[Marxism] Re.: Saddam and Washington

[Chris Brady <cdbrady@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

Yes, Phil, I agree: Saddam would not be my model of the
anti-imperialist, with his palaces, and other extravagances.  It was
said that he is a model of resistance to imperialism.  I am not so sure
that Kurds would select him as such a model.  Or Shi'ites.

The comment was made that pro-Communist regimes in Iraq did not
nationalize as well as Saddam.  Those were not Communist regimes.  Let
us be clear.  Further, they were governments run by elements who
recognized some benefit to buying weapons from a closer supplier that
happened to be the Soviet Union.  The West regarded that as
pro-Communist in the Cold War, but that does not mean that they were
communist by a communist definition, i.e., the definition that matters.

So some Communists in Baghdad celebrated the capture of Saddam.  Kurdish
Communists in Mosul may have as well, but we saw no footage.  A
communist might sympathize with both.  Saddam murdered so many of them.

As an aside, Donald Rumsfeld did not say that US forces would not
torture Saddam.  He simply got all testy when the question was asked on
60 Minutes (CBS), blustering dyspeptically about the effrontery of even
asking such an insulting  question!  And fog like that.  Which might
make us wonder what US forces did with the individuals who told them
where Saddam was hiding.  Did GIs ask passersby, "Hey, do you know where
we can find Saddam?"  Or were they more systematic?  Were they forced to
use some, um, more "effective" methods?


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