Saddam down but not out!
Dec 19, 2003
LADIES and gentlemen... We’ve got him!†Those were the words of schoolboyish enthusiasm and bragging with which Paul Bremer American chief of Iraq announced the capture of Saddam Hussein
By John Nagenda
LADIES and gentlemen... We’ve got him!†Those were the words of schoolboyish enthusiasm and bragging with which Paul Bremer American chief of Iraq announced the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Some have already stated that the tone of triumph was over the top, and was intended to humiliate the new prisoner.
My own feeling was why not? How many did Saddam humiliate, and much worse? Of course over-humiliating him repeatedly, as a policy, might bring some sympathy to him, turning him into a martyr. That would be too bad to be true!
That he was a dreadful despot no sensible person could dispute. This column, even before the Americans and British attacked Iraq (which millions including this column questioned) never pulled a punch in describing the atrociousness of Saddam’s acts, especially against his own citizens.
It did not matter whether they were what he considered to be internal enemies like the Kurds; his own daughters felt his wrath directly when he first tricked their husbands to return to Iraq and then slaughtered them in gruesome fashion.
Yet he considered himself a benevolent family man, almost a teddy bear, judging by photographs taken of him surrounded by his family, including his loathsome son, now the late, Uday.
He had started off as a peasant (no crime in that) and then proceeded to hack his way upward. In this he resembled another monster, Stalin.
There was something deeply satisfying that the wheel turned full circle, and the steel-eyed conqueror was captured in a hole in the ground looking for all the world like a shiftless un-employed.
More ironical yet was the fact that he had three quarters of a million bucks beside him! I feared whether a thuggish American sergeant might have, God forbid, used the hole in the ground for latrinal purposes before Saddam was brought up.
But in fact what Saddam will bring up in court will be something to conjure with. Don’t forget he was largely a figure of the Americans’ making when they supported him in his war against the Ayatollah-led Iran.
On his own, much fewer people would have died on both sides; as it was the figures ran into many millions. I see now that the Iraqi leadership has readily agreed that Iraq owes financial retribution to Iran for this.
How much will the US cough up for egging the unstable Saddam on? Saddam can also plead, during his day in court, that at the beginning he was courted by all leading countries.
Apart from Iraq’s formidable oil reserves (which they all wanted) Saddam Hussein had led the region in the emancipation of women, and in planning which made Iraq a regional economic powerhouse.
But absolute power corrupted him absolutely, devastated his family absolutely, and brought his country to its knees, with thousands upon thousands of its people slaughtered or maimed.
What part did the huge armaments bestowed upon him by the US, and some others, play? He had advised his sons not to be taken alive by the Americans. Yet when it was his turn he came quietly. We called him a coward in disgust, but I am beginning to wonder! I think Saddam Hussein has a plan; to bring up a load of dirt against his erstwhile allies and friends in his day of reckoning. He has gone down, but wants others beside him.
* * *
Over the last fortnight I have written, regarding Kony, about the shenanigans (Irish word, meaning trickery, underhand dealings, mischief, antics) of the 34 MPs who walked out of parliament, swearing they would not return until their region’s troubles had been solved.
They were mostly from Acholi, but also Lango, with a spattering of Teso. I had already covered the Teso people’s answer to Kony, which amounted to the formation of the Arrow militia, leading to a bloody nose for Kony and his swift running away (nkokola tondeka nyuma, as we say in Luganda: elbows don’t leave me behind, a picturesque wording of a runner in full gallop).
Then I applauded the birth of the Lango Amuka militia which followed on the Arrow, and observed that with his unwelcome “visits†to Lango and then Teso, “Kony, did he but know it, was sowing the seeds of his demiseâ€.
Our Thirty Four must have got the message. Especially since those from Lango and Teso amongst them had been left high and dry by their companions! And also that some of them remembered they would not qualify for the African Union parliament elections if they didn’t come back before Thursday. They did so.
But the face-saving reason for the 34’s return left me convulsed with laughter. Their spokesman, my old friend Zac Olum said, “The Government has gone out of its way to effectively deploy its troops. This goes a long way in checking the security situation.â€
He then spoke for the “international communityâ€: “The international community has responded with relief.†Those innocent words cover more than they say. They confirm what some of us have been saying all along — the unholy trinity between Government opponents and some over-vocal members of the so-called international community, otherwise the West; and not all the West either.
The President, C-in-C of the Uganda Armed Forces, has always deployed the UPDF where needs were greatest. That is how the enemy has been routed in the west and the northwest, in the east and northeast, in most of the areas along the Sudanese border, and also internally. But if Olum and Co put all this down to their walking out of parliament, pray do not awaken them, nor their friends!
www.onemansweek.com
LADIES and gentlemen... We’ve got him!†Those were the words of schoolboyish enthusiasm and bragging with which Paul Bremer American chief of Iraq announced the capture of Saddam Hussein.
Some have already stated that the tone of triumph was over the top, and was intended to humiliate the new prisoner.
My own feeling was why not? How many did Saddam humiliate, and much worse? Of course over-humiliating him repeatedly, as a policy, might bring some sympathy to him, turning him into a martyr. That would be too bad to be true!
That he was a dreadful despot no sensible person could dispute. This column, even before the Americans and British attacked Iraq (which millions including this column questioned) never pulled a punch in describing the atrociousness of Saddam’s acts, especially against his own citizens.
It did not matter whether they were what he considered to be internal enemies like the Kurds; his own daughters felt his wrath directly when he first tricked their husbands to return to Iraq and then slaughtered them in gruesome fashion.
Yet he considered himself a benevolent family man, almost a teddy bear, judging by photographs taken of him surrounded by his family, including his loathsome son, now the late, Uday.
He had started off as a peasant (no crime in that) and then proceeded to hack his way upward. In this he resembled another monster, Stalin.
There was something deeply satisfying that the wheel turned full circle, and the steel-eyed conqueror was captured in a hole in the ground looking for all the world like a shiftless un-employed.
More ironical yet was the fact that he had three quarters of a million bucks beside him! I feared whether a thuggish American sergeant might have, God forbid, used the hole in the ground for latrinal purposes before Saddam was brought up.
But in fact what Saddam will bring up in court will be something to conjure with. Don’t forget he was largely a figure of the Americans’ making when they supported him in his war against the Ayatollah-led Iran.
On his own, much fewer people would have died on both sides; as it was the figures ran into many millions. I see now that the Iraqi leadership has readily agreed that Iraq owes financial retribution to Iran for this.
How much will the US cough up for egging the unstable Saddam on? Saddam can also plead, during his day in court, that at the beginning he was courted by all leading countries.
Apart from Iraq’s formidable oil reserves (which they all wanted) Saddam Hussein had led the region in the emancipation of women, and in planning which made Iraq a regional economic powerhouse.
But absolute power corrupted him absolutely, devastated his family absolutely, and brought his country to its knees, with thousands upon thousands of its people slaughtered or maimed.
What part did the huge armaments bestowed upon him by the US, and some others, play? He had advised his sons not to be taken alive by the Americans. Yet when it was his turn he came quietly. We called him a coward in disgust, but I am beginning to wonder! I think Saddam Hussein has a plan; to bring up a load of dirt against his erstwhile allies and friends in his day of reckoning. He has gone down, but wants others beside him.
* * *
Over the last fortnight I have written, regarding Kony, about the shenanigans (Irish word, meaning trickery, underhand dealings, mischief, antics) of the 34 MPs who walked out of parliament, swearing they would not return until their region’s troubles had been solved.
They were mostly from Acholi, but also Lango, with a spattering of Teso. I had already covered the Teso people’s answer to Kony, which amounted to the formation of the Arrow militia, leading to a bloody nose for Kony and his swift running away (nkokola tondeka nyuma, as we say in Luganda: elbows don’t leave me behind, a picturesque wording of a runner in full gallop).
Then I applauded the birth of the Lango Amuka militia which followed on the Arrow, and observed that with his unwelcome “visits†to Lango and then Teso, “Kony, did he but know it, was sowing the seeds of his demiseâ€.
Our Thirty Four must have got the message. Especially since those from Lango and Teso amongst them had been left high and dry by their companions! And also that some of them remembered they would not qualify for the African Union parliament elections if they didn’t come back before Thursday. They did so.
But the face-saving reason for the 34’s return left me convulsed with laughter. Their spokesman, my old friend Zac Olum said, “The Government has gone out of its way to effectively deploy its troops. This goes a long way in checking the security situation.â€
He then spoke for the “international communityâ€: “The international community has responded with relief.†Those innocent words cover more than they say. They confirm what some of us have been saying all along — the unholy trinity between Government opponents and some over-vocal members of the so-called international community, otherwise the West; and not all the West either.
The President, C-in-C of the Uganda Armed Forces, has always deployed the UPDF where needs were greatest. That is how the enemy has been routed in the west and the northwest, in the east and northeast, in most of the areas along the Sudanese border, and also internally. But if Olum and Co put all this down to their walking out of parliament, pray do not awaken them, nor their friends!
www.onemansweek.com