Rehabilitating the Baath, Lamenting an Army that Would not Fight…..……..
This Saudi media outlet is lamenting the fact that Iraqis are pulling down what the Baathists called the “victory arch”: Saddam’s hands holding two huge swords across a wide avenue. The report says that the sight of the hands and the two huge swords gladdens and excites all hearts (especially in al-Anbar). It says the arch gives the impression of death and yet of power, that it was built by a British firm (Morris Singer?) and that the steel swords were designed by a German firm (Metalform?) which had previously supplied Iraq with technology and the swords were a gift. It also laments that all statues and memorials to the Baath rule are being pulled down, which apparently is breaking their hearts (but not the Iraqis’).……
For some time after the fall of Baghdad, the term “Baath” was considered a dirty word in much of the lands of my Gulf. It was the Baath, after all, that mismanaged Iraq and led the region to several wars. They also lamented that the Baathist army, genocidal and brave against its own people, had turned cowardly and melted away, shamefully refusing to defend its capital city as US and coalition troops raced toward it. It was that army that many have been calling for its top officers to be rehabilitated and perhaps re-commissioned. They certainly did a lousy job in 2003, they went into hiding, leaving Baghdad exposed.
Cheers
mhg
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