Friday, February 24, 2006

Is the “Resistance” Legitimate? - Part I




Under the Dictator’s Shadow

Your average Leftist would spend an hour defining the term, “legitimate”, but I am not going to bore you with an English lesson. As a matter of fact, I’m not even going to waste time trying to convince you that I am making an impartial judgment. No way!!! I will not attempt to mislead you by trying to hide my bias. I believe that the Iraqi “resistance” is based on a brutal thirst for power, religious intolerance and ignorance. So I will state my case and you can read it or you can chase Zionist conspiracies at Counterpunch instead.

The insurgency was planned long before the 2003 liberation of Iraq. Saddam made urgent preparations to hold on to his power or win it back. This is a man who defined the term, Dictator. There are many estimates as to how many civilians the Baathist regime killed, some estimates run as high as a million. For argument’s sake I will take the numbers given by Human Rights Watch, a group more concerned with opposing Saddam’s trial and bashing the US than seeing justice done, so they are not interested in inflating the numbers. They have made a calculation of about 290,000 Iraqis murdered or “disappeared” at the hands of Saddam’s security forces. In light of this, its not too far fetched to say that such a dictator who disregards the lives of non-combatants so callously could be responsible for initiating and planning the brutal Iraqi insurgency.

In 1995 Saddam’s son Uday formed the paramilitary organization Fedayeen Saddam. This was Saddam’s first step towards planning the insurgency. The unit reported directly to the Presidential Palace, rather than through the army command, giving them a status above the law. There was a special unit known as the Death Squadron, whose masked members performed executions of civilians thought to be disloyal to the regime.

During the initial US invasion the Fedayeen were notorious for their brutality to Shiite civilians and to Iraqi soldiers that were accused of cowardice. After taking a heavy beating and being completely routed in the Shiite south they hung on in their Sunni stronghold to conduct some of the first insurgent attacks. Throughout the insurgency the Fedayeen have earned a reputation for their ruthlessness. Thats no small feat considering the scope of the inhumanity displayed by the insurgents in the last couple of years.

Direct preparations for the insurgency were made when Saddam’s regime gathered more than 1,000 security and intelligence officers to two military facilities near Baghdad where they underwent two months of guerrilla training on the eve of the liberation. However, the insurgency couldn't be fought by Saddam loyalists alone, they needed money.

The regime’s funding and participation in the insurgency is illustrated by the family of Sabawi Ibrahim al-Hassan, a former advisor to Saddam (as well as his half-brother). In September of last year his son, Ayman Sabawi, was sentenced to life in prison by the Iraqi authorities for funding Iraq’s insurgency and bomb-making. Ayman helped finance attacks in central Iraq that were carried out by the Fedayeen Saddam. He urged Baathist loyalists to attack Iraq’s civilian infrastructure, notably oil pipelines, water and power facilities. Six of al-Hassan’s sons had their US assets frozen for their participation in the insurgency. As for al-Hassan himself, he was arrested for bomb making activities and is awaiting trial.

In December of 2004 a former Republican Guard officer, Izzi-din Mohammad Hassan al-Majid, was arrested. Al-Majid used front companies based in Europe and the Middle East to launder from $2 billion to $7 billion dollars that was stolen by elements of the former regime and was used to fund the terrorist operations in Iraq. Three terror groups benefited from this money; Ansar al-Sunna, Mohammed’s Army and the Islamic Resistance Army.

Approximately 80% of all insurgent attacks occur in Sunni dominated central Iraq. The Kurdish north and Shia south remain relatively calm. Of the most wanted members of Saddam’s regime that are still free many belonged to the security forces and are believed to be active in the insurgency. Here is a partial list of some of the major players:

Hani abd al-Latif al-Tilfah al-Tikriti, COL
Director, Special Security Organization (SSO) And Responsible For Security And Investigations

Sayf al-Din Fulayyih Hasan Taha al-Rawi, LTG
Chief of Iraqi Republican Guard (RG)

Rafi abd al-Latif Tilfah al-Tikriti, MG
Director, Directorate Of General Security (DGS)

Tahir Jalil Habbush al-Tikriti, LTG
Director, Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS)

Shortly before the liberation of Iraq - arms were distributed to regime supporters and stockpiled at schools, mosques and hospitals. Ammunition dumps were dispersed throughout the country making weapons easily available to even the average Iraqi. There is no doubt that the Baathist regime planned the insurgency, initiated it and continue to lead a large portion of it. Even the first suicide car bombing was conducted under Saddam’s orders. Ali Hammadi al-Namani, an Iraqi officer, killed four American soldiers while disguised a taxi driver. He waved the soldiers over to his car and detonated his explosives in March of 2003.

A little further back in October of 2002, it was announced by an Iraqi official that Saddam Hussein won his re-election as President of Iraq. 100 percent of the eligible voters were said to have voted for him. This was an improvement from the results of his last election in 1995, when Saddam received 99.96% of the “yes” vote. Of course he was the only candidate allowed in either “election”. This stands in stark contrast to two legitimate elections and one constitutional referendum held under the supervision of the occupation.

So is it an illegitimate occupation or was it an illegitimate dictatorship?

Join me next week for Part II - Religious Bigotry and the Insurgency

9 comments:

nanc said...

great article, fern. all dictatorships are illegitimate as far as i'm concerned. ruthless doesn't even come close to describing the saddam years - you know how i feel about innocents, so i won't bore you as you didn't bore me with english lessons! thanx!

beakerkin said...

Dead Iraqis do not matter to the left unless the USA is the cause. The hidden story is the refusal of Liberals to even grasp that the current antiwar movement is Commie led. Even more odd is the blatant anti semitism eminating from the left.

13 years ago today I was blown up by the Sons of Allah on my way to buy theatre tickets.

nanc said...

fern - dontcha just love what master artist beamish has done to beaker? he's no longer just plain old beaker - he's beakerambo! or was that rambeak...or bobeakeram...

Freedomnow said...

You know I was gonna say that I suspect Beak airbrushed his picture a bit. Thanks for confirming my suspicions.

Hey Beak, you gotta love the Libs. They are their own worst enemies.

nanc said...

does that mean the enemy of my enemy is my friend? they do make us look better and better all the time...

Freedomnow said...

It goes like this...

A Liberal walks into a fancy cocktail party in Soho. Theres a Republican, a Communist and a Islamist. The Liberal snubs the Republican and proudly walks up to the Islamist to chat about the oppression of the Palestinians. All night long the Liberal only talks with the Communist and the Islamist.

As the guests begin going home the Communist says that he knows of a great all night party that celebrities will be attending and invites the Liberal and Islamist.

As they step out into the street the Communist and Islamist beat up the Liberal and take his wallet.

The Republican runs down the stairs to help the Liberal, but he spits in the Republican's face. The Liberal defiantly yells, "if you didnt support George Bush's policies this never would have happened to me".

nanc said...

of course - that is the unreasoning i'll never understand. how does it make sense to them. for nearly fifty years i've been trying to understand the mindset of a liberal. you, having been one, may help me understand it more. i'm glad you've come over to this side. very glad.

i must work tomorrow - no crying allowed or aloud - whichever suits you more.

have you ever visited this site:

http://www.democracyfrontline.org/blog/

it is tops. not tops like your site though.

Freedomnow said...

Nanc,

I really didnt switch sides or anything. I have always been against fascism and religious intolerance.

Bill Clinton had my support because he took action against fascism. I strongly supported his efforts to bring the Serbian war criminals to justice and help the people of Kosovo.

The same goes to Bush. I ally myself to a cause, not a political party.

nanc said...

you know you're crazy over us conservatives...i have no political party either - i have declined to state for over 30 years.