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Playing into Saddam's Hands

(Financial Times-UK)Shlomo Avineri - What is now happening in Iraq is probably the war that Saddam Hussein planned from the very beginning. The various military, paramilitary, and security units did not "disintegrate"; they went underground, disappearing in the Maoist guerrilla tradition of fish in water; weapons were distributed and stashed throughout the country; the widespread looting, disruption of electricity and water supplies, and vandalizing of public buildings were not carried out by "criminal" elements but by members of the regime's numerous security organizations. None of these plans and preparations were spontaneous responses to the U.S. occupation. They were part of a deliberate strategy to defeat the Americans, and it appears to be working. All this clearly takes place at a terrible price to the people of Iraq, but such has been the history of Saddam's regime. What the world needs to do is seriously to face the unpalatable truth that the war has not yet been won.
2004-11-12 00:00:00
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