BinZiad
14-11-2002, 00:07
Robert Fisk: Saddam's merry dance cannot hide the sad inevitability of
events
13 November 2002
How seriously they took the Baghdad theatricals. "A resounding 'no' from
the Iraqi parliament,'' was the headline on NBC's local affiliate here
in North Carolina. "Assembly in Baghdad shows its outrage,'' was the
headline in USA Today. As if the Iraqi parliament was really a
parliament, as if Saddam Hussein's recent 100 per cent vote was not a
fiction.
"US officials'' - those all-purpose sources for lazy journalists - were
quickly on hand to suggest that this was "posturing''. I really needed a
"US official" to tell me that. But I began to wonder, given the po-faced
reporting and the presentation of Iraqi news here, if the naive world of
Saddam and the naive world of America don't sometimes connect. It's as
if Saddam knows this nonsense is taken seriously. Hitler was a tyrant
and Saddam is a tyrant. But Hitler wasn't a clown.
Of course, the Iraqi parliament's vote doesn't mean a thing. Two hundred
and fifty senators rejecting UN arms inspections and then allowing the
"wise leadership'' of Saddam to make the final decision is about as
serious as an Egyptian television serial (Egyptian serials are all about
families in crisis and Saddam is addicted to them). Mr Salim
al-Kubaisi's remark - he is the head of the "Iraqi parliament's Arab and
International Relations Committee" took the biscuit. Parliament, he
announced, had full confidence in Saddam's "great ability to assess the
situation'' and commended the Leader's "deep vision''. This was the
vision, remember, that gave us the Iran-Iraq war (one million dead) and
the invasion of Kuwait.
Then we have the leader's beloved son Uday - still bearing the scars of
his assassination attempt - who intervened on the side of inspections.
He thought the UN inspectors should be accepted into Iraq (which means
Saddam agrees) but there should be some Arabs among the inspectorate.
This is not the first time we have heard that. Several Arab states have
suggested the same thing though I don't think Hans Blix, the chief
weapons inspector, is going to be adding Saudi scientists to his team.
The real Iraqi fear is that the CIA will use the UN inspectors - just as
they did before - and that the inspectors, far from searching for
weapons of mass destruction, will be fingering sites for bombardment
if/when America decides to invade.
But it's back to the old story. Saddam is going to run this one up to
the wire on Friday at which point his "wisdom" and "vision" will prevail
and the UN inspectors will be welcome and the American media will say -
just a guess - "Back from the brink''. Oh, yes Saddam understands how to
play the clown. And with each circus act, he makes the Americans look
just that little bit more silly. A dangerous trick to play right now.
A US Marines officer came up to me after I gave a lecture at the
University of North Carolina last night to tell me he was departing from
his young wife and child in three days' time to go to Central Command in
Tampa for the start of a longer journey. It's the same all over America.
Just down from here at Fort Bragg, elements of the 82nd Airborne are
said to be on the move.
A vast American armada is slowly taking shape - huge quantities of
armour and ordnance are being moved around the world right now from the
United States - and most of America doesn't even know it. "See you
there,'' I said to the marine last night as we parted company. "Oh, are
you coming to Central Command?'' he asked innocently. "No," I told him,
"You're going to Iraq."
events
13 November 2002
How seriously they took the Baghdad theatricals. "A resounding 'no' from
the Iraqi parliament,'' was the headline on NBC's local affiliate here
in North Carolina. "Assembly in Baghdad shows its outrage,'' was the
headline in USA Today. As if the Iraqi parliament was really a
parliament, as if Saddam Hussein's recent 100 per cent vote was not a
fiction.
"US officials'' - those all-purpose sources for lazy journalists - were
quickly on hand to suggest that this was "posturing''. I really needed a
"US official" to tell me that. But I began to wonder, given the po-faced
reporting and the presentation of Iraqi news here, if the naive world of
Saddam and the naive world of America don't sometimes connect. It's as
if Saddam knows this nonsense is taken seriously. Hitler was a tyrant
and Saddam is a tyrant. But Hitler wasn't a clown.
Of course, the Iraqi parliament's vote doesn't mean a thing. Two hundred
and fifty senators rejecting UN arms inspections and then allowing the
"wise leadership'' of Saddam to make the final decision is about as
serious as an Egyptian television serial (Egyptian serials are all about
families in crisis and Saddam is addicted to them). Mr Salim
al-Kubaisi's remark - he is the head of the "Iraqi parliament's Arab and
International Relations Committee" took the biscuit. Parliament, he
announced, had full confidence in Saddam's "great ability to assess the
situation'' and commended the Leader's "deep vision''. This was the
vision, remember, that gave us the Iran-Iraq war (one million dead) and
the invasion of Kuwait.
Then we have the leader's beloved son Uday - still bearing the scars of
his assassination attempt - who intervened on the side of inspections.
He thought the UN inspectors should be accepted into Iraq (which means
Saddam agrees) but there should be some Arabs among the inspectorate.
This is not the first time we have heard that. Several Arab states have
suggested the same thing though I don't think Hans Blix, the chief
weapons inspector, is going to be adding Saudi scientists to his team.
The real Iraqi fear is that the CIA will use the UN inspectors - just as
they did before - and that the inspectors, far from searching for
weapons of mass destruction, will be fingering sites for bombardment
if/when America decides to invade.
But it's back to the old story. Saddam is going to run this one up to
the wire on Friday at which point his "wisdom" and "vision" will prevail
and the UN inspectors will be welcome and the American media will say -
just a guess - "Back from the brink''. Oh, yes Saddam understands how to
play the clown. And with each circus act, he makes the Americans look
just that little bit more silly. A dangerous trick to play right now.
A US Marines officer came up to me after I gave a lecture at the
University of North Carolina last night to tell me he was departing from
his young wife and child in three days' time to go to Central Command in
Tampa for the start of a longer journey. It's the same all over America.
Just down from here at Fort Bragg, elements of the 82nd Airborne are
said to be on the move.
A vast American armada is slowly taking shape - huge quantities of
armour and ordnance are being moved around the world right now from the
United States - and most of America doesn't even know it. "See you
there,'' I said to the marine last night as we parted company. "Oh, are
you coming to Central Command?'' he asked innocently. "No," I told him,
"You're going to Iraq."