On the capture of Saddam:

The Ba’ath tyranny is gone, but the threat of Political Islam, and New World Order have emerged

By Houzan Mahmoud

The capture of Saddam was "proudly" announced by Paul Bremer as a historic event for the people of Iraq. I think that he had forgotten that it was the CIA who backed a coup in 1963 to bring the Ba’ath party into power in Iraq; and he seemed to have forgotten or did not want to remember the time, not very long ago, when Ramsfield, in recognition of the US’s support for Saddam in his war against Iran extended his country’s support and shook Saddam’s hand. May be Mr. Bremer forgot that Iraqi people have been struggling and fighting Saddam’s dictatorship throughout the past three decades. Iraq was infamous, amongst the corrupt middle-eastern countries, for the number of political prisoners and mass and often summery executions.

Iraqi people were engaged in fierce struggle against Saddam’s regime when America and the Western governments were generously helping Saddam, selling him all sorts of weapons and military which drove him to war with Iran and later Kuwait. Later on, in a change of heart, they attacked Iraq and imposed sanctions on Iraqi people with devastating result on the civilians. As a result of this new development Saddam’s regime turned to more violence and brutality against Iraqi people in an attempt to keep them silent. Executions and mass killings, chemical bombardments, genocide campaign against the Kurds were the order of the day under Sadam’s regime. Against this background the US government portrays itself as a liberator and the hero of the Iraqi people. They are busking in the glory of capturing Saddam. They fail to mention that it was the US government that brought Saddam and his brutal dictatorship to power and helped him stay in power in the face of Iraqi people struggle and desire to remove him. People of Iraq fought against Saddam for over three decades and the reason that they did not succeed was because of the generous moral, political, material and military support extended to Saddam and his regime. Such a support and encouragement was crucial in Saddam reign of terror.

There is no doubt that everyone across the world was happy to see that the bloodiest and the most brutal regime in the world has gone. The question now is what future holds for the Iraqi people and in particular women in Iraq? Is it the case that we have to struggle against political Islamic groups? They have already declared their hostile policy and practices against civil life and modernity, and in particular against women, by forcing them to wear veils, and by openly propagating their intension to bring back Sharia law. The American forces are encouraging and supporting all the anti-women Islamic laws and practices propagated by the emerging Islamic currents.

Do we have to struggle against another international reactionary force that has occupied Iraq? They have installed the so-called Ruling Council against the will of the people and dividing our society on the basis of religious, ethnic and tribal backgrounds, which do not represent the reality of Iraqi people in anyway. Previously, there was one dictatorship which was the Ba’ath Regime, and people knew who to direct their struggle against, but now there are many dictators and each of them wants to dictate to people their inhumane policies. For example, the Islamic groups, those in power in the Ruling Council, and those in opposition who are using the "occupation" as an excuse to carry out terrorist activities under the slogan of fighting the "enemy of Islam" both share a similar vision on the future of the country. They want to impose a Taliban lifestyle on people, in particular on women, each being as bad as the other. The Ruling Council itself has no legitimacy, and is being imposed on people. None of its members have been chosen or voted for by people in Iraq.

America’s New World Order started in Iraq, and Iraqi people were the ones who had to suffer and pay the price for its bloody aims and agenda. The US policy makers, through the suffering of the Iraqi people, attempted to impose their hegemony on the world, and to be the only pole of power. The American government is responsible for the miseries and hardships suffered by Iraqi people. They were the ones who helped the Ba’ath party to get into power, and they are the ones who helped, and nurtured Political Islamic groups in the Middle East, and Iraq against the socialist and secular forces. So, for Iraqi people and for us women in Iraq, there is not much hope in these terrorist and reactionary forces that have emerged after the fall of Sadam’s dictatorship. In a very short time instead of trying to improve people’s lives, welfare, or protecting women, they implemented their patriarchal, Islamic, and reactionary practices against women in Iraq. For us during Saddam’s regime, our rights were violated on a daily basis, and women were attacked under different pretexts. Women in Iraq endured the most difficult times under Saddam’s tyrant regime and now they are faced with much more brutality and lack of basic rights. The only way is to get organized, and to struggle against all the reactionary forces and not allow them to rule us.

Now that Saddam has been captured his trial should be conducted by real representatives chosen by people in Iraq, not by America, or members of its imposed Ruling Council. Bush, Blair and their associates should also be put on trial with Saddam for their crimes against humanity, and for the atrocities they have committed against the people of the world and of Iraq, and the sufferings they brought to women in Iraq.

December/2003