Listening To Saddam

Doodad

Although I knew about it I had forgotten that US forces found tons of tapes of Saddam talking to his inner circle. Now a new book has been written about it called Listening To Saddam. Alex Joffe suggests that this material is relevant to Iran. I would suggest that it goes even further than that.

Joffe reveals:

"For Saddam as for the mullahs, Israel was the "one who raped our land," the "despised entity," the entity "rejected by humanity and by the nation." Zionists, Israelis, and Jews were undifferentiated. Saddam thought the Protocols of the Elders of Zion were to be carefully studied as an invaluable historical record of the global Jewish Zionist conspiracy. He believed Israel was behind the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Center. Zionists were responsible for reviving Pharaonic civilization in Egypt and Phoenician civilization in Lebanon in order to "break up the fabric of Arab nations." For Saddam, anti-Semitism was not simply an expedient or cover but a central organizing principle of life and thought.....Saddam saw himself as a world historical figure, a revolutionary leader with a unique destiny—yet he was also conspiratorial, egotistical, ill-informed, fundamentally Muslim, and irretrievably anti-Semitic. In different ratios, these features also describe the Iranian leadership. Their self-concept is no less revolutionary than Saddam's, and their goals are no less grandiose: resisting America's "global arrogance," driving it from the Gulf and Middle East, restoring Iranian and Muslim honor, and creating a "world without Zionism."

Saddam, Mullahs, The Muslim Brotherhood, etc etc etc. These ideas are as common as cornflakes in the Arab/Muslim world. It is indeed, "a central organizing principle of life and thought." The thing is, it's not about to change soon. It may never change!

So spare me the nonsense about it being Israel's fault or the settlers' fault. Don't make me laugh by suggesting land for peace or Israeli concessions or any of that tired old garbage. Don't tell me it's Bibi's fault, Likud's fault when it's been going on no matter what "wing," was in power. Just stop it. We all know where the real problem lies. It preceded any Occupation so forget that little hoax too. Why continue your little meaningless leftist/Progressive charade? You want peace? Then open your eyes and start pressuring and lecturing the parties with the real problem