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Politics : Idea Of The Day -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (43921)	3/31/2003 7:17:00 PM
From: IQBAL LATIF	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 50167

Arab League Amr Musa, secretary general of the Arab League, was asked in an interview with BBC’s Tim Sebastian, “if he had any message for Saddam Hussein”. His answer was that I have some message that I cannot publicly divulge and that we are against war and with the people of Iraq. The Allied forces should withdraw and the “legitimate government of Iraq should continue to serve the interests of the Iraqi people”. It is sad to see that the Arab league has become a league of eunuchs despite wielding control of the largest resources of the world. They keep worrying about the welfare of the Iraqi people, either Amr Musa is blind or he doesn’t seem to understand what a welfare state is! If watching on screens nowadays he thinks that the Iraqi people under Saddam are having ball of a time then he should get an eye and mental checkup. What we are seeing on the screens nowadays is the plight of southern Iraqis living in conditions below poverty lines. It’s like the farmers of the region have no equipment or mechanized way to reap from their lands. I didn’t see any though I did see many burnt out tanks. The land served by the two rivers and contains 112 bn barrel of proven oil reserves is stuck in the stone and the Arab league has the audacity not to condemn it or not to speak about it. Rather the Arab league encourages the tyrants in the Arab lands to continue the abuse of their civilians. These civilians need liberation from the chains of slavery that have been tied around their entire being and nothing short of change of systems will bring it. The fact that Amr Musa does not want to accept is that freedom in Iraq for 25mn people would mean the same desire for the people of Egypt, Syria and other nations like Sudan. Arab league is a convenient place where Amr Musa chairs over grand meetings and opulent palace. With the exception of the Gulf States where the standards of livings have definitely improved most of the other Arab nations are tied up in the circle of poverty, or “poverty trap”. The Arab league has never tried to break that poverty trap. Yes Amr Musa politicizes the actions of Allies and I have no qualms in conceding that the Anglo-Americans have their own double-standards but that should not derail the plans of the Arab league to instill measures in the Arab lands to remove poverty. A fixation with American involvement as honest brokers in the Middle East is nice slogan however if the Arab league improves the conditions of the majority of the population and make itself an effective organization where democracy and freedom is the norm of the day then Israelis will not be able to treat Palestinians the way they do since Palestinians will also have a democracy. It is the lack of democracy and pluralism of the Arab states that is the cause of the all evils and brings about the hated Anglo-American intervention. If Saddam would have put his house in order, if he had not invaded Kuwait, if he had not shown such an aggressive behavior towards the nations of the region he would have not been targeted. Amr Musa did make a good point on tyrannies, that if tyrannies were friendly Americans would support if it were unfriendly Americans would go after them. So his logic that why should Anglo-American alliance change their preference for a friendly tyranny, that preferential status in his mind should stay. Amr Musa’s gives into the fact that there is a tyranny but if it is a friendly tyranny and supported by the Anglo-Americans there should no departure from the Status quo. But I believe that if mistakes have been made to support a friendly tyranny and if a tyranny does not change its color and does not help bring a change in the welfare of its populace then the tyranny should be uprooted. Any time an Anglo-American alliance tries to remove any tyranny, even if they made a hundred mistakes in the past, all those mistakes will be overlooked if a corrective measure is taken. Two wrongs do not add up to a right so whenever I discuss with any person from the political Islamic spectrum that “Americans created OBL and Saddam so thus why should they change them”. Americans might have changed but then the priorities changed and these people have to be brought down. The question is why the Arab league doesn’t support these corrective measures, which will bring a sigh of relief to the population.

To: IQBAL LATIF who wrote (43921)	4/1/2003 12:12:28 PM
From: NickSE	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 50167

British, U.S. Report Encouraging Signs in Southern Iraq: Troops in Berets, Civilians Warming Up ap.tbo.com CAMP AS SAYLIYAH, Qatar (AP) - British and U.S. officials reported signs Tuesday that the tide of war in southern Iraq may be turning in their favor: Iraqis are increasingly warming to their presence, and some troops felt safe enough to wear berets rather than combat helmets in towns firmly under their control. Those signals, however, were tempered by continued resistance by forces loyal to Saddam Hussein, a major battle looming for Baghdad, and possible fallout from the killing of at least seven Iraqi women and children by U.S. soldiers at a checkpoint. In the southeastern corner of Iraq, though, British forces pointed to developments that they said signaled a shift in their favor may be under way. Lights flickered on for the first time in months in the port city of Umm Qasr, and schools and shops were reopening, said Group Capt. Al Lockwood, a spokesman for British forces in the Gulf. Significantly, more civilians were informing foreign troops about the whereabouts of paramilitary forces and members of Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's Baath Party, British officials said. In four towns - Umm Qasr, Zubayr, Rumeila and Safwan - British troops felt so secure that they swapped their combat helmets for less protective berets, and adopted a less aggressive posture in wielding their weapons, British officials said. Lockwood said the berets and relaxed posturing make the soldiers appear more friendly and approachable, and serve as a confidence-building measure on both sides. "It shows that we have confidence in them, and they can have confidence in us," he said. In Nasiriyah, where the coalition has met with stiff resistance, civilians were now helping U.S. special forces stage raids and find troops loyal to Saddam, Brig. Gen. Vincent Brooks told reporters Tuesday at a news conference in Qatar. Brooks said local Iraqis are "increasingly willing" to aid the U.S. and British forces throughout the main areas of fighting. Marines were aided by 100 tribal fighters who helped battle Iraqi forces and remove explosives from a bridge north of Nasiriyah. Their help also resulted in the capture of POWs, he said. In the western desert, after Army Rangers destroyed a commando headquarters a few days ago, civilians helped Army troops locate buildings where regime ammunition was held and helped troops remove it for destruction, he said. One senior U.S. Central Command official said late Monday that he sensed the "tipping point" - when Iraqis would turn against the regime entirely - was near in Basra and Nasiriyah. Lockwood stressed that tensions were still high in Basra, Iraq's second-largest city, where British forces have skirmished almost daily with forces loyal to Saddam while trying to provide humanitarian aid to the city's 1.3 million people. Military operations continued in the region, including a raid on Baath party members in the town of Safwan, said another British spokesman, Col. Chris Vernon. But Lockwood said residents were increasingly willing to approach British troops who have ringed Basra to provide information about known paramilitaries and other loyalists. "They realize that we are there to liberate them, not to occupy," he said. In addition, more humanitarian aid was flowing into the region, including from the United Nations and other aid organizations, he said. "Within the southern area of Iraq, we see a large degree of normality starting to appear amongst the Iraqi population," Lockwood said. U.S. and British officials have acknowledged the expected support for coalition troops by anti-Saddam Shiite residents of Basra and other southern towns hasn't happened to any large degree. They attributed the residents' wariness to the fact that when Shiites did rise up in 1991, allied forces largely abandoned them and left them to be punished or killed by the Iraqi leadership. "They have suffered tragically, enormously under the Saddam Hussein regime," Lockwood said. "And although it's taken some time because of the events of 1991, they're beginning to gain the confidence now, they know we're not going away."