Iraq: Paradise Lost?

"One of Saddam’s biggest fans, Abdul Bari Atwan, bids Iraq farewell in his war-anniversary piece in Al Quds Al Arabi. The Palestinian journalist writes that Saddam’s Iraq was once a paradise and is now a hell. Atwan, who was widely assumed to be receiving financial support from Saddam (not an unusual practice in the region), claims that Iraq never had trouble until these last three years, when it somehow had to make do without Saddam. Atwan does acknowledge that those who had political ambitions to unseat Saddam suffered the consequences, but otherwise Iraq was terrific.

Iraq was indeed terrific -- if you were Baathist or Palestinian. Palestinians were treated better than ordinary Iraqis, and that’s why Atwan is so upset. In a piece last month, he wrote that the reason Iraq is in trouble is that it let down the Palestinians. He complains the Palestinians in Iraq have been exposed to all manner of terrorism from the Shiites. As for Iraqi civilians being targeted by terrorists, not a word. Atwan also condemns Iraqis for not focusing on the Palestinian issue and not objecting to what he calls the "Judaization" of Jerusalem. He compares the current Iraqi government unfavorably to previous regimes who upheld the cause of Arab nationalism. (By the way, Atwan is writing from London, where he has been living for decades.)"
IraqiPundit