The monster Saddam had to go

Dec 21 2009 By Mike Olley

I REALLY am at a loss to understand what the Iraq Inquiry is all about.

We all know that Saddam Hussein was a genocidal maniac sitting on massive oil reserves. His ability to murder, maim and mutilate is readily recognised.

Indeed, no way could we trust this mad man to hold the planet to ransom over the price of oil. Given the size and key location of his reserves, he had to play ball or go. Unless, of course, you are happy to pay £10 for a loaf of bread and have most of our population unemployed. To leave such vital wealth in the hands of a despotic dynasty as Saddam would have bequeathed is unthinkable.

Interestingly enough, in 1964 British Intelligence stated that Saddam Hussein was a “presentable young man” with an “engaging smile”. They wanted to do business with him.

This was just five years after Saddam had entered politics. He did so by attempting to assassinate the Iraqi military leader Abdel Karim Kassem. On that occasion he failed in his murderous intentions.

Saddam learned his trade in an immoral society. His home town was Al-Awjais on the river Tigris. When born in 1937, the major local industries were brothels and piracy. Saddam was born into a volatile, vile and violent culture. Repeatedly beaten by his stepfather, it’sno surprise he shaped up as a monster.

Saddam could readily claim the blood of over one million human lives. His list of murder, genocide and ethnic cleansing is impressive.

Since he took effective power in Iraq in the mid 1960s, he had “disappeared” ten to twenty thousand political opponents.

Saddam, also during that time, ethnically cleansed untold numbers of Persians and non-Arabs. The war he started against the Iranians cost upwards of a million lives. He ordered the murder of 5,000 captured Iranian soldiers between 1983-88.

In 1987 he systematically murdered an estimated 50,000 to 100,000 Kurds in the Anfal campaign. He infamously gassed 5,000 of his own people in Halabja in 1988.

During 1990 he invaded Kuwait murdering over 1,000 Kuwaitis. He had “disappeared” another 500, stringing along the families of the victims in a cat and mouse game for over ten years.

Over the same period he drained the Marsh Arabs’ homelands, creating famine and death on an unprecedented scale. This act systematically created ecological terrorism against numerous life systems and species.

Saddam Hussein had two sons. Qusay, who as head of the Al-Amn al-Khas, the Iraqi Special Security Organisation, had much to do with the genocide of the Marsh Arabs. He was to inherit Iraq. Uday, whilst not having the blemish of a mass killer, was widely known to abduct rape then murder women at a whim. He also found it amusing to publicly beat to death numerous innocent people.

So whatever the Iraq Inquiry concludes, the simple truth is that Saddam and his family had to go. Basic humanity demanded it as much as the economic imperative. This may not be very palatable, but it’s the raw truth.