Invasion Iraqi, not Saddami
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‘In politics, there are no permanent enemies or friends, only permanent interests’: Winston Churchill
By Yusuf Awadh Al-Azmi
Looking at history, credibility of historical tales, the responsibilities of historians and integrity of historiography, we must call a spade a spade. The issue has nothing to do with enmity or peace, love or hatred. History is passed down in honesty and perfection. What is wrong in calling white as white and black as black?
Since the dawning of history and way before the institution of colonialism, historians recorded events without prejudice or fixed idea on the ancient Akkadian civilization, Sumerian civilization, Assyrian civilization and Sham civilizations such as Ugarit, Ebla, Mari civilizations etc, and interpreted human history under different circumstances.
Similar events have been recorded in modern history concerning the Eastern and Western campaigns targeting Arabs. For instance, history did not call it ‘The Mussolini Invasion of Libya’ but ‘The Italian Invasion of Libya’. It neither called it ‘Napoleon’s Invasion of Egypt’ but ‘The French Invasion’. History does not lie, although it sometimes exaggerates incidents!
After 27 years, some Kuwaitis still attribute the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait to former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain by calling it Saddami Invasion! Of course, it is shameful to call it the Iraqi invasion! For me, the issue is rather philosophical than political. History mentions the incident as it occurred and calls events by name but the philosophical aspect is embedded in the souls of those who adopted such accounts. I think they’re quite sure it was an Iraqi invasion and they know well that Saddam was nothing more than commander of the barbarian forces that disregarded morals, religion or the Arab identity and stormed our country and even erased its name from the map.
It’s a kind gesture to care about the feelings of the Iraqi brothers by calling it Saddami invasion based on the progression of relationships between the people and the governments of Kuwait and Iraq respectively. Any reasonable Iraqi citizen admits the invasion was perpetrated by the entire State of Iraq led by former president Saddam Hussain. It was the Iraqi Army that invaded our nation via land, air and sea at the dawn of August 2, 1990 and not only Saddam Hussain!
Historical events prove it was an Iraqi invasion. It is true that Iraq incurred more harm due to the invasion than Kuwait did, as the nation collapsed after dismissal of its army from Kuwait on Feb 26, 1991. Strong international bans were imposed on Iraq, forcing her to pay reparations to Kuwait due to the major destruction perpetrated in Kuwait.
Iraq, the distorted country, has since become a subject of global humiliation. Inspection teams visited Iraq many times in search of chemical and banned weapons. The last phase of Iraq’s worsening situation and humiliation was the war that led to Saddam’s overthrow in March 2003, as his statue in Baghdad fell.
The people of Iraq were looking forward to a new regime of peace and prosperity but their expectation was short-lived, as issues took a different direction due to administrative failure caused by the issuance of laws that cannot be understood, including laws to stamp out Baath Party. The decision went a long way to affect the Iraqi Army and led to interference in the Iraqi administration by neighboring countries, spreading sectarianism across the country. Even now, the state of affairs in the sisterly country is not promising. Kuwaitis share common values with Iraq more than disputes, and a reasonable man gets over his pain — seeing nothing can be done about the past. We must build the future on a solid foundation.
I seize this opportunity to praise the initiative of HH the Amir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah to host and patronize an international aid conference for the reconstruction of Mosul City, which was recently liberated from DAESH terrorist group. The initiative reflects good intentions of Kuwait toward Iraq and strong determination to establish positive relations based on mutual respect and appreciation under a wise leadership that is aware of the lessons of history. Kuwait and Iraq are sisterly countries.
Twitter@alzmi1960
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