Ayoon Wa Azan.

Byline: Jihad El-Khazen

Almost three months ago, I began gathering information to write my vision of Iraq's future in 2008 after I read a long report by Dexter Filkins published in the New York Times under the title 'Regrets Only?' My research, however, led me to a longer report by the same author published in the same daily on 11/5/2006 under the headline 'Where Plan A left Ahmad Chalabi'. Eventually I ended with sources measured in kilograms not just in pages. During Western holidays I managed to choose what I needed, only to end up writing on three men who played a role in the war on Iraq. I leave it to the readers to envision the future since writing about the future is the faculty of the helpless as the writer can write anything he wants as long as he can only be held accountable in the future when he and the readers may have forgotten the subject or simply passed away.

I start my discussion with Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi intellectual and professor at Brandeis University. He earned my admiration in the early 1990s and my wrath by the end of the decade, only to admire him intellectually and professionally once Filkins' 'Regrets Only?' published on 10/7/2007revealed that Professor Makiya was reconsidering the stances of Saddam Hussein's opponents before the war, admitting mistakes and speaking bravely about them.

I became familiar with Makiya's thought in two ways. The first was when his famous book Republic of Fear on Saddam Hussein's Iraq was published in 1989, and the second when I was introduced to him by the late fellow May Ghossoub, may God's mercy be upon her. She used to know Makiya through Al-Saqi publishing house and hence his work became a subject for our discussions and debates.

If I casually describe Kanan Makiya 'kind-hearted' I make no intention to imply his naivete as undercutting his great academic stature would only undermine my credibility. What I mean to say is that having spent decades outside his country, his lack of knowledge of Iraq has led him to put wishful thinking for his nation ahead of the truth.

When his book, Republic of Fear, came out in 1989, it was received with enthusiasm within a limited circle of thinkers and devoted followers of Iraqi affairs, but it became popular after the occupation of Kuwait in 1990 and more popular during and after the preparations for war on Iraq. This reminded me of George Orwell's 1984 published in 1949. The novel did well but did not become a best seller until the year 1984 in which the author had predicted that Big Brother, the government, would take over the minds and lives of people.

Republic of Fear provides the West with details that most Arabs are familiar with on crimes committed during Saddam Hussein's reign. In the early 1990s Makiya wrote another book, Cruelty and Silence, in which he criticized Arab intellectuals and argued that in their hostility to America, they had connived in collective silence and complacency while Saddam Hussein committed his crimes.

This is half the truth because with the exception of a few, Arab intellectuals were completely silent and some even believed Saddam Hussein and praised him as a hero. The other half of the truth is that not only would Arab intellectuals have failed to change anything, but they would have also put their lives and the lives of their families in harm's way if they had written. Makiya knows all too well that the luxury of writing safely from America is nothing in comparison to writing in the Arab world where Saddam Hussein's agents could lay their hands on anyone.

aeC[ETH]C [sz]Ca ai Aa COEUaa "CaIiC..." aEaC[eth][degrees] aeai aa E[sz]a AOaC[eth] aUCNO... aOICa IOia[degrees] Y[THORN]I aeIIaC CaaC Eia aOaU 1990 aeIEi AE (C[euro]OOO) aa CaUCa aYOa aeCIEaCa Ca[sz]aeiE AENaC [euro]OE OICa IOia ANEU aNCE[degrees] aeaoIIaC [sz]AYNCI ae[sz]INiI...[degrees] aeaONaC EUI [ETH]a[sz] CaEYCOia Yi [sz]ECE YaC AUaeI CaiaC Caiaea[degrees] aeAaaC A[ETH][sz]oN CaENaeYOaeN a[sz]oi... EAaa aON [sz]ECEa "IaaaeNi... CaIaeY "ECOa aOEUCN Yi CaEICi... aae OaiN Iaia CINC[sz]C[eth] aaa CaION Uai IiCEa C[ETH]C aCIa OICa IOia.

Using Al-Hayat as an example although it was not known to oppose Saddam Hussein, it is easy to see that between early 1990 and August of the same year and the occupation of Kuwait, we aroused Saddam's anger on four occasions. Consequently, we were threatened as individuals and as a newspaper. I will not elaborate on the details since they were published in a book later, but I remind Professor Makiya that he published his book Republic of Fear under the alias Samir Khalil because he was aware that his life would be at risk for attacking Saddam Hussein.

Professor Makiya made a mistake when told President Bush that the Iraqis would welcome American troops with candy and roses as the Afghans had done (So big is the difference between Afghanistan today and the day when the Taliban were defeated). He also erred when he thought he could draft a secular democratic constitution for Iraq, and again when he believed that Ahmad Al-Chalabi would be the Mandela of Iraq.

Yet, Kanan Makiya is an honest man. In a Dokan meeting with other Iraqi figures and the Lebanese-American Fouad Ajami to discuss the establishment of an American university in Iraqi Kurdistan, he found himself and the others confronting the question of whether Saddam should have been left in power.

Makiya, according to Filkins' account, asked about the number of Iraqis slain since 2003, and in the face of silence he asked: 'Five hundred thousand? Two hundred thousand? What are the estimates?' I can tell him that the lowest western estimate is six hundred thousand and the highest is a million victims.

a[sz]oi... aa CaOI[THORN] aU aYOa aeaU CaECNiI Caa aC iaaea CaAaiN[sz]iia Y[THORN]O[degrees] Ea iaaea CaUNC[THORN]iia[degrees] IOaeOC[eth] CaOiU...[degrees] aeiNCIU aC [sz]Ca ae[sz]iY aa iIOa UYae UCa [sz]aC OaE[degrees] aYEI OYI... IIiI... Eia CaUNC[THORN]iia[degrees] EIa EOYiCE aeCaE[THORN]Ca aeCOEAEECN ECaOaO... [sz]CI Aa iaeOa Cai INE Aaai.... aeA[sz]aa [euro]IC[eth].

Makiya is honest enough with himself and with history to the point that he does not blame the Americans alone, but he also blames the Iraqis, especially the Shiites. He looks back at the missed opportunity to open a new chapter among themselves when a request for general amnesty was replaced by eliminations, vengeance and power-mongering which pushed the country to the brink of civil war. To be continued.

http://www.j-khazen.blogspot.com/

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