the total misrepresentation of what > >that policy is and what the United States actually does. > > But one of the type of people Khazen hates was eliminated this > >month. Michael Kelly, the Washington Post columnist, died in an accident > >while covering the fighting in Iraq. Dozens of journalists gave tribute > >to his personal attributes and wonderful family, both of which are true. > >Yet virtually no one pointed out what Michael Kelly actually thought > >about the Middle East. He was possibly the most articulate journalist > >expressing what I call the alternative view of the region. > > What Khazen and his colleagues do not understand is that their > >failure to comprehend-or acknowledge-what is happening in their own > >region and their total disinterest in giving a fair assessment of U.S. > >policy will do them far more harm than all the alleged Zionist > >imperialist gang in the world. > > > >Barry Rubin is Director of the Global Research in International Affairs > >(GLORIA) Center and editor of the Middle East Review of International > >Affairs (MERIA) Journal. > > > >Barry Rubin's latest books are: > > --The Tragedy of the Middle East (Cambridge University Press, 2002). > >http://gloria.idc.ac.il/publications/books/tragedy.html > > --With Judy Colp Rubin, Anti-American Terrorism and the Middle East > >(Oxford University Press, 2002). > >http://gloria.idc.ac.il/publications/books/anti-american_terrorism.html > > > >Forthcoming: > >With Judy Colp Rubin, Yasir Arafat: A Political Biography (Oxford > >University Press, 2003). > > > >_______________________________________________ > >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 > > > _______________________________________________ > 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 _______________________________________________ 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 _______________________________________________ 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