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Re: [A-List] RE: A reformulation (only five?)



Within the culture of Arab politics Saddam is  a very good leader and
politician, perhaps even a statemen.  He stands head and shoulder above
many others and a promoter of pan-Arabism.  Modern Iraq owed a lot to
his leadership, including liberation of women.

Henry C.K. Liu

Sabri Oncu wrote:

Myself:



I suspect that there is anyone on this list who has high
opinions of either Sam or Saddam.



Let me correct an English mistake, or a wrong word choice, in the above. I should have said:



I doubt that there is anyone on this list who has high
opinions of either Sam or Saddam.



Despite my mistake, however, Henry apparently understood me correctly, since he said:



I for one have been in print for praising Saddam and the
Baath Party at the beginning of the US invasion:



Dear Henry,

If you claim that you have a high opinion of Saddam, how can I claim that no
you do not, although it was not my interpretation of the article you resent,
which I remember from those days. Not only that, I remember also many other
positive short comments you made on the A-List about Saddam before and
during the early days of the US invasion of Iraq, which not only I have not
fogotten to this day for whatever reason but also had in mind when I wrote
what I wrote.

But I have never viewed your statements as statements guided by your "love"
of Saddam. My view was that you were making a choice between Imperialism and
Iraq, and choosing Iraq in this case means, among other things, supporting
the Iraqi government in its fight against Imerialism. Secondly, I further
viewed your articles and statements as efforts by a unique intellectual with
a fresh voice to show that there are alternative ways of interpreting the
current, recent and distant past to the ways we are all to familiar with.

After all, what does a choice between Sam and Saddam mean, in the first
place?

Best,

Sabri











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