By Toppling Saddam and Qaddafi, West Injected 'Sectarian Poison' (Le Quotidien d'Oran, Algeria) Allowing the Rest of the World to Speak Directly to Americans
By Toppling Saddam and Qaddafi, West Injected 'Sectarian Poison' (Le Quotidien d'Oran, Algeria)
"This
chaotic and grotesque tyrannicide was above all the beginning of the sectarian
poison that, as it spread, resulted in the systematic and deliberate
destruction of states. In both cases, the West decided to substitute itself for
the population by changing governments by force and most gravely, destroying the
little left of statehood that remained. The rest has been a predictable downward
spiral in which sectarian logic, extremism, and every form of political
racketeering have been able to deploy their destructive dynamic. … The most
ironic thing is to read Tony Blair preach the fight against Islamist extremism
and call for the eradication of Daesh when he, with
his boss George W. Bush, gave birth to it."
On October 20, 2011 Colonel Muammar al-Qaddafi was
liquidated [video, right] in a shameless spectacle of violence. Not simply the killing of a
dictator with the support of Western sponsors, it was a nasty eulogy to
violence. It was an outburst of "viva
la muerte" [long live death] encouraged by
the West, from which the Libyans have failed to emerge. What little "statehood"
they had is no more. Having a nation is no longer a certainty.
The grotesque liquidation of Muammar Qaddafi had the same
grim "inaugural" meaning as the hanging of Saddam Hussein on the
first day of Eid Al-Adha.
Unprecedented violence that went way beyond the violent man Saddam Hussein was,
yet as many noted, he died with dignity [video, right]. This chaotic and grotesque tyrannicide
was above all the beginning of the sectarian poison that, as it spread,
resulted in the systematic and deliberate destruction of states. In both cases,
the West decided to substitute itself for the population by changing
governments by force and most gravely, destroying the little left of statehood
that remained. The rest has been a predictable downward spiral in which
sectarian logic, extremism, and every form of political racketeering have been
able to deploy their destructive dynamic.
Those who claim that a democratic revolution can be imposed
by tanks and aircraft are the first not to believe it. However, they manage in
convince the naive and those especially interested of every type of adventure. Iraq's
post-Saddam "political class" is the perfect illustration the
penchant for state-destruction and promotion of chaos deliberately contained
within an organization that promotes bigotry. This state was ruled over by a
brutal and unjust man, but a lot of Iraqis have discovered that a stateless
population is a far greater injustice. The most ironic thing, as noted by Abdel Bari Atwan, is to read Tony Blair preach the fight against
Islamist extremism and call for the eradication of Daesh
when he, with his boss George W. Bush, gave birth to it. No one believes for a
moment that Tony Blair wanted democracy for Iraqis.
B
No one, however, thinks Saddam Hussein's authoritarian state
was a propitious place for the development of Islamic radicalism. It was certainly
the Westerners who opened this grand boulevard to Daesh
after liquidating the Iraqi army and activating the sectarian poison. No one regrets
the death of Saddam, but many Iraqis already miss no longer having a country.
Blair can continue to spout his words, but he is directly responsible for what
happens to Iraq. He sowed the seeds of the "viva la muerte." How many Libyans regret
the loss of Qaddafi doesn't matter, many Libyans watch the accelerated
dislocation of their country with horror. And such people cannot forget the
role of Qaddafi's "dear friends" in this unmitigated disaster.
How to repair a country broken up by violent foreign
intrusion is the unanswered question which, at the moment, is being asked
against a backdrop of increasing violence. How to prevent allowing a foreign
intrusion from breaking a country, ours for example, is not something navigated
with the "language of fear," but with the involvement of men and
women in a free and organized way.This
is called a "national" democracy and is a quick way out of authoritarian
governance that has gone above and beyond its historical limits. This creates
possibilities and policies and is the right way, the only way, to encourage a
mindset of viva la vida
[long live life] to counter calls for death.
