Iraq Press Roundup

The Patriotic Union of Kurdistan's Al Ittihad newspaper carried an editorial Monday with the headline, "In the commemoration of the March intifada."

It said Iraqis commemorate the March 1991 uprising, or intifada, when Iraqis revolted against Saddam Hussein's "dictatorship" but due to abandonment by the United States, it failed and resulted in the killing of thousands of Iraqis by Saddam's supporters.

The editorial said the 1991 uprising resulted in many changes on the political map in Iraq, affected regional relationships, and revealed many of the truths hidden by Saddam's government.

"One of the facts Saddam tried to hide … was the Iraqi people's general rejection of the dictatorship," it said.

The Kurdish newspaper said in its editorial that the reality the uprising uncovered was the regional and international conspiracy with Saddam's government against the Iraqi people and the desire of some regional powers to keep Saddam's government in power for narrow sectarian, ethnic and personal interests.

"The regional and international powers produced a harsh equation to keep Saddam's government weak and at the same time … (allowed) it to stay in power, which brought oppression forced on Iraqis," it said.

It said of the "March intifada" that it was spontaneous and achievable and dissidents proceeded to the cities for operations, which were limited for many years to the bordering areas.

"Most of the intifada operations were carried out by soldiers who were forced to fight in Saddam's failing wars, which gave them the chance to witness the destruction of their country and the death of their personal and national future," it said.

Al Ittihad said Iraqis who decided to carry out the uprising watched their families and people confront Iranian airstrikes and the international coalition's strikes to evict Saddam's government from Kuwait.

"The years of unjustified destructive deaths, hanger and suffering were elements that motivated the intifadis to rebel," it said.

It added that the intifadis succeeded in a few days to control most cities in Iraq and overthrow the Baath Party organization.

"The intifada was to continue without international and regional equations to interfere in support of Saddam's dictatorship who from his side tried to … commit heinous crimes against the people of Iraq," the paper said.

It added that the intifada resulted in many changes as it proved the people's desire to liberate themselves from Saddam's oppression, their ability to move forward and willingness to pay the price.

The paper also said the intifada resulted in the current status of Kurdistan.

"Although humanitarian organizations were silent against the heinous crimes by the government, those crimes have still entered the human systems," it said.

The most important change the intifada left was the essential change in Saddam's policy, which resulted in a new form of existence that focused on the inside to prevent another uprising.

It said Saddam and his supporters emptied Iraq of its political context.

"The Baath Party turned into an armed militia that performs security operations far from any other ideology, turning Baathists into government guards," the editorial commented.

The editorial also said the terror of Saddam's government pushed more aggression and suspicion against the people of Iraq, all of which resulted in emptying the government of its reason to exist except for the regional and international interests that kept it in power.

"The March intifada was to topple Saddam's dictatorship if not for the aggressiveness the regional countries had toward the people of Iraq, aggressiveness that still controls Iraq with ugliness as after 2003 they began exporting terrorists and suicide bombers, and plant strife among Iraqis," Al Ittihad newspaper said.