Thursday, October 28, 2010

Saddam's goons chiefly responsible for bloodbath

"The continuing bloodbath is chiefly the result of an obscene alliance between the goons of the previous dictatorship and the goons of a would-be-future theocratic one. From the very first day after the overthrow of Saddam Hussein, without ever issuing so much as a manifesto or a bill of grievances, this criminal gang awarded itself permission to use high explosives, assassination, torture, and rape against a population that was given no moment of breathing space after three decades of war and fascism."

--Christopher Hitchens

Read more: http://fullcomment.nationalpost.com/2010/10/28/christopher-hitchens-iraq-through-night-vision-goggles/#ixzz13hDyYoGy

12 comments :

Bruno said...

Civil war was inevitable once the invasion removed every trace of law and order. Chalk up yet another victory for the murkins.

Don Cox said...

There was no law and order under Saddam, only a brutal security apparatus dedicated to keeping his mafia in power.

Those goons formed the core of the insurgency. The problem is that many in Iraq think this is how police normally behave: they have never known anything else. It takes more than a few weeks training to eradicate these attitudes.

Bruno said...

Ooooh-oooh-ooh! "Brutal security apparatus"! Oh, how scary. Yeah, I bet nobody reported burglaries, vandalism, lost children or fraud to the "brutal apparatus". Yeah, Iraqis were too busy hiding under their beds. Get off it.

[cox] "Those goons formed the core of the insurgency."

Actually, "those goons" were recruited BY THE AMERICANS who exactly needed a bunch of heavy handed thugs to form the nucleus of their new Brutal Apparatus for crushing Iraqis.

Either you aren't aware that the US actively tried to recruit Mukhbarat, or you're being deceitful.

Bruno said...

"The Sunday Times has reported that the CIA is recruiting former agents from Saddam Hussein’s notorious security forces in Iraq.

According to the newspaper, “American forces have launched a covert campaign to recruit former officers of the Mukhabarat, Saddam Hussein’s infamous secret police, who were responsible for the deaths and torture of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.”

It reports that dozens of these sadistic and brutal murderers are now employed by the US “for help in hunting resistance groups” within Iraq, as well as “identifying and tracking down Iraqis suspected of spying for Iran and Syria, the neighbouring countries most hostile to Washington”."

http://www.wsws.org/articles/2003/sep2003/iraq-s26.shtml

Iraqi Mojo said...

The civil war was initiated by Saddam in 1980 when he began mass murdering Iraqi Shia. The Iraqi Shia did not respond by blowing up markets and police stations.

Dolly said...

I assume the Shia started an armed uprising against the state first.

Dolly said...

I am really double checking the date here, is this ailing fool Hitchens wasting his final hours writing an article.

He used to be a Marxist, so there is no consistency whatsoever. He is now an atheist supporting wholeheartedly a Christian Crusade.

Iraqi Mojo said...

In 1980 Da3wa was inspired by the Islamic revolution and many Iraqi Shi3a wanted to be part of it. Saddam would not bend to the will of the majority of Iraqis like the Shah did in Iran, so he and his criminal gang mass murdered Iraqi Shi3a and expelled tens of thousands of them.

A few armed Shi3a and Kurds tried to assassinate the murderous dictator in the early 80s, but unfortunately they were not strong enough to succeed.

I read that somebody once threw a grenade at Tariq Aziz, and "House of Saddam" showed a dude leaving a briefcase of explosives at a shop in Baghdad, but the Iraqi Shi3a never rebelled by murdering police, army recruits and bystanders like the 3arab jarab have done since 2003.

Don Cox said...

"Saddam Hussein's infamous secret police, who were responsible for the deaths and torture of tens of thousands of innocent Iraqis.""

Exactly.

Anonymous said...

It's not often that I look for support from Dolly, and Hitch is correct about the CURRENT sources of terrorism in Iraq,BUT
In their day, the Iranians,and Iraqi Shia militias generated a good sized portion of Iraq's civil bloodshed.If their percentage contribution to Iraq's mayhem has fallen, it's because a one man/one vote government has delivered the powers of the State into their hands.
btl

Bruno said...

"“American forces have launched a covert campaign to recruit former officers of the Mukhabarat"

Exactly.

[mojo "In 1980 Da3wa was inspired by the Islamic revolution and many Iraqi Shi3a wanted to be part of it."

Let's be honest here: Iran was trying to subvert Iraq by exporting the "Islamic Revolution" to it. While I'm of the opinion that subsequent events may have been a little heavy handed, I'd ALSO say that the Iraqi government of that time DID try to reach a diplomatic resolution of the problem with Iran, which proved intransigent.

Dolly said...

☼murdering police, army recruits and bystanders like the 3arab jarab have done since 2003☼

Well you see, they are not really police or army recruits.
That is just your false labeling,
it's like putting the label "pasteurized milk" on a bottle of water.

Maybe I can start calling Adam Gadahn "the American military,"
and then you can explain to me why you support attacks on the American military.

Such are the joys of false labeling, which you people use profusely