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Dr Kaukab Siddique | Editor-in-Chief Zulhijja 19, 1428, December 30, 2007. #99

New Trend sends its non-Muslim readers greetings for the new year 2008

Book received: The Lion and the Eagle by Sayyed A.H. Abdul-Rashid, 36 pages, $9. 2007. Dorrance Publishing, 701 Smithfield Street, 3rd floor, Pittsburgh, PA 15222. The author lives in Brooklyn.
A novel. Very readable. In 1816 a Mandinka boy is stolen by slavers from his home on Africa's Gold Coast. Sold to a Louisiana plantation, he escapes into the forest and wins acceptance into a Cherokee village.

Condolences to the People of Pakistan:
December 28, 2007; In his Juma' khutba at Masjid Jamaat al-Muslimeen, Baltimore, Maryland, Imam Abu Bakr offered condolences to the people of Pakistan for the murder of Ms. Benazir Bhutto and the ensuing chaos.

PAKISTANI NEWS:
Islamic Movement Joins Prayers for Benazir: Jihad Forces did not Try to Harm Ms. Bhutto in any way, Leaders say.
Riots and breakdown of city life in numerous areas.

December 29, 2007: The spokesman of the newly formed coalition of Pakistani Taliban, Maulvi Umar, categorically rejected the Musharraf regime's claims that Pak Taliban etc were involved in the assassination of Benazir Bhutto. As reported by the prestigious Pakistani daily Nawa-e-Waqt, Maulvi Umar said that she had not harmed us in any way and there was absolutely no reason for us to attack her. He added, that in any case we do not attack women. He condemned the Pak regime's attempts to connect Taliban commander Mehsud to the attack. [Maulvi Umar is not the legendary mullah Umar of Afghanistan but is a Pakistani.]

Similarly, a spokesman for Taliban and al-Qaidah speaking by satellite phone from Afghanistan with the daily Jang newspaper said that these groups have nothing whatsoever to do with the attack on Ms. Bhutto. He said, even in enmity we do not try to kill women. Asked how he could speak on behalf of Al-Qaidah, he said he had consulted them before making the call. He added that surely the leaders of Peoples Party know the real assailants and the truth will come out.

Earlier, the leader of the Islamic movement, Jamaate Islami, Qazi Hussain Ahmed, with a delegation of 30 Jamaat reps, went to the funeral of Ms. Bhutto in Naudero [Sind], condoled with her family and declared that her family's sorrow is shared by the Jamaat and by the entire nation. He vowed to continue her mission to restore the rights of the Pakistani people. [The Jamaat delegation, along with huge crowds from all over the country, participated in the funeral prayers of Benazir.]

In Rawalpindi on December 29, thousands of people demonstrated against the Musharraf regime. Large police forces tried to break up the protests and arrested more than 300 people.
In Karachi and Hyderabad and other towns, for three days, there was complete breakdown of law and order. Demonstrators were followed by rioters who were followed by criminal elements and the lumpen-proletariat in attacks on public transportation, cars, banks, ATM machines and a variety of businesses.

Analysis from New Trend's Think Tank
Ms. Benazir Bhutto was used as Bait to Create an Opening for Direct U.S. Military Intervention in Pakistan

To be able to understand the danger for Pakistan in the aftermath of the murder of Ms. Bhutto, we must temporarily lay aside this ambitious woman's drive for power and her engagement with forces which are very hostile to Islam, such as the Democrats in America, India, Israel, Pakistani secularists, the list goes on. She did not realize that she could be used as bait to create intense conflict within Pakistan and ease America's plans for military intervention aimed at destroying the forces of Islam in Waziristan-FATA in particular and all over Pakistan in general.

General Musharraf directly or CIA-Mossad agents in his regime seem to have carried out the hit. The Musharraf regime has been panicking in its attempts to cover up its role in the killing. It has been trying to blame al-Qaidah and the Taliban, Waziristan leader Baitullah Mahsud in particular. Unfortunately for Musharraf, a number of facts make his stories quite unbelievable.

People's Party leaders, including close friends of Benazir such as Sherry Rahman, say that she was shot by a sniper and they saw the bullet holes in her body. They blame Musharraf's regime. THE ONLY INDEPENDENT video REPORTING, done by Getty News on the spot, indicates shots being fired at Benazir. The pistol raised up in the air to do the shooting is visible in the video recording shown on numerous TV screens. The bomb blast aimed at the police did not hit Benazir. The shooter was probably killed by the regime and presented as a "suicide bomber."

As Musharraf's regime saw that its story about the "suicide bomber" was not being accepted, it issued a new version according to which when Benazir heard the blast, she ducked, hit her head on a door knob and died!

ISLAMIC FORCES REBUT MUSHARRAF: Musharraf's claim that Baitullah Mahsud was involved was rejected by Mahsud through the Pakistani media. A "transcript" supposedly of a phone conversation by Mehsud with a cleric was also rejected by his spokesman. Another story distributed through a Greek news agency placing responsibility on Al-Qaidah received categorical and detailed rejection from Afghanistan. [See Jang news above.] The Islamic movement, led by Osama and al-Zawahiri, stated that they do not attack women and they were definitely not involved in the incident.

Ms. Bhutto views, under seal till now, have been made public by her Party. She believed that she was safe from Islamist attack because Islam forbids attacks on women. In her final message, she wrote that if she is hit in spite of all security measures, MUSHARRAF would be THE CULPRIT.

Within that context, we can see the game being played by Bush-Musharraf-Israel. Bush is pushing for "election" to be held in spite of the fact that the only leader other than Benazir who was willing to participate, Nawaz Sharif, has decided in favor of a boycott after the murder. Jamaate Islami and Insaf have already boycotted. Unless Musharraf brings forth a fringe or breakaway group of Peoples Party, the elections will be uncontested and Musharraf's party [hirelings] will "sweep the polls."

PAKISTANIS should be prepared for GENOCIDAL ACTIONS by Bush in tandem with Musharraf. Some idea of the demonization needed for such action could be seen in CNN's program on December 29 [by Anderson] which described Pakistan as "TERROR CENTRAL."

Remember, the Islamic forces DID NOT KILL BENAZIR. The real battle is between America's "rent-an-army" [previously known as the Pakistan army] and the forces of Islam. Poor Benazir can be compared to the bourgeois nationalists in Central Asia after 1917 who invited Communist-Russian armies into Muslim countries in the hope of putting an end to the local mullahs and shaikhs. As soon as the Communists had killed the mullahs, they turned on the liberal pseudo-Muslims.

The best scenario for Pakistan would be the re-instatement of the Chief Justice and the Supreme Court, an end to the "war on terror," purge of westernized generals from the army and the mass uprising of the people calling for the implementation of Shari'a. The Islamic movement should gain the support of women [as the Red Mosque did] and the poor/the oppressed.

Letter: Re: Inside job? Taliban did it.....

As I understand, the US wanted Musharraf to work with Bhutto. They also wanted them to work with Karzai.
Musharraf is not so stupid as to antagonize the US.
I believe tribal and taliban supporting groups did the killing to prevent this alliance and they succeeded. Bhutto got careless.
Suicide bombing is not what Musharraf does anyway.

FAN

Letter: General Musharraf does not forgive

General Musharraf does not change his heart. He is a very revengeful man. He could not tolerate Chief Justice Iftikhar Muhammad Chaudhry's rallies. He ordered MQM to bring out rally in Karachi to show his ethnic based power. He also brought people from all over Pakistan and held his political rally right across from Supreme Court to show his power. The murder of 43 people on the streets of Karachi was an expression of political might. When it comes to preserving his control over the state of Pakistan, he does not believe in any ethics, morality, principle, agreements, promises, constitution, and rule of law or anything else. Killing political nemesis is a matter of political expediency for him.

K. Ashraf [Pakistan Weekly] [From a longer letter

Letter: This reader thinks, it's a plan to get rid of Musharraf

Indeed, the tables are turning with regard to the situation in Pakistan.
It seems we are witnessing a series of smoke screens and diversions (such as the bombing that masked the actually shooting of Benizar by a sniper) that keep us from detecting something else that may be going on, i.e., a coup to remove Musharraf from power. It could be that the Bhutto assassination is but a smoke screen to cover what they are planning to do with Musharraf. See the movie at the attached link to see just how deep in the Pakistani junta actually is with the events of 9/11.
(http://www.zeitgeistmovie.com) Keep in mind, also, that Musharraf came to power after Zia, who executed Bhutto's father, and then shortly thereafter 9/11 unfolded.

What may be happening here is that Musharraf, like Saddam, has served his usefulness and must now be eliminated. But because of the events you will see in the video, Musharraf cannot be easily removed without some kind of huge crisis (the video is divided into 4 or 5 parts, so you will see this in the part that deals with 9/11). By bringing Bhutto back and assassinating her, they now have the situation they need to target Musharraf and have him removed in disgrace, discrediting anything he or his associates would say about his dealings with the U.S. administration.

The U.S. doesn't care about the "stability" of Pakistan since a free Pakistan will prevent it from caring out its plans in the region, just as it doesn't care about a stable Iraq. An unstable Pakistan is the formula it needs to keep a heavy presence in the region. When the U.S. administration uses words like "free" and "democracy" they imply free for plunder, free from religious dogma, free access to sex and drugs, and free access for international banking interests to exploit. That is their definition of "free". Free and open trade above national interests and sovereignty, dignity and decency. Many of us get it, but it is such a huge problem and so many lives will be lost in the process that we wait for Allah (swt) to address this great evil in the allotted time and the prescribed way while we try to do our small parts to make the world better where ever we may be.

Aqila Mujahid, Washington, DC

Letter: Frenzied letter from Karachi: Fear, Panic, Fires Galore

I was lucky to come to Karachi last nite or I would be stuck @ the airport as roads are blocked etc. I had relatives who were visiting so did NOT immediately learn of the tragedy; my brother in law called @ about 6 PM asking about his sister & kids who had been visiting me. He was stuck in the old part of the city & told me of mayhem on the streets. I went outside my home off Tariq Rd In fact the traffic was going like crazy in front of my home as people were PANICKING and running as if trying to escape a tsunami. All the shops were SHUTTERED & it was only 6pm!
Guess they were scared of a backlash by mad PPP activists or miscreants who crop up on such occasions to take advantage of the opportunities for crime!! I met a man who was looking for his kids that he had dropped @ the Dolman Mall! One of the nice things to happen in the last few years has been the mushroom of cell phones but the military autocratic govt. got the mobile phone companies to turn off the phones causing a major communication problems for families. This man who had come from the interior of Sindh was worried as he relied on the cell phone to stay in touch & the system was failin g him in his hour of need.
We had some people over who left and came back as the roads to where they live are blocked with cars and tires set ablaze. My friend who works for the national Airline told of spending the night @ the airport on March 12th when the former CJ Mr. Chaudery came to Karachi & the city was in a lock down situation with over 44 political activists slaughtered!! Now these 2 gentlemen are going to have to spend the- night with us. The phones are kinda working so at least their families know they are safe. How can a nation prosper when there is such anarchy and all the institutions have been destroyed by the lone one that rules it with an iron fist...the ARMED forces! may God- help this nation!
May Benazir rest in Peace! Aamin!
Ekbal Kidwai visiting Karachi [California]

Jamaat al-Muslimeen [News]
Peaceful but uncompromising on Islam
P.O. Box 10881
Baltimore, MD 21234

Outreach: "Free Ahmed 'Abdel Sattar": Advice on Qur'an Translations, Eid Crescent, Iraq Situation, Imam Jamil Address

December 28, 2007: In Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Jamaat al-Muslimeen distributed 300 copies of two easy-to-read Islamic documents after Juma' [Friday] prayers. This mosque, behind the University of Pennsylvania, is the most heavily attended in this big city.

The first of these documents [150 copies given out] is a fascinating report on Egyptian-American Ahmed 'Abdel Sattar , a man of tremendous moral courage who exposed the regime of Hosni Mubarak, the Pharoah of Egypt. There were no witnesses against Ahmed. He was given 28 years for TALKING on the PHONE to opponents of the regime, condemning ISRAELI KILLING of a Palestinian child and standing up for the rights of the Blind Shaikh, Dr. Omar Abdel Rahman. The document gives the prison address of Ahmed and questions the silence of ISNA boss Siraj Wahhaj over the suffering of Ahmed who has been denied visits from his family for over a year.

The second document, another 150 copies, is a collection of brief and important items from the year 2007 such as:

Censorship of Holocaust Critique: A Letter from Author Germar Rudolf, in Prison for "Thought Crimes"
by Kaukab , Ph.D

For Muslims, understanding the non-Israeli viewpoint of the Jewish Holocaust story is essential because the established version is the biggest source of funds of the terrorist entity known as Israel. The international Jewish power structure has done its work well. It has made any criticism of the established version of World War II into a thought crime so that scholars with the highest academic credentials can be [and are] imprisoned for questioning the Holocaust [Holohoax as some call it]. We know about David Irving, the British historian who was imprisoned for ONE SENTENCE he spoke years back in Austria expressing his skepticism.

What's not so well known is the case of Germar Rudolf, top of the line critic of the Holocaust story, who is still in prison in Germany after being cleverly extradited from the U.S. This distinguished scientist discovered that the established Holocaust story cannot stand up to critical scrutiny

This is the second letter we have received from scholar Rudolf. He finds no reason to recant his views because he has researched what he wrote. His book is a BLOCKBUSTER REBUTTAL of a great variety of Holocaust stories. The book is titled:

DISSECTING the HOLOCAUST. The Growing Critique of 'Truth' and 'Memory.'

It is 612 pages and systematically unravels and debunks Jewish stories about Babi Yar, Treblinka and Auschwitz. It also tackles the issue of "memories" brought up by "holocaust survivors." Are these memories reliable?

One of the devastating aspects of Rudolf's book is the analysis of "photos" which depict murdered Jews and have been used for decades to soften up the public to Zionist fundraising.

IMPORTANT FROM ISLAMIC VIEWPOINT: Other than the funding for Israel and International Jewry, the Holocaust needs to be critiqued for its "survivor" narratives. We know how the Zionists have been raising doubts about HADITH books which are essential to Islam. The HADITH were accepted after being subjected to the MOST RIGOROUS scholarly criticism in human history, yet they have been attacked by Jews like Goldziher and Schacht and more recently by the RAND Corporation and its "Muslim" supporters. Scholar and rsearcher Rudolf is important because he shows how weak and self-serving are the Jewish "memory" narrations about the Holocaust. Subject the Jewish stories to hadith standards and they collapse completely.

There is no Holocaust Memorial for the victims of 400 years of slavery or for the extermination of the indigenous people of America. Is it not ironic and misleading that movies about the Jewish holocaust [Schindler's List etc] are being shown in Black schools, a Jewish movie maker makes big money from a story about Amistad, school children are taken on visits to the Holocaust Memorial but reparations for slavery are not allowed. Isn't the Holocaust Museum a propaganda tool when it is being blatantly used to whip up "genocide in Darfur" stories leading to sanctions on Sudan and preparations for military intervention?

SADDAM HUSSEIN'S GREATEST LEGACY: DECEMBER 2003 TO DECEMBER 2006 (PART TWO OF THREE)
Trial was a Sham, Meant to Silence Forever the Falsehood of the Charges Against him
by Jeff Archer

No one was surprised by the guilty verdict against Saddam Hussein in the sham court because of the knowledge this was a foregone conclusion. However, the appeals court outdid itself by ruling on the Iraqi vice president, Taha Yasin Ramadan. He was sentenced to life in prison by the court that convicted Saddam, but the appeals court took it upon itself to change the sentence to death, even though the case was not on the docket.
From the first day Saddam Hussein stepped foot in court until the day he was hanged, the entire system was stacked against him. Many of the laws the court made for itself were illegal in the eyes of international law and the court even breached some of its own illegal decrees.
Three defense lawyers were assassinated: Sadoun al-Janabi in October 2005; Adel Muhammad al-Zubaidi in November 2005; and Khamis al-Obeidi in June 2006. In addition, another defense lawyer, Thamir al- Khuzaie, was seriously injured in the attack on al-Zubaidi. No one has been charged with these murders, but fingers point to Iraqi officials friendly with the Mahdi Army, the armed militia affiliated with Moktada al-Sadr, or the Mahdi Army directly. Because of the close relationship of al-Sadr's group and the stooge Iraqi officials in Baghdad, it is highly unlikely that an arrest will ever occur.
Dr. Curtis Doebbler, a noted international human rights attorney, was on Saddam's legal team from the start. Shortly after the announcement of the appeals court, he stated:
We're trying to point out that if an execution takes place, it will be an ex-judicial, arbitrary execution outside the law in violation of the law. It's somewhat ironic that this individual who will be executed has proven to have much more integrity than the individuals who are executing him, including the U.S. president who exhibits more evidence that he has committed crimes against the Iraqi people than there was against the president of Iraq in the first trial in which he was brought before the U.S.-created court and there still has been no investigation of the U.S. president.
As you've seen, the Iraqi president has maintained his dignity and also maintained his peace of mind in belief that he personifies the will of the Iraqi people to continue to fight against this occupation, which they believe, and the majority of the international community believes, is illegal and the consequence of the illegal invasion of Iraq.
It's quite a sad day, I think, for international justice and, unfortunately, an another example of how the United States is unwilling to conform with international law; to show respect for international law. What hurts me the most, as an American, is that we're the ones who benefit the most from respecting that law. When we set this example, we essentially tell people that the law cannot be used to try to get the United States to respect their rights. They have to use other means. That's what got us into many of the problems that we're in today.

After the appeals verdict, almost everybody in the U.S. was in the lynching mood. Pundits were frothing at the mouth when they discussed the upcoming execution. There was a collective air of jubilation and even former anti-war activists cheered on the impending hanging. Many politicians of the Democratic party who jumped on the anti-war and anti-Bush wagon said that Saddam "deserved it." Not one discussed the legality or fairness of his trial. Leftist journalists were trying to outdo each other in demeaning Saddam. Not only were they reporting the standard fare of Saddam Hussein myths, they made up new fables of atrocities.
Many people have stated that George Bush lied about everything to do with Iraq: weapons of mass destruction; the Bin-Laden/Saddam Hussein link; Iraqi involvement with 9-11; fictitious biological weapons trailers; the Iraqi imprisonment of a U.S. pilot since 1991, etc. Yet, the same people who question Bush's lies about Iraq, broadcast the myths about Saddam Hussein and his regime. If Bush had lied about everything else, why should one believe his statements about the Ba'ath Party and Iraq's president? Logic would argue that he lied about Saddam as well.
The scenario did not make sense. The people who consistently made the most absurd and untrue statements about Iraq (Bush, Cheney, Rice, Bremer, Powell, Rumsfeld, et al) and stole tens of billions of dollars that belonged to the country of Iraq, proudly spoke of creating a new Middle East or were conducting book-signing tours for their memoirs. The results of their lies led to the killing of more than a million Iraqis since March 2003; at a cost of more than a trillion dollars to the U.S. public; and the destruction of a country's culture and infrastructure. Even the history of Iraq was re-written by people in Washington D.C.
On the other hand, the guy with the moustache who told the truth about all the lies and adhered to the U.N. request for inspections, as well as supplied a 12,000-page report that documented in detail every aspect of Iraq's former WMD programs, sat in a jail cell awaiting execution.
On December 14, 2006, the Iraq Center for Research and Strategic Studies (ICRSS) released the results of a poll it conducted over several weeks. The ICRSS is an independent organization based in Baghdad and run by Sadoun Dulaimi, an Iraqi expatriate until 2003. Using a base of more than 2,000 Iraqis, the majority of whom were Shi'ite Moslems, 90% stated that the country was far better off under Saddam Hussein than it was in 2006.
The ICRSS is definitely not a shill for the Ba'ath Party. U.S. government agencies as well as many media outlets referenced its results over the years. The conclusions showed a dramatic difference between the opinions of the Iraqi people and those put forth by the U.S. administration and media.
From the announcement of the guilty verdict on November 5, 2006 until 6:00am on December 30, 2006, Saddam Hussein was the freest man in Iraq although he was behind bars. His mind was clear and he awaited death with dignity. Not once did he crack under torture or pressure.
Other leaders, such as Moammar Gadhafi and Manuel Noriega did succumb to U.S. pressure. Gadhafi, once a revolutionary, is nothing more than the head inspector of the transfer of his country's oil to the petroleum-guzzling nations. He no longer has a grand view of society. He may not be in jail, but he is a slave.
Noriega quickly began singing when the U.S. put on the pressure. He admitted to drug trafficking, despite the U.S. being his partner. And, he made a big deal of stating that he had found Jesus after he was incarcerated. He was a slave behind bars.
Saddam Hussein was not a slave, although his incarceration kept him imprisoned. He was not allowed to see his family, unless, like his sons and grandson, they were shot to death with hundreds of bullets.
At 6:00am, Baghdad time, on December 30, 2006, a mere four days after the appeals court ruling, Saddam Hussein was hanged. Until the lever was pulled, he displayed courage and integrity. The U.S. had waited since 1990 for Saddam to admit defeat or show any sign of capitulation or fear. He never did.
The hanging was the last chance for the U.S. to attain its goal. Administration members hoped he would cringe or show fear. Just the opposite occurred. Saddam went to the gallows and refused to wear a hood over his head, although his hangmen were hooded.
A sanitized version of the execution was broadcast to the world. It showed the hangmen putting a noose around Saddam's neck and then the hanging. There was no sound. Shortly after, a real view of the execution came forth. Someone in the room recorded the event on a cell phone.
In the crowd were hecklers. They taunted Saddam Hussein, yet he never allowed himself to be degraded. When one of the executioners shouted, "Long live Muqtada al-Sadr," Saddam mocked the Shi'ite upstart, then he began to recite an Islamic verse and the hangman pulled the plug.
The final act in the U.S. vendetta against Saddam Hussein backfired. The western media reported it as an accomplishment, but people worldwide took to the streets in protest. Millions in India and Brazil demonstrated. Most of the Arab world was laden with protestors. National days of mourning were announced and even Muammar Gadhafi of Libya, not exactly a close comrade of Saddam, announced his country would erect a statue in his commemoration.
The last 15 minutes of his life made Saddam Hussein the ultimate resister of imperialism to hundreds of millions of people on the Earth. The word "martyr" was now common in describing him.
In the U.S., a few video clips of people celebrating in Sadr City were shown on television. However, no clips of the massive pro-Saddam demonstrations made it past the cutting room floor. What most Americans do not realize is that Saddam Hussein was not perceived in much of the world as the ghastly perpetrator of genocide and the brutal sadist that was written about him in the West. After his hanging, massive numbers of people throughout the Arab world, from Palestine, Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Lebanon, Yemen and other nations, showed their admiration of the fallen president. Outside the area, Russians, Chinese, Pakistanis, Indians and many others paid tribute. Even England had various groups hold commemorative ceremonies.
Saddam Hussein held a 90% approval rating almost four years after his country was destroyed by an illegal invasion but he was hanged, while the U.S. president who was obsessed with the Iraqi president's demise, and who at the time had an approval rating of 28% of his own country-people, is still alive and ordering the murder of many more Iraqis.
There are various reasons for these macabre and illogical turn of events. Vilified by Western analysts, politicians and journalists for years, it is nothing short of miraculous that Saddam lasted as long as he did. Many of the left are just as responsible for his death as are the neocons they lambaste. Scribe-after-scribe demeaned Saddam Hussein since 1990, most of the time relaying lies and myths about the man and his Ba'ath Party. No lie was too big if it was sensational enough to acquire headlines. Even when some of the lies were uncovered, such as those of the human shredding machine, or the mobile biological weapons labs, or the aluminum tubes for Iraq's non-existent nuclear weapons program, the press did not acknowledge the truth. They went along making up new allegations. Because it normally took months to investigate the falsehoods, when the truth emerged, the public read little. To them, the original story stuck in their minds. Many people should be considered murderers for Saddam Hussein's hanging: not just the hangman, but everyone who fueled the fire of hatred against him, including members of the "progressive" press who helped pass on the lies.
The events leading up to Saddam's execution are preposterous, almost surreal. A bunch of one-time Iraqis, who had not lived in the country for decades, were flown into Iraq by the U.S. to run the country. A bible-toting, combat-boot-wearing administrator with no knowledge of any Arab country or culture (Paul Bremer), changed the country's laws and constitution, as well as took away state-ownership of crucial industries.
When the Ba'athist agenda took hold in the 1970s, the government introduced many revolutionary aspects to Iraqi life: the equality of women; universal education; universal healthcare; much-improved public transportation; emphasis on science, etc. By the 1980s, Iraq was thriving and the crown jewel of the Middle East. But, along with the improvements came jealousy and greed. The U.S., because of its no-questions-asked affinity to Israel, had to take Iraq back a few notches. Oil was quickly becoming a symbol of world power, not just something to keep a country's energy requirements in place.
In other words, Iraq was now worth fighting for. It no longer was the antiquated nation of a few decades ago. Saddam Hussein was the driving force behind the transformation of Iraq. Gradually, the U.S., with other Western powers, wanted some of Iraq's black gold. Little-by-little, the country was degraded, beginning on January 17, 1991. Twelve years of an embargo weakened it further, but it did not kill Iraq. It took a massive invasion in 2003 and a ruthless occupation to finish the country off.
Today, Iraq has been totally destroyed, not just physically, but emotionally. All of Saddam Hussein's enemies hold equal responsibility in the destruction. They not only murdered Saddam, but Iraq as well. Shortly after March 2003, some people and institutions, such as Ahmed Chalabi and Haliburton, made a quick financial killing. Those days are gone. Today's thieves in the stooge government can only count on small change to steal. The Iraqi people have had everything they own, physically and emotionally, stolen.
After Saddam's execution, the press had a field day in analyzing and editorializing the incident as well as Saddam himself. Most were writing well out of their league and their ignorance of history showed. Because most U.S. readers do not know the history of Iraq, the scribes' words were taken as true.
The theme of many articles was that justice was not achieved because Saddam was hanged for a lesser crime than the major ones assessed against him. The "progressive" writers wanted to see him tried for gassing incidents so they could tie together U.S. involvement with the "misdeeds" of Saddam Hussein. Article-after-article mentioned Rumsfeld's visit to Iraq in the 1980s and said the U.S. gave Iraq the technology for Iraq's WMD programs. Also, many pundits mentioned that Saddam Hussein was once a CIA asset. Again, they did not research the matter: Saddam Hussein was never on the CIA payroll. Once the U.S. had implemented its occupation of Iraq in 2003, CIA spokespeople stated that there was never a CIA-Saddam link. They no longer needed to keep the oft-stated rumor alive: a rumor that hurt Saddam Hussein's standing in the eyes of the Arab people.
No one questioned the reason for the war. They all blamed it on Saddam and wrote as if Iran was a benign and aggrieved country. Also, not one writer mentioned that Saddam was quickly hanged before the gassing incidents could come to court. Many people accuse Iran, not Iraq of gassing the Kurds at Halabjah. If Saddam was dead, these items could not be addressed, so the truth behind the myth of "gassing his own people" went to the grave with Saddam. Further, not one mentioned that Saddam's Iraqi attorney, Khalil al-Dulaimi, who was the only defense lawyer able to speak in the courtroom, had been approached twice in the previous year by Iranian agents who tried to persuade him not to mention Halabjah at the trial. On his first encounter, in Jordan, he was offered $10 million to keep the subject off the agenda. Later, in Paris, the Iranians upped the ante by offering him $100 million. The only way to keep the subject away from public scrutiny was to kill Saddam on bogus charges. Shortly after he died, the court dropped the genocide charges against Saddam Hussein.

2007-12-31 Mon 03:55:06 cst
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