Subject: FISK : THE SAD INEVITABILITY OF EVENTS
From: MichaelP 
Date: 13 Nov 2002 02:19:52 -0600

http://argument.independent.co.uk/commentators/story.jsp?story=351
INDFEPENDENT (London) 13 November 2002 07:53 GMT
   by Robert Fisk

SADDAM'S MERRY DANCE CANNOT HIDE THE SAD INEVITABILITY OF EVENTS

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."

======================

*** NOTICE: In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material
is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest
in receiving the included information for research and educational
purposes. Feel free to distribute widely but PLEASE acknowledge the
original source. ***

 

--- WtrGate v0.93.p9 Unreg