NO TEARS FOR SADDAM
By
I do not support wholesale the theory of regime change as it is being currently propounded over Iraq but I do not think most Nigerian assessors of the current military action in Iraq are giving full consideration to the whole elements in the Iraqi equation as it concerns the removal of Saddam Hussein. Saddam Hussein is not the same thing as the state of Iraq and it tends to blur the core issues involved in the current debate by holding too strongly to the regime change thesis. No one denies that it is within the sovereign prerogative of the Iraqi people to decide on who their leader should be. The question, which Nigerians should be asking is why is it that one man, should hold on to power for so long in a country of several million other citizens. What is more, how come that the people of Iraq did not have the political privilege to chose their leaders outside of the iron autocracy of Saddam?
It is quite possible that the Americans are doing the right thing for the wrong reasons but none of that should be a shield for the dictatorship in Baghdad to hold the people down in terror and tyrannical absolutism. I was very delighted when the clarification came some time ago through the United States ambassador to Nigeria, Howard Jeter, that the relationship between Nigeria and his country is as friendly as ever. This clarification came in the wake of the reported reprisal actions by the US government over the seemly unhappy position of the Nigerian government with the Bush administration over the war in Iraq.
That development was itself unfortunate as there is really no basis for the Nigerian/US relationship to suffer over the distant action by the Bush administration to oust a dictatorship from power in Bhagdad. Fingers were pointed to the fact that the US Consular office in Lagos was abruptly shut down and that the military cooperation between the two countries was terminated rather unceremoniously. The subsequent clarification of the Ambassador over these issues last week is therefore a welcome one as there should really be no valid diplomatic justification for such disagreement between the two friendly nations over the Iraqi war.
The present US-led action to remove Saddam Hussein from power and thus free the Iraqis from several decades of brutal dictatorship should not be difficult to explain to Nigerians who have themselves had a taste of brutal military dictatorship. Aside from the needless legalism generated in the context of the controversies surrounding the absence of unanimity at the UN Council for the on-going multilateral effort to effect a regime change in Bhagdad, it should be clear that it is in the overall interest of the world, in particular the democratic world, that a person as dangerous as Saddam is promptly thrown out of power. It is not so much about the weapons of mass destruction (WMD) whether nuclear, biological or chemical (NBC) that he is alleged to possess that concerns us but the fact that his continuos stay in power is a veritable obstacle to the ultimate liberation of the unfortunate people of Iraq who had had to put up with the brutality of his dictatorial regime for so long.
Nigerians should not forget that not too long ago we were looking out across the borders for some assistance for the termination of the evil regime of Sani Abacha which unfortunately ever came. It was only God that terminated that evil grip on the nation’s power system. It is thus very easy to image that many Iraqis are waiting anxiously for some form of externally generated liberation from the brutality of Saddam and if the Bush-led ‘coalition of the willing’ does that for them, so be it. On a larger scale, however, it is easy to foresee an international law precedent emerging from the ashes of the current US-led military operation in Iraqi which would make it possible for the removal of other equally evil regimes that are brutalizing their peoples elsewhere around the world because there are many other regimes that fall squarely within the same political and moral charges that were leveled against the Iraq regime. Justice demands that they all be treated equally thereafter.
No purpose is served dwelling on whether or not any system of government is superior to the other. So far, there is ample evidence that dictatorial regimes exist to exploit and humiliate their subjects as we suffered in Nigeria all through the evil reigns of Babangida and Abacha. And to a reasonable extent, the nation is still very much mired in the mess generated by those illegal regimes in spite of the democracy now in place. It is from this perspective that I suggest that we in Nigeria should look at the whole development now unfolding in Iraq rather critically instead of chanting muted anti-American slogans. It is not just a question of religion or civilizational conflicts at play here. After all, some of the strongest members of the coalition now against Saddam are Moslems countries and of Arab nationality who have previously suffered from the excesses of the Iraqi regime. Statistically, Saddam has killed more fellow Moslems than any other leader in modern times, It would therefore be a waste of valuable diplomatic energy by the Nigerian authorities to be seen to be expressing any sympathy for the evil government of Saddam which ought to have been removed by whatever means possible long ago.
We should be able to separate the interest of the peoples of Iraqi from that of the sitting regime on the one hand and the interest of the world from that of certain vested interests that are not necessarily bona fide. Nations like France and Germany who do not agree with the steps so far taken by the anti-Saddam coalition retain the rights to say and do whatever they want to do and it must be understood that none of these nations has recently undergone the kind of irresponsible dictatorship that has befallen many nations of the third world including Nigeria - a fact which must decisively moderate our local interpretation of the ongoing global scenario. Our long-term strategic interest as a new democracy lies with getting rid of dictators wherever they may be found because one dictator removed is a lesser sanctuary for other dictators and by implication, more security for ourselves.
It is also not completely correct to allude to the possibility of the oil wealth of Iraq been appropriated by the nations allied in the war to topple Saddam. The plain truth is that the people of Iraq really did not enjoy the full benefits of their oil wealth before now as the militarist regime of Saddam prodigally frittered the nations resources away in stupid self-aggrandizing projects and vainful military adventurism such as the invasion of Kuwait and the establishment of elaborate personal security outfits whose members swear to personal loyalty to him instead of to the Republic with whose money they are kited. We should not forget those Abacha days when soldiers where wearing the badges of the late General instead of the insignia of the Nigerian Army as a demonstration of their ‘loyalty’ to the strong man. As we have seen in Iraq, such armies do not have the spirit or the will to defend the nation, as they are politicians in uniform who are more interests in their bank accounts than the security of the state. No one should be surprised that the much-taunted Iraqi Republican Guard only guards Saddam Hussein and no more.
The proposed Obasanjo-Mbeki-Wade initiative for an African position on the Iraq war thankfully did not see the light of day because the leaders involved were quick enough to sort out the grain from the shaft on the issue: Saddam is not worth defending, whether in law or in policy. Period. I am not persuaded by the tendency in Nigeria that seeks to always align Arab interests with that of the Africans. It is common knowledge that some Arabs nationals continue to hold Black Africans in slavery and other form of inhuman servitude till this day. There is therefore no rational basis for us to always equate the problems of the Arab world with that of the Africans because the last oppression the Black man would have to fight is the Arab enslavement of black people at this day and age, be it in the Sudan, Mauritania, Morocco, Saudi Arabia, Oman or else where. This digression is necessary for those who erroneously think of some ‘kinship’ between the Arab world and the Africans.
Back to Saddam, he ought to have been dealt with in 1991 after his unprovoked invasion of Kuwait and the subsequent rape of that little but rich neighboring Moslem country. That he is just being shown the rough way out now is a sad commentary of the previous do-nothing mentality of world powers when it concerns pliant and exploitable third world nations. The good thing about evil is that it goes around and the failure to halt an evil process in far away places sooner or later reverberates nearer home. That is perhaps the lesson the US learnt after the 9-11 attack by some Islamist terrorists in collaboration with the Talibans of previously obscured Afghanistan.
In the circumstance, it is very difficult to fully fault the US administration over her efforts to stamp out all those who harbored or continue to harbor terrorists and it is common knowledge that dictatorships are about the coziest abodes of terrorists. As we witnessed in the dying days of the Abacha dicatorship, it was obvious that the regime became more and more comfortable with other renegade powers like Iraq, Libya, North Korea and Afghanistan all in the pursuit of a decidedly defiant diplomacy as it progressively lost face with the decent democracies that disagreed with its brutality and treasury looting spree.
Contemporary Nigerian policy makers should therefore know where the nation’s overall strategic interest lies on the ongoing campaign in Iraq, especially with the reality that now confronts us in the Cameroon border dispute over Bakassi and other issues in which the support of nations like the US would ultimately turn decisive. It is so easy to chant slogans when you are far from the real theater but, even then, it must be to some real beneficial effects or it would just be useless. I am not too sure that the people of Iraq would consider us supportive of their cause by siding with their tormentor leader.
The relationship between Nigeria and other friendly nations should never be allowed to suffer any diminution on account of the ongoing war to remove a moribund dictatorship like that of Saddam. Particularity for us, we have seen enough of dictatorship at home to be able to tell where our best national interest lies without much prompting. Saddam does not deserve our sympathy and we should therefore not waste our diplomatic resources on a person who is already history and a bad one at that. It is our hope that the Iraqis are allowed to retake their destiny into their own hands as soon as possible because, ultimately, the only lasting solution for the problems of Iraq would be that which are locally generated.
Outsiders can help but always for a while. It is therefore beyond any nation, including Nigeria, to be wailing over the misfortune that has finally cut up with a regime that had for long denied its people the much-needed democratic right to self-determination.
April 2003