Washington Flirting with the Baath, Gulf History Being Rewritten, Fools Who Never Learn..........
“The Iraqi government seem worried about a dialog between Washington and the Baath Party. Several leading Baathists have denied any knowledge of a meeting the US is reported to be seeking with the Baath. Prime MInaiter Al-Maliki has said that such a meeting would be against the American-Iraqi Security Agreement. A Baath spokesman has denied a meeting is set, and some Iraq analysts have speculated that perhaps Washington is trying to pressure Baghdad, and that Washington may want to juggle the Iraqi pieces in order to be able to control things after a withdrawal………” Aljazeera
This may fit in with slow but accelerating moves in Arab oligarchy media to make Saddam more palatable and to make the Baath more acceptable. Saudi media and some strongly pro-Saudi Gulf media (Persian-American Gulf) are publishing more editorials and analyses by former Baathist political and military officials, including up to the rank of general. Saudi Asharq Alawsat even has a General Sammarrai waxing nostalgic for the battles of that old war, praising the disinformation and intelligence moves without mentioning the American role in all that. The history of the Iran-Iraq war is being rewritten in the media, putting the blame again on Iran, just like before the invasion of Kuwait. After the Kuwait invasion, most Arab oligarchy media shifted immediately and put the blame on Saddam for the Iran-Iraq war. This is yet another shift, and it may have two aims: (1) to appease and support the Sunni tribes of Western Iraq and (2) to further demonize the Iranian regime. Actually, much of the rhetoric and language in some Gulf media now has a distinct Iraqi Baathist flavor these days, with the same old Baathist slogans reminiscent of the period just before and at the beginning of the Iran-Iraq war.
A fool never learn, n’est-ce pas?
Cheers and Happy New Year
mhg
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