ANOTHER ARAB FIGURES IT OUT

But how many in the Arab world are listening?

Had he fallen into the hands of Iraqis his fate would almost certainly have been the same as that of the Iraqi royal family in 1958, or of Nuri Al-Said and Abdul- Karim Qasim -- people whose mistakes are nothing compared to those of Saddam. He would have ended as a mutilated corpse...

Some Arabs saw Saddam's capture as an intentional insult to all Arabs and Muslims. Such a view implicitly assumes that Saddam was a symbol for Arabs and Muslims, that he was a legitimate leader supported by a majority of his own people, and that he was promoting the aspirations and goals of Iraqis and Arabs. But he wasn't. Saddam was never a role model or symbol for Arabs and Muslims. He never had any real legitimacy...

The real insult, beneath which we should all smart, unfolded well before Saddam's capture. It has to do with the political and social conditions prevalent in Iraq and the rest of the Arab world, conditions that allowed someone like Saddam to become vice president in 1968, then bloodily usurp the presidency in 1979. These conditions allowed Saddam, after assuming power, to make decisions that proved catastrophic for Iraq and all Arabs. He single-handedly turned Iraq from a leading Arab country to one of the poorest and most indebted...

What is humiliating is not Saddam's capture in 2003, but his remaining in power from 1979 to 2003. What is humiliating is that Arabs -- including intellectuals and writers, the supposed conscience of the nation -- accepted and applauded him. What is humiliating is that the Americans and British ended Saddam's regime and captured him while promoting their own interests and objectives. This was something that we, Arabs and Iraqis, should have done had we wanted to defend our dignity and interests.