Posted on 10/04/2002 7:43:24 AM PDT by Jabba the Nutt
A journalist, human rights activist and intellectual, Thomas von der Osten-Sacken is considered one of Germany's leading authorities on human rights in Iraq. He began traveling to Iraq in 1991, when he spent eight months doing humanitarian work in the southern part of the country just after Saddam Hussein crushed the Shi'ite uprising there. In 1992, Von der Osten-Sacken co-founded an aid and advocacy organization called Wadi, operating in Iraqi Kurdistan - the semi-autonomous safe haven carved out for Kurdish refugees after the Gulf War - and on behalf of Iraqi refugees in Germany. He spends part of each year in Kurdistan where Wadi has founded the first shelter there for women in distress and is also involved in helping the local government reform the prison system that has been left over from Iraqi rule. In Germany, Wadi advises Iraqi opposition groups and works closely with the Coalition for a Democratic Iraq.
Von der Osten-Sacken, 34, publishes articles in German magazines such as Jungle World and Konkret, and has co-edited a book on Iraq called "Saddam's Last Battle?", which is due to be published next month. He is one of the relatively few contemporary German writers and thinkers on the left who consider themselves pro-Israel and have developed a left-wing critique of the anti-globalization left in today's Europe. Along with his other activities, he is conducting research for his doctoral thesis on German-language Zionist newspapers in the 1930s for the German literature department at the University of Frankfurt.
|
|
|
Thomas von der Osten-Sacken: "The most regressive and dangerous elements in the Arab and Islamic world depend on Saddam Hussein." |
(Excerpt) Read more at haaretzdaily.com ...
So we have a Lefty in Hitchens who gets it from England. We have this dude from Germany. Anyone like this in France?
Very interesting interview. Exellent post.
I thought the following remark was of particular interest:
"Also, the Germans are quite afraid of the archives in Baghdad and what they tell about the poison gas and other weapons deals that were made between Iraq and a lot of German enterprises."
I can remember years back, when the West German govt (as it then was) denied that they had sent the materials for chemical weapons to Iraq. However, it came out that they had, so Chancellor Kohl apologised and said - oh yes, we did after all.
A person I knew who was a political activist on Middle East causes said - The Germans have a way with gas, don't they?
I remembered that, because I thought it was a nice line!
Well it was, up to a point.
Then he began to quote, with favour, Rosa Luxembourg, and I couldn't continue.
My God! There are still such people around?
I'm surprised I find myself agreeing with a marxist, but I do. He makes sense.
I'm fed up with myopic leadership...
Although it's hard to believe, I guess there still are Spartacists and Trotskyites and various other kinds of misguided Marxists.
Regardless of this person's political views though, I thought the article was worthwhile reading. It wasn't at all the typical warmed-over Marxist rant.
Some of these issues have very little to do with a left-vs.-right dichotomy. One's views on terrorism, Iraq, etc., are not necessarily correlated with one's place on the political spectrum. There are some on the left (far fewer than in the past, however) who are thoughtful regarding security issues.
In fact, it is a bit surprising that so many on the left have turned into apologists for terrorists. I think that part of the problem is that their other views have been so demonstrably discredited that one has to ask why someone would remain there. The reasons for remaining in the left are generally a hodgepodge of intellectual dishonesty, emotional rebellion for its own sake, and a nostalgic living in the past; this is sometimes combined with pure power politics. People with that lack of foundation generally have very little interesting to say. But this lack of foundation is not universal; there is some intelligent commentary from those on the left, and I wouldn't want to maintain otherwise.
That was my reaction as well, keri.
I'm fed up with myopic leadership...
I'm encouraged by the defense policies enunciated by such people as Rumsfeld and Cheney. On the other hand, the apparent lack of accountability for performance on the part of the FBI and the CIA is very troubling.
Only time will tell where much of the world really stands.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.