The Hanoudi Letter: Iraq's history, geopolitics, ethnic-religious conflicts and the current situation in this country. http://www.thehanoudiletter.com Sun, 11 May 2008 19:10:42 +0100 FeedCreator 1.7.2 http://www.thehanoudiletter.com/content/view/99/ With today’s update from My Book on Saddam Hussein, I am going back to the beginning of that terrible and sad episode in the turbulent and very tumultuous history of my country. Today I am talking about the first few years of the life of Saddam which are to a very great extent the ones which shaped his ultimate cultural and psychological make up. The first ten years in the life of an individual are called the formative years. The last installment from My Book was a tribute to my friends the rogues which was an abridgement of the last part of its last section. Now I am going back to the beginning of the story of Saddam Hussein and his regime, it is the first part from the first section which is entitled the origins of a tyranny, the following piece is about the formative years of Saddam Hussein. News - Latest Sat, 03 May 2008 17:05:25 +0100 http://www.thehanoudiletter.com/content/view/98/ On the 9th of April 2003 the Baathist regime in Iraq collapsed and Saddam has fled his presidential palace, the war against Saddam was a very short operation, it lasted twenty days, the following are short notes on a very small part of the military plan which resulted in toppling him and the dismantling of his regime, they are not a history of the war, that I am sure will be dealt with expertly by specialists in the history of the United State’s armed forces, these are rather a modest tribute to few American Soldiers of Task Force 1-64 Armor (who call themselves the desert rogues) of the Second Brigade of the Third Infantry Division. A fascinating group of young American men and women whom I had the good fortune to meet and befriend under an extremely perilous situation during the last war, a friendship which is still as pure as it was at the start in spite of the terrible course events has taken place in Iraq and the shocking ill feelings towards the Americans which have replaced the respect and good will of the early days, but all that has not affected my love and great respect of the rogues, they were and are still my friends. News - Latest Wed, 09 Apr 2008 18:08:52 +0100 http://www.thehanoudiletter.com/content/view/97/ This is the first part from the first section of my book, the story of Saddam Hussein and his regime. The previous three installments were about the history of Iraq from man’s first civilization to the twentieth century the events of which were like a prelude to Saddam. I am going during the next few weeks to insert pieces from the narrative not necessarily as they appear in the book like from example next week’s piece that is going to be from the last section of the book in which I talk about my friends the desert rogues. The story is about the first unit from the American military who entered Saddam’s palace that he abandoned following the collapse of his regime. News - Latest Sat, 22 Mar 2008 15:30:47 +0100 http://www.thehanoudiletter.com/content/view/96/ My Book: Saddam, the Roots, the Rise and the fallToday’s piece is the third and last part of the introduction to my book on Saddam Hussein. The first two pieces were two essays on two very important periods in the history of Iraq, this one is a discussion of the period which preceded Saddam and has been a very good foundation for his arrival. Next week I am going to install pieces from the story of Saddam which is also divided into three sections each one of which is again divided into three parts. The first section of the book is entitled: “The origins of a tyranny” and the first part of it that I have here today is called the formative years. News - Latest Sat, 08 Mar 2008 13:37:57 +0100 http://www.thehanoudiletter.com/content/view/95/ Following this short paragraph is the second part of the introduction to My Book on Saddam Hussein. Today's piece from the introduction is a short essay on the birth and rise of Islam and the historical rift inside the new religion into two main sects, Shiites and Sunnis which started a conflict which has been raging ever since and whose reverberations are felt even now. But this conflict did not prevent the emergence of a new and another truly fascinating phase in man’s march into civilization which was centered in Baghdad, a phase which lasted almost five centuries of enlightenment and progress which ended very sadly in one of history’s most violent and deplorable events. News - Latest Sun, 17 Feb 2008 12:40:51 +0100