By: Mary Mostert, Analyst, Banner of Liberty (www.bannerofliberty.com)
March 31, 2003
I’ve long believed that perhaps the truest statement in the English language is in the Declaration of Independence when Thomas Jefferson wrote, “Mankind is more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than altering forms to which they are accustomed.” As I listen to the coverage of Operation Iraqi Freedom, it is obvious that that statement is just as valid today as it was in 1776 on Philadelphia.
The brutality of Saddam Hussein and his massive military and “Security” operations is a form of behavior to which the Iraqi people are accustomed. In a nation about the size of California with about two-thirds the population of California, Saddam Hussein has a very large and all-pervasive “Security” network that consists of:
1. The Iraqi Army,
2. the Special Security Service with a staff of about 1000 whose main task is preventing the United Nations Inspectors uncovering information
3. the Al-Mukhabarat, or Directorate of General Intelligence, with 4000 people who is in charge of spying within Saddam’s Ba’th Party, suppression of the Shi’a, Kurdish and other opposition to his regime, internal and external spying, supporting terrorist organizations in other nations, sabotage, subversion and terrorist operations against Syria and Iran, and propaganda
4. the Al-Amn al-Aam or Directorate of General Security, 8,000 people who are in charge of domestic counter-intelligence work which involves an officer for every neighborhood, office, school and hotel to report what is going on in their neighborhood
5. the Al Amn al-Khas or Special Security Organization with 2000 people who are responsible for the security of Saddam Hussein, supervising and checking the loyalty of other security services, monitoring government ministries, supervising operations against Iraqi Kurds and Shias and security for Iraq’s military industries
6. the Jihaz al-Hamaya al-Khas or Special Protection Apparatus, 40 of whom are Saddam Hussein’s personal bodyguards. Also provides bodyguards for Council Ministers and the Regional and National Commands of the Ba’ath Party.
7. the Al-Istikhbarat al-Askariyya or Directorate of Military Intelligence with 6,000 people ensures the loyalty of the army’s officer corps and gathers military intelligence abroad.
8. the Al-Amn al-Askari or Military Security Service, 6,000 people, detects disturbances in the military and monitors and countering dissent within the Military and other security agencies.
9. the Al-Haris al-Jamhuri al-Khas or Special Republican Guard, composed of 15,000 people, headed by Saddam’s son Qusay Hussein, protects Saddam’s Presidential palaces and travels with Saddam Hussein. They are stationed in Baghdad and have their own artillery battalions, air defence and aviation assets.
10. the Fedayeen Saddam or Saddam’s Martyrs, which consists of 30,000 to 40,000 young people, patrols the borders and facilitates smuggling operations. It basically is a “rag-tag force” of bullies who carry out much of the regime’s dirty work, known as Saddam’s “death squadron.”
Last Tuesday, five days into Operation Iraqi Freedom a reporter asked Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld: “There is reported to be a popular uprising in Basra, but the popular uprising apparently is not only targeting some of the Iraqi forces but also some of the coalition forces. And we have reports that at least one British coalition force member has been killed. Can you comment on what's going on there?”
Rumsfeld responded with, “What's going on is that coalition forces came in from the south; they're moving towards Baghdad. They essentially bypassed Basra. The British forces now have the task of dealing with the remaining capability in Basra. We have intelligence information saying that the Fedayeen Saddam people -- I'm not going to call them troops, because they're traveling in civilian clothes and they're essentially terrorists -- have been moving south into some areas, including Basra, and that they are in some cases pretending to surrender and then shooting people. They do not represent a serious threat to the success of this campaign. What they do represent is a terrorist-type threat, and there will very likely continue to be people -- until the regime is gone, until it's finally tipped, until there is absolute certainty that Saddam Hussein is not there anymore, I suspect that some of these dead enders will be down there shooting people and doing that type of thing. That's basically what's going on.”
Last week, when 14 Iraqis were killed in a blast of some sort in Baghdad, Saddam’s propaganda chiefs announced to the world that they were all civilians and accused the US of targeting civilian sites. Central Command said it wasn’t our bomb, but it stirred up many in Arab nations.
What is remarkable about the intense media concern over 14 deaths in Baghdad is that none of these news voices were heard as Saddam Hussein killed hundreds of thousands of fellow Muslims and Arabs in the past 25 years. In 1983, Saddam’s half brother, head of the Mukhabarat, killed several thousand male members of the Barzani tribe and over eight thousand Kurds. From 1987 to 1988 over 10,000 Kurds were killed, 5,000 of whom were killed and 10,000 injured in Halaja with chemical weapons – which is probably the cause of an increase in deaths among children in Iraq every since. Between 1991 and 1993 over 50,000 Shi’as living in Southern Iraq had been killed and many more thousands driven from their homes by the regime. Where was the heavy news coverage? Where was the Arab media?
Sadly, few Americans have any idea of the suffering of the Iraqi people, especially the Kurds, who represent about 20% of the Iraqi population. They have suffered for many years and America’s military is about to give them an opportunity to alter brutal and oppressive forms of government to which they become accustomed. Hopefully, they will seize the opportunity to make the change, as did the American colonists.
To comment: mmostert@bannerofliberty.com