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September 9, 2004, Scotsman I'M WITH THOSE FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE' Gethin Chamberlain In Baghdad AS DARKNESS fell on Baghdad last night, the snap of gunfire once again punctuated the clatter of the rotors of the attack helicopters swooping low over a city that has rarely been silent since the end of the war last year. A fresh upsurge in violence claimed the lives of at least three United States soldiers in heavy fighting in the Baghdad suburb of Sadr City and brought with it the assassination of a senior police officer on his way to work. Yet Iraq's new ambassador to the United Nations, Samir Sumaida'ie yesterday praised Britain and the US for having the courage to go to war against Saddam Hussein, saying history would judge that Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, had been right to defy his critics. He launched a scathing attack on those who had been most vocal in their opposition to the war, dismissing them as ill-informed about the nature of Saddam's regime and identifying George Galloway, the Scottish MP, as one of those most at fault. "There are the George Galloways of this world and there are the Tony Blairs and I'm with those who are fighting for the future," Mr Sumaida'ie said. "George Galloway has not been helpful in this whole saga and ... he played a role to support Saddam's regime . This was very bad for us." The new ambassador said opponents of the war had misunderstood what it was like to live under Saddam's regime. "The whole spectrum of these people were insufficiently informed about the catastrophic situation in Iraq under Saddam and the implications for the world community if Saddam had remained in power," he said. "I think that Tony Blair demonstrated tremendous leadership and vision. "He has not only been unappreciated but he has come under huge political pressure and criticism and I think in 20, 30 or 50 years time historians will look back and give him the credit he richly deserves. "Now the problems are too vivid in their minds to allow him this acclaim." Mr Sumaida'ie said the coalition's attempts to restore security should be given time, singling out the work of Brigadier Andrew Mackay, the man in charge of reviving Iraq's police force. They were doing a tremendous job, he said. "Most of the people now accept that for good or ill we need the Americans now and we need them and the coalition to stabilise the situation." But Mr Sumaida'ie reserved some harsh criticism for the coalition for mishandling the immediate post-war period, blaming their failure to make the country secure for the current problems. "I know Tony Blair and George Bush made a great deal about the dangers of Saddam's regime but they couched them in the wrong terms - such as the 45 -minute nonsense - and that did not help. "The war took place, Saddam was replaced and the management of the country was totally mishandled. "They made a dog's dinner of it and we have got problems. These problems were avoidable. They were not a necessary result of the war itself. "All these people who were against the war are turning round and saying 'I told you so' but they are wrong. What has happened is a consequence of incompetence in managing the peace and the country after the war." Other countries, Mr Sumaida'ie said, including Iran and Syria, had been quick to take advantage of the situation, and that intervention had to be curtailed. Coalition and Iraqi security forces are concerned about the role of Iran in the current insurgency, with officers and ministers privately blaming Tehran for arming the insurgents and providing them with intelligence information. There are suspicions that Iran has people working in the police and the Iraqi national guard, and suspicions that it is bent on wrecking next year's elections. Mr Sumaida'ie said it would be his job to bring Iraq's suspicions and the evidence it had gathered on Iranian involvement to the attention of the international community at the UN. "If we have evidence, which we do, of interference we must bring it forcefully to the attention of our neighbours and the rest of the world because the world has a responsibility," Mr Sumaida'ie said. "If Syria and Iran went overboard in attempts to destabilise the situation and started pumping bigger resources into the resistance that would cause big problems." Mr Sumaida'ie said he retained a qualified optimism for the future, as long as coalition forces remained and regional interference could be curtailed. Iraq's oil riches and its pool of educated and technically well-trained people presented it with the opportunity to become a major world player and it could act as an engine of growth in the region if it could surmount its current difficulties. "The possibilities are open, which they were not under Saddam," he said.
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................................................................................................................. Copyright ©2004 Gethin Chamberlain. All rights reserved. |
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