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Politics : Stop the War! -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: zonder who wrote (9791)	4/8/2003 11:26:22 AM
From: Mike M	Respond to of 21614

Your loss. By the way, getting rid of a big bad boogie man is a fine reason for this war....particularly one who used his vast resources unwisely. Stay tuned and perhaps even you will begrudgingly acknowledge that there was more reason than rhyme... Meanwhile, it should be refreshing for Iraq's oil revenues to be used for other Iraqis rather than gold fixtures in yet another Saddam palace, or T-72 tanks....or sarin gas...

To: zonder who wrote (9791)	4/8/2003 12:10:54 PM
From: E. T.	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 21614

“The whole Iraq will be happy if the news about Saddam’s death is confirmed,” says Hussein Al-Rekabi, a prominent Iraqi opposition leader who spent several months in Al-Rasheed Jail with Saddam Hussein during the reign of Abdul Kareem Qasim. In an exclusive interview with Arab News, he said he was eagerly awaiting his return to his beloved country after the downfall of the dictatorial regime in Baghdad. Rekabi, 60, who has been in exile for more than 30 years, accused Saddam of betraying him to the jail authorities and telling them about his political leanings. Rekabi also spoke about Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Saeed Al-Sahaf. “He is a mean and marginal character. He was not a popular personality even among the Baathists,” he said, adding that the general prosecutor during the period of Qasim had married Sahaf’s sister. Rekabi, who used to own a textile factory in Iraq, described his bitter experience with the regime in Baghdad. He left Nassiriyah about 30 years ago and was living in various Arab and Gulf countries including Syria and Lebanon. He is now based in Kuwait. Foreign newspapers and television channels including CNN had tried to interview Rekabi over the past weeks but he refused to talk to them. Rekabi said he was arrested in the Ras Al-Qarya region, which had witnessed an assassination attempt on Qasim. “Dozens of government vehicles surrounded me and then took me to the Department of Import and Export,” he said. Later several security officers started questioning him. “I asked one of the officers why I had been arrested. He said I had financed a plot against the government. I told them that I was just a trader and had no connection with politics. But they ignored my words and put me in jail.” However, Rekabi believed that the authorities might have jailed him for holding the post of the secretary-general of the Al-Fatmi Party, which he said had no significant role in Iraqi politics. About Saddam, Rekabi said: “He has a strong personality. He frightened everybody around him. He respected only the strong and was afraid of nothing except a few people like Ahmed Al-Azawi, and he was assassinated in Syria in 1970s.” Rekabi recalled that there was a clash between the rightists and leftists of the Baath Party inside Al-Rasheed Jail. The rightists were represented by Saddam and his comrades. Many of them were injured in that fight. Saddam told the jail director: “We are revolutionaries. We helped you to raise your heads while Abdul Kareem Qasim was humiliating you. We’ll soon come to power.” Saddam’s party came to power in 1968. Rekabi was later released. When Saddam was vice president of the country, the two met. “He sent a car to take me to the presidential palace. I met him along with Foreign Minister Abdul Kareem Shaikhaly. It was a warm reception, and Saddam recalled our days in prison,” he said. Saddam also agreed to the release of his cousin Harbi Mizaal upon his request. Saddam sought the help of Rekabi to win the support of tribal leaders in Nassiriyah. “I arranged for Saddam to meet with 14 tribal leaders. During the meeting, the leaders opposed the confiscation of private farms for distribution to Baathists. Everybody who took part in the meeting was jailed. Saddam did not like their protest.” However, Rekabi was released after a month. Rekabi said he had no contacts with Saddam after that incident. Several years later, Nazim Kazaz, the director of public security, contacted him and promised all kinds of assistance if he kept away from politics. “I am happy with my business and don’t want to get involved in politics,” Rekabi told Kazaz. Abdul Rahman Almotawa, Arab News War Correspondent arabnews.com