Maybe Bush was right all along....
Ajami is an astonishing rarity
Kevin Libin, National Post
Published: Monday, May 26, 2008
CALGARY -There are countless stories in Iraq that Fouad Ajami considers "heartbreaking." They are the product of the dozen years that preceded this war. It was then, not now, he reminds us, when people suffered most cruelly.
"Ask Iraqis what were their darkest years -- read Iraqi fiction, Iraqi memoirs -- [it was] the '90s, under the sanctions, after we left Saddam in place in 1991." He has no tolerance for those "great realists" who argue that more years of miserable sanctions was preferable to invasion: Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright ... Barack Obama. "Liberal Americans opted for a sanctions regime which was nearly criminal in its cruelty toward Iraq," says Mr. Ajami. "The Iraqi middle class was destroyed and shattered during the sanctions regime. That's when people sold their books, that's when people sold their belongings, that's when women turned to prostitution, that's when the [Hussein] regime had the run of the country." From Saddam Hussein's era, "Iraq may have something like, for all we know, well over two million widows. There are several million orphans." Once the dust settles on this war, Mr. Ajami predicts, we will regain clarity on the genuine "monumental tragedy" that was Iraq, before. And why, he insists, "history will be kind" to this "noble war." Unlike those before him who preferred the convenience of their suffering, George W. Bush, he says, "gave the Iraqis a chance."
To read the full article and a full text of Mr. Ajami's address in Calgary, click on following links....
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=540095
Fouad Ajami's excellent address before the teatro club of Calgary, on why he feels that Bush and America's sacrifices to bring freedom to Arab lands will take root.....
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=540096
Ajami is an astonishing rarity
Kevin Libin, National Post
Published: Monday, May 26, 2008
CALGARY -There are countless stories in Iraq that Fouad Ajami considers "heartbreaking." They are the product of the dozen years that preceded this war. It was then, not now, he reminds us, when people suffered most cruelly.
"Ask Iraqis what were their darkest years -- read Iraqi fiction, Iraqi memoirs -- [it was] the '90s, under the sanctions, after we left Saddam in place in 1991." He has no tolerance for those "great realists" who argue that more years of miserable sanctions was preferable to invasion: Bill Clinton, Madeleine Albright ... Barack Obama. "Liberal Americans opted for a sanctions regime which was nearly criminal in its cruelty toward Iraq," says Mr. Ajami. "The Iraqi middle class was destroyed and shattered during the sanctions regime. That's when people sold their books, that's when people sold their belongings, that's when women turned to prostitution, that's when the [Hussein] regime had the run of the country." From Saddam Hussein's era, "Iraq may have something like, for all we know, well over two million widows. There are several million orphans." Once the dust settles on this war, Mr. Ajami predicts, we will regain clarity on the genuine "monumental tragedy" that was Iraq, before. And why, he insists, "history will be kind" to this "noble war." Unlike those before him who preferred the convenience of their suffering, George W. Bush, he says, "gave the Iraqis a chance."
To read the full article and a full text of Mr. Ajami's address in Calgary, click on following links....
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=540095
Fouad Ajami's excellent address before the teatro club of Calgary, on why he feels that Bush and America's sacrifices to bring freedom to Arab lands will take root.....
http://www.nationalpost.com/todays_paper/story.html?id=540096
