Saddam Is Everybody's Enemy

Saddam Hussein has given an interview, and it is very illuminating.

Published in several Arab newspapers, he tells the Arab world that the troubles Palestinians face and the attack he faces from the United States are part of one large plot against Arabs everywhere... that a war against Arabs is on in the form of the much-talked-about attack on Iraq and the Palestinians' so-called occupation at the hands of Israelis.
 
Saddam spouts a traditional Baath Party line, namely that the entire Arab world is actually one nation, and that Israeli attacks on Palestinians and American attacks on Saddam are about every Arab... that Arabs are weakened because they do not act as one to resist these so-called attacks, that the battle is not just about Iraq.

What he's trying to do is make the beef he fomented with the United States a beef that includes Jordan, Syria, Egypt, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and every Arab anywhere in the world.

We have a beef with Saudi Arabia for the hate the Saudi Wahabbi sect teaches, but that does not make every Saudi a Saddam Hussein. In fact, we strongly suspect Saddam is trying to annex the Saudi oil fields in order to put us under the oil gun even more than we already are.

And the Palestinian problem with the Israelis is also something Saddam is fomenting by giving $25,000 to the family of each suicide or homicide bomber.

So what Saddam is doing is hiding behind the skirts of the Arab nation, making innocent Arabs his confederates in plans only he could cook up.

These are the weapons of mass destruction plans — plans to use germs and nukes as weapons of terror and blackmail.

You may have a gripe with the Saudis, but even the royal family doesn't do that. You may have a difference with the Egyptians, but they don't do that. Egyptians and Saudis made up the suicide hijackers of Sept. 11. As bad as that was, it pales next to Saddam's plans.

What all this tells us is that Saddam is clever, and he's organizing a defense politically in his part of the world. Now, more than ever, it's important for President Bush and the U.S. to make the case to the world and to the Arabs that Saddam is everybody's enemy.

That's My Word.

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