What they dont want you to know about Saddam

[matt66]

From Wikipedia.
Saddam consolidated power in a nation riddled with profound tensions. Long before Saddam, Iraq had been split along social, ethnic, religious, and economic fault lines: Sunni versus Shi'ite, Arab versus Kurd, tribal chief versus urban merchant, nomad versus peasant. Stable rule in a country rife with factionalism required the improvement of living standards

Saddam actively fostered the modernization of the Iraq. Within just a few years, Iraq was providing social services that were unprecedented among Middle Eastern countries. Saddam established and controlled the "National Campaign for the Eradication of Illiteracy" and the campaign for "Compulsory Free Education in Iraq," and largely under his auspices, the government established universal free schooling up to the highest education levels; hundreds of thousands learned to read in the years following the initiation of the program. Iraq created one of the most modernized public-health systems in the Middle East, earning Saddam an award from the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).
In 1958, a year after Saddam had joined the Ba'ath party, army officers led by General Abdul Karim Qassim overthrew Faisal II of Iraq. The Ba'athists opposed the new government, and in 1959, Saddam was involved in the attempted United States-backed plot to assassinate Qassim.[13]

Saddam was shot in the leg, but escaped to Tikrit with the help of CIA and Egyptian intelligence agents. Saddam then crossed into Syria and was transferred to Beirut for a brief CIA training course. From there he moved to Cairo where he made frequent visits to the American embassy. During this time the CIA placed him in an upper-class apartment observed by CIA and Egyptian operatives. (UPI 'analysis' article)



read the whole article at wikipedia. makes for interesting reading.

[Gromit]

Not really news that the US supported and apologised for Sadam for many years. When USS Stark was hit by 2 Exocet missiles fired by the Iraqis, the US blamed Iran even though it knew that Iran didn't have Exocets. Tha gassing of the Kurds by Sadam was blamed on Iran by the US even though the Kurds and Iran were allies.

Sadam was executed because he had too much dirt on the Bush family and Co.

[ummmm1]

Really

[jedimistress]

I heard a lot about what Sadam had done for Iraq prior to the first Iraq War. It stuck with me as the people being interviewed seemed to respect him as a leader, a liberal one at that. Christians and all religions could practise freely and openly. The country was wealthy, developed and forward thinking. If you knew what lines not to cross, which were made clear, you knew where you stood.

[jonnythebosh]

So now it's saint Saddam is it? Sounds like quite a guy.

[matt66]

he was no saint. He was a monster. There is no doubt about it. But one has to read his whole story and also see the involvement of the US and British in what made him into a monster. It would be unjust not to see what he did for the pople of Iraq in his early years.

[Gromit]

Sadam Hussein was illiterate until his early twenties. When he was born, literacy in Iraq (under the British/American backed monachy) was at about 25%. Unfortunately, when he did learn to read, he mostly read about Stalin. When he eventually grabbed power, he made sure that virtually everyone in Iraq could read. Failure to do so got a beating. Sadam/Iraq recieve a UN medal for its huge improvements in adult lieracy.

He was still a monster - and the USA was Doctor Frankenstein (they created him).

[Gromit]

tyler06,

Unless it has escaped your attention, Sadam was the chief instigator of the Gulf War in which many American and British personnel died. (though nothing like numbers of the recent debacle preside over by Saint Bush),