George W. BUSH (son of George HW) ♦ Saddam Hussein
Saddam Hussein (son of a shepherd) became a military advisor or Marshal, major political party leader and head of state who was party to serial off-on U.S.-Iraqi alliances until he was eliminated.
In the 1950s and 1960s, Iraq was the United States’ “anti Communism” buttress enjoying U.S. favoritism. In the 1970s (early) Iraq nationalizes U.S. petroleum interests and partners with the Soviet Union “to develop its oil capacity” in the interests of the Iraqi people; and U.S. officials covertly equip Kurdish rebels aimed at weakening the Iraqi government. In 1979 through the 1980s (U.S. administrations of Carter through Reagan) armored with paranoia about “Communism” and “Iran,” U.S. powers throw weapons, military presence from the Gulf and other favors into the camp of Saddam Hussein.At the turn of the next decade (1990s), a U.S.-emboldened Saddam Hussein copies the old expansionism tactic and moves against Kuwait to which the GW Bush administration responds by bombing Iraq and attempting to take down by the divide and conquer method (inciting Iraq’s Sunni Muslim elite to attack Hussein), which ended up causing brutal attacks on the Sunnis.
Nevertheless, the regime change tactic prevailed (ally Hussein had become demon aka “dictator”- out-of-favor Hussein) through the William Jefferson Blythe III (Bill Clinton) and George W. Bush presidencies:
- Blythe III / Clinton endorsed the removal of Hussein in 1998; and
- Bush’s inauguration lit the fuse that would culminate in the 2003 obliteration of Iraq and its head of state.
Barack Hussein OBAMA Jr. ♦ Muammar Gaddafi
Muammar al Qaddafi (Moammar Gadhafi) was a devout Muslim and son of an itinerant Bedouin farmer; a military officer who graduated from the Libyan military academy and rose steadily through the ranks.
Throughout his life, Col. Qaddafi had been credited with trying to unify the Arab world. In the 1970s in support of his people and his nation’s sovereignty, he removed the U.S. and British military bases from Libya and nationalized all foreign-owned petroleum assets. Under his interpretation of Islamic principles, he outlawed alcoholic beverages and gambling.Col. Qaddafi had been credited with being a statesman and able leader in his country and region. In his later years, Libya’s head of state had, in effect, served the Western Collective’s relentless wars (acting as buffer for Europe) by giving shelter and refuge, housing and work to thousands of migrants who had been forced from their homelands by U.S. and European wars.
Like the U.S. pattern with Iraq’s Saddam Hussein, Libya’s Gaddafi was a once convenient ally turned convenient enemy, who was eliminated. October 20, 2011, saw United States and European governments-supported chaos and armed uprising that plunged the country into a civil war. And amid the roar, assailants seized and brutally murdered Libya’s Champion Col. Muammar al Qaddafi.
The Syrian-born British journalist Richard Medhurst wrote in 2021 “Muammar Gaddafi led his nation to become the wealthiest in all of Africa.” And decade after the death of their leader, Libya has been torn “by tribalism, terrorism and slavery—all because the West could not allow an Arab leader to succeed.”
Journalist Medhurst’s Eyewitness toLibya during and after GaddafiThriving country becomes a Failed State
Gaddafi’s 42 years of Service to Libya
Literacy rate rose 25 percent to 88 percentLibyans enjoyed free healthcare, free education, a high standard of living
Basic necessities such as electricity and gas were cheap
In the 1980s, he built the world’s largest irrigation project, the ‘Great Man-Made River’, a project whose pipe network provides 70 percent of Libya’s fresh water— a project entirely self-financed, without any loans or credits from foreign banks.
A country grown very wealthy country, without external debt
NATO/USA’s Unspeakable Imprint
“Bombing of the Great Man-Made River, destroying key civilian infrastructure”
- Country taken over by terrorists, opportunists and thieves, and has plunged into chaos; open slave-trade markets.
- Smugglers and human traffickers take advantage of migrants and refugees passing through to Europe, selling them off into bondage.
- Rival tribes, political factions quest for power; fight over oil and other precious resources
- Healthcare system collapsed
- No infrastructure
- No functioning central government
Donald John TRUMP ♦ General Qassem Soleimani
General Soleimani was a man of modest beginnings who in his youth had done construction work “to help repay his father’s agricultural debts.”
He was a military man of longstanding service to his country (1979-2020), a respected Shia Muslim, and a soldier beloved by his countrymen. Like Col. Qaddafi, he had worked for security against “terrorists” and for regional, Muslim and Arab Unity. Gen. Soleimani is credited with spearheading “Iran’s advisory mission in Syria, at the request of the Damascus government, to rid the nation of Daesh terrorists.” In continued progress (after U.S. agents killed Soleimani), a majority of member states of the Arab League voted to return Syrian Arab Republic to the Arab League.
After the September 11, 2001, events in the New York and Washington areas, Iranian diplomats under Commander Soleimani’s direction “cooperated with U.S. forces in the fight the Taliban in Afghanistan.” As he was ending his presidency, U.S. President Donald Trump wantonly ordered the assassination of the Islamic Republic of Iran’s beloved son.
Motivation or Madness
What motivates some men to do good while others, claiming to do “good,” commit reprehensible, unspeakable acts? And get away with their crimes.Why do the world’s peoples permit (tolerate, acquiesce to) the status quo, the existing state of affairs?
Sources
Medhurst, Richard “Orinoco Tribune “The Killing of Gaddafi 10 Years ago has Resulted in the Death of the Nation of Libya and the Destruction of its People,” October 20, 2021
https://orinocotribune.com/the-killing-of-gaddafi-10-years-ago-has-resulted-in-the-death-of-the-nation-of-libya-and-the-destruction-of-its-people/
Press TV news online “Iran seriously pursuing Gen. Soleimani’s 30-year effort towards Muslim unity: FM” [General Qassem Soleimani, the martyred commander of the Quds Force of the Islamic Revolution Guards Corps (IRGC)] June 18, 2023 https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/06/18/705525/Iran-foreign-minister-Qassem-Soleimani
Press TV news online “Up to 1 million people ‘disappeared’ in Iraq over past five decades: UN” April 4, 2023 https://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2023/04/04/700970/Iraq-UN-report-enforced-disappearances-victims-Daesh-US-occupation-Saddam-Hussein-rule
Alsmadi, Fatima Ahmad opinion, “The mystification of Qassem Soleimani,” January 26, 2020, Al Jazeera, https://www.aljazeera.com/opinions/2020/1/26/the-mystification-of-qassem-soleimani
Hahn, Peter “A Century of U.S. Relations with Iraq,” April 2012 Stanton Foundation, The Ohio State University, https://origins.osu.edu/article/century-us-relations-iraq?language_content_entity=en
Peter Hahn is an expert on the history of U.S. diplomacy in the Middle East; and examines this century of interaction between the two nations
Global Policy Forum “US and British Support for Hussein Regime,” updated: April 14, 2021,
https://archive.globalpolicy.org/iraq-conflict-the-historical-background-/us-and-british-support-for-huss-
Saddam Hussein Biography “Saddam Hussein was president of Iraq for more than two decades and is seen as a figurehead of the country’s military conflicts with Iran and the United,
https://www.biography.com/political-figures/saddam-hussein
General References
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