-Caveat Lector- Print this article | Close this window Rebirth of the dictator as Arab hero
March 29 2003 Saddam Hussein may previously have been largely discredited as a dictator, but by standing up to the might of the United States-led coalition, however ineffectively in the long term, his men are transforming him into an Arab hero once more. In neighbouring Jordan the frequent anti-war demonstrations have taken on an ever-more pro-Saddam tone. On Tuesday protesters in Amman waved pro-Saddam placards and chanted "Iraq! Saddam! We will spend our blood for you!" Among Palestinians, always grateful for Saddam's financial support for hospitals, schools and the families of suicide bombers, his crimes against his own people are largely forgotten. "The people on the street and who are in the struggle for the rights of the Palestinian people, they look at Saddam Hussein as one of their own leaders," said Riad Awad, an accountant from the West Bank city of Ramallah. "I am praying to God to save Saddam Hussein from these people." In Cairo, the respected Egyptian commentator Mohammed Sid Ahmad has noticed a similar change. "At the beginning there was a keenness amongst protesters to underline that we are not with Saddam, we are against the American war against Iraq," he said. "This distinction is certainly less stressed now than it was even a few days ago." Two things now unite the "Arab street". The first is anger at the suffering resulting from the Western onslaught. The second is a strong - if usually unstated - sense of relief that Iraq has confounded predictions that its soldiers would surrender en masse to superior US forces, as they did in 1991. The new mood is in marked contrast to the feelings of only a couple of weeks ago. Then, the world's 250 million Arabs watched in shame and anger as their autocratic leaders - nearly all of them clients of the US - failed to stand up to Washington's plans at an Arab League summit in the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh. Suspicious of US intentions in this oil-rich region, bitterly angry at its continuing support for Israel against the Palestinians, most Arabs saw the squabbling summit as final confirmation of their powerlessness. The US-led invasion of Iraq would be only the first step in the complete recolonisation of the region, Arab journalists forecast. At best - or worst - Arabs would respond with a wave of unprecedented terrorism. The sight on Al-Jazeera television of dead US soldiers and of terrified, helpless captives, combined with the Western media's overblown war rhetoric and false coalition boasts of gains, has changed all this. Mustafa Hamarneh, director of the University of Jordan's Centre for Strategic Studies, says Iraq's resistance tells frustrated Arabs that even if they can't win they can fight back. "The resistance has changed everything," he said. "It has ignited the street, and showed that Arabs are able to resist with dignity. "This has boosted Saddam and complicated matters, some say for the better, some say for the worse, depending on where you stand politically." Dr Hamarneh believes the Iraqis' resistance will encourage radical Arabs - whether secular nationalists like Saddam or Islamic fundamentalists like al- Qaeda operatives - to believe that they can organise Arab sentiment against Israel and the US. But for the many Arab regimes that are reliant on US military or financial support - Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the Gulf States, for instance - prolonged Iraqi resistance will make it harder to control anti-American and anti-government sentiment at home. Finally, says Dr Hamarneh, the mood of exultation could yet have a downside for the Arab street. "The resistance is creating a feeling that this is a winnable war and that Saddam may ultimately be victorious," he said. "If that doesn't materialise it could be taken as another great defeat and disappointment in contemporary Arab history." In truth, despite the events of recent days, few thinking Arabs expect Saddam to survive this war, and very few will mourn his passing. But even as the battle for Baghdad looms many believe that the aggressive Iraqi defence has already blunted what they see as the US expansionist drive in the region. Three weeks ago many Arab intellectuals were noting with concern and gloom the talk among White House hawks that the conquest of Iraq should be only the first step in a US-imposed reordering of the Middle East. There was talk of further attacks likely against Syria, Iran and possibly Saudi Arabia. Behind this alleged agenda many Arabs saw the hand of Israel, which has close links with prominent neo- conservatives within the Bush Administration. Now that the US is seen to be relearning the true human and financial cost of war, these fears are beginning to recede. "We still believe the Americans are operating to the concept of moving against other states in the region," says a Jordanian political commentator, Labib Kamhawi, "but now it will be difficult for the President to persuade his people of the need for another such war." An Egyptian commentator, Mohammed Sid Ahmad, holds the same view. "There is no question of Iraq winning but there is now not much chance of America getting everything that it wants either. "The whole thing will have to be back sooner or later in the United Nations for a compromise solution which we can't see yet." In Ireland's Easter Rising of 1916, an incompetent, short-lived and initially unpopular act of quixotic rebellion transformed a staid home-rule agitation into a passionate armed struggle for complete independence from Britain. As the Irish poet W.B. Yeats wrote: "All changed, changed utterly. A terrible beauty is born." The moral is that sometimes a little fighting goes a long way, and the unexpectedly tenacious Iraqi resistance of recent days has galvanised the Arab world. This story was found at: http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2003/03/28/1048653856603.html Forwarded for your information. The text and intent of the article have to stand on their own merits. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ "Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe simply because it has been handed down for many genera- tions. Do not believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumoured by many. Do not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. 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