القسوة والصمت

by Kanan Makiya

The first alarm about the brutality and totalitarian nature of Saddam Husain's regime was sounded eloquently in the widely praised international bestseller, Republic of Fear. Writing then under the pseudonym Samir al-Khalil, Kanan Makiya, an Iraqi dissident in exile, exposed the premise and methodology of Saddam's Ba'ath Party and the power it wields over the state. Now - in Cruelty and Silence, writing for the first time under his own name, Makiya widens his scope to bravely - and certainly controversially - confront the rhetoric of Arab and pro-Arab intellectuals with the realities of political cruelty in the Middle East. Part One, a compelling example of the literature of witness, is a journey through cruelty told in the words of Khalil, Abu Haydar, Omar, Mustafa, and Taimour - the Arab and Kurdish heroes of this book. In a bid to place cruelty at the center of Arab discourse, the author fashions their testimony into stories, or metaphors for occupation, prejudice, revolution, and routinized violence. In 1991 Makiya entered Northern Iraq on a clandestine mission. He was the first person to bring the Ba'ath Party's campaign of mass murder known as the Anfal - a campaign comparable to those perpetrated by the Nazis and the Khmer Rouge - to the attention of the outside world. His account of the Anfal is contained in "Taimour" and it brings the journey through cruelty to a close. In Part Two, "Silence," Makiya links these tales of survival to an examination of the Arab intelligentsia's response to Saddam Husain and the Gulf War, showing that the flood of condemnation of the West for its handling of the crisis was barely matched by a trickle of protest over Saddam's brutal massacres of Arabs and Kurds. The words of intellectuals, he demonstrates, are separated by a gigantic chasm from those of the survivors. Makiya is sharply critical of the Israeli occupation of the West Bank and Gaza and also of the way the Gulf War was conducted and left unfinished by the Alli

Genres: Politics, History, Middle East, Nonfiction, Islam, World History, War

324 pages, Paperback

First published April 1, 1993

About the author

is an Iraqi academic, who gained British nationality in 1982. He is the Sylvia K. Hassenfeld Professor of Islamic and Middle Eastern Studies at Brandeis University. Although he was born in Baghdad, he left Iraq to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, later founding Makiya Associates in order to design and build projects in the Middle East. As a former exile, he was a prominent member of the Iraqi opposition, a "close friend" of Ahmed Chalabi, and an influential proponent of the 2003 Iraq War.His life is documented in British journalist Nick Cohen's book What's Left.

Reviews

[Asmaa Elwany · Rating 5 out of 5]

اى تعليق على تاريخ وواقع زى ده ؟
ايه ممكن يتقال ؟
كتاب من 25سنة والواقع النهاردة اسوأ واسوأ
القسوة تضاعفت ، الصمت زاد ، عدم التعاطف زاد ، ازدراء الانسانية زاد ، تقديس المجرمين زاد
طول عمرى مش فاهمه ازاى الناس بتحب صدام وهو قتل كل الناس دى ! دايما بسمع انه كان عدو اسرائيل مع انى معرفش ده كان فعليا امتى ؟ بس ليه مبسمعش انه قتل شعبه وعيشه فى ظلم واستبداد ! ليه مفيش تعاطف مع الشعب العراقى بكل طوائفه ! وفى تعاطف مع جلاده ؟
صعب جدا ان الانسان يكون عربى
***************
احداث العنف والفوضى اللى ظهرت بعد انتفاضة 91 مرعبة جدا ؟ ايه اللى حصل فى الشعب ده عشان يبقى كده ؟
ظهرت الفوضى والعنف بشكل اكبر بعد غزو العراق فى 2003 ومنهم لله اللى سابوا العراق للمجرم ونظامه لحد ما وصلوا لكده
سنة 1988 حصلت حملة الانفال وتم ابادة اللاف الارواح من الابرياء فى العراق ومكنش حد يعرف
النهاردة فى 2017 بتتم ابادة اللاف الارواح الابرياء فى سوريا على مرأى ومسمع وتخاذل من العالم كله
حقيقى شىء مخزى ان الانسان يكون عربى

[Osama · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتاب القسوة والصمت للمؤلف العراقي كنعان مكية، يناقش مسألة هامة تتمثل في ثنائية القسوة (من قبل الحاكم) والصمت (من قبل المثقف). ويقدم الكتاب شهادات حية لبشر ذاقوا طعم القسوة من الإكراد وضحايا غزو الكويت وانتفاضة الجنوب وغيرهم وساهم في معاناتهم التواطؤ المتعمد أو المتجاهل من قبل كثير من المثقفين العرب الذين لم يتجرأوا على اتخاذ موقفا انسانيا صادقا لأسباب عديدة يحللها الكاتب بالتفصيل. وقد سبق لي قراءة مؤلفات قيمة أخرى لكنعان مكية ذات علاقة بتاريخ العراق السياسي وهي جمهورية الخوف، والفتنة.

[Joseph Stieb · Rating 4 out of 5]

A very moving book about Arab intellectuals' failure to grapple with the monstrosities of Arab nationalism and politics in the late 20th century. The first part of the book is an absolutely brutal but necessary set of stories from people who experienced the worst of Saddam's regime: an Iraqi soldier who joined the revolt in Najaf, a Kurdish gas attack survivor, a former prisoner in a Baathist jail, and a survivor of the Anfal genocide. This part of the book documents the cruelty of the Iraqi regime in deep personal detail.

The second part of the book argues that Arab intellectuals' owe a great deal of responsibility for the epidemic of cruelty in Arab politics since 1967. As usual, Makiya takes forever to make his points and is often elliptical, but I strongly agreed with his main points. 1. Arab intellectuals have spilled gallons of ink denouncing Israel and the US but have been nearly silent about Baathist crimes in Syria and Iraq, especially when those crimes are against Kurds and Shia (non-Sunnis). One can oppose and criticize Israeli and US actions/policies while still acknowledging that neither has done anything remotely as bad as Homs/Hama, Anfal, the Iran-Iraq War, and the general oppression and daily terror inflicted in these societies. Makiya argues that until Arab intellectuals' adopt an individual human rights-based critique of these governments and their ideologies and denounce their cruelty openly, the Arab world cannot move forward.

2. Arab intellectuals were suckered (largely by their own delusions) into embracing Saddam as the hero of the Arabs when he invaded and brutalized Kuwait. They essentially ate his propaganda whole, ignoring his blatant aggression and crimes against the Kuwaitis. They largely supported Saddam because he connected (disingenuously) the invasion of Kuwait to the need to stand up to Israel and the US, for whom a reflexive hatred has become commonplace among Arab intellectuals and ordinary folk. This embrace of Saddam was delusionary, inhumane, and counter-productive. Makiya rightfully denounces and deconstructs the ideas of smart people who should have known better to side with SH or even declare moral equivalence in this conflict, including Edward Said.

3. Speaking of Said (PBUH in the academy), Makiya knocks him down a few pegs from his current apotheosis. He notes that Said has been suspiciously silent on Arab nationalist crimes, which by any fair standard dwarf those of Israel, whom he never tires of denouncing. He argues that in the current intellectual climate, Orientalism (which Makiya acknowledges is a thing, as reasonable people should) has become a crutch for Arab intellectuals, an excuse to dismiss all Western criticism as a product of racism and cultural chauvinism. It has also served as an excuse to turn a blind eye to self-appointed champions of Arab nationalism from Nasser to Saddam, who at best enriched themselves while feeding their people anti-Israeli propaganda and at worst created genocidal, totalitarian police states. Lastly, Makiya asks if Orientalism is necessarily wrong in all regards. For example, Said vehemently defends the Arab intellectual tradition and its flowering today, but Makiya notes that much of this publishing (including Said's) occurs from the safety of Western societies with free presses and stability. The actual output of the Arab world on non-religious scholarship is incredibly low, less than that of Greece according to a study in the early 2000s. How rich, Makiya rightfully asks, is it for Said to sit in comfort at Columbia and excuse or downplay the actions of Saddam Hussein and Hafez al-Assad?

Overall Makiya presents a damning portrait of an intellectual class that has lost its moorings, that is lost in an identity politics built on resentment and revanchism rather than the sacred rights of the individual regardless of whether they are Arab or Kurd, Sunni or Shia. As usual, Makiya ascribes a little too much importance to ideas here; they aren't really responsible for what Saddam did because Saddam didn't really care about ideas. However, he's right to say that this ideological/intellectual myopia (which is alive and well, IMHO) blocks the Arab world from moving forward on development and democratization. Makiya is a warrior for truth who I believe went too far in his advocacy of a US invasion of Iraq. Nevertheless, this book is a stark call for human rights and a politics centered first and foremost against cruelty. How sad that it has not been heeded.

[Yasir Hameed · Rating 4 out of 5]

ربما يصدم القارئ بكم التنبؤات التي صدقها الزمن في هذا الكتاب ، وفيه ايضا حديث عن مآسيٍ حدثت في العراق تفوق كل تراجيديا كتبت في تاريخ الادب العالمي ، ففيه تفاصيل مروعة الى ابعد الحدود عن الانفال والانتفاضة الشعبانية .
يتبنى كنعان مكية الموقف الغربي في كتابه اجمالاً عدا بعض الانتقادات المتفرقة هنا وهناك للسياسة الامريكية ، ويبدو كنعان مكية انه احد ساكني الابراج العاجية ككثير من مثقفينا -او من يسمون انفسهم كذلك على الاقل- .
في الكتاب كشف عن كثير من الحقائق المبنية على شهادات مهمة ومتنوعة وفيه تحليل لما حدث في العراق وتوقع لما سيحدث ايضاً ، توقع لما ستؤدي له وحشية وحماقة البعث من تفتيت للعراق وتدمير لمستقبل شعبه .

[Susanne Burge · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very disturbing, enlightening read. Puts the arab/israeli, the arab/arab and the arab/non-arab conflicts into the context of a far greater picture, demonstrating the practically insurmountable barriers to peaceful solutions to the dilemmas these raise. Silence is complicity and we are all guilty if we pretend that cruelty is acceptable in some circumstances. A brutally honest, moving, brave and brilliant book.

[Emerson Grossmith · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book when it first came out in 1993.
I had just finished my BA in Near Eastern Studies and Anthropology, and had the previous two summers working on digs in the Middle East. I had studied Mesopotamia and then had worked in it in north eastern Syria.

Kanan Makiya's book touched something in me because I had fellow students, one PhD candidate, whose whole research was thrown out the window when the US led coalition bombed the shit out of one of her sites in Iraq.

I was so moved by the book and the senseless bombings and dismantling of Iraq in an attempt to get Saddam Hussein that I wrote passionate letters to both then President Clinton and to Canada's PM Jean Chretien telling them that their destruction of Iraq could haunt them and that the memory of Hussein would eventually subside, but the Iraqis would not forget what the other countries had done to their once vibrant place, which had the best education and medical system in the Gulf.

I was re-reading it again when I worked on an archaeological dig in Jordan in 1995.
During the dig, we got some time off so many of us decided to got the Dark Side for our break.
The "Dark Side" was across the river Jordan; it was called Israel.
A had some friends to visit there who were working on another dig.
On my return route to Jordan, the Jordanian border guides held me up temporarily.
The one guard was most interested in "Cruelty and Silence" book. Perhaps, Kanan Makiya's book was on some hit list. Jordan was very close to Iraq in these days politically and maybe someone had banned the book.
At any rate, the guard didn't want to return the book to me, so in the end I told him I still needed to finish it and I would give him the book. Of course I never did.

The curious thing about this book is that it starts off in Kuwait, and as fate would have it, I would be in Kuwait 10 years later.
I shall have to read it again.

[أحمد فتحى سليمان · Rating 4 out of 5]

كتب عدنان فى 1993 م " ما الذي سيحل بالعراق غداً ؟ إن القومية الكردية هي أقوى وأشد عدوانية الان مما كانت في أي وقت مضى و قد الهبت نارها الادراك المتعاظم لما قامت به دولة عربية ضد الشعب الكردي , وقد يختار غداً العديد من الأكراد الانفصال و اقامة دولتهم الخاصة , وهذا فيما الكراهية المتبادلة بين السنة و الشيعة هي اليوم المنبع المحتمل و الأشد سما للعنف الجديد .. هذه القوى هى ميراث صدام حسين لكل العراقيين .
أظننا نعرف ماذا حل بالعراق .. مؤلم و الدروس الهامة عادة مؤلمة .

[Emile · Rating 5 out of 5]

Must read about the Arab culture written by an Irakian.
Difficult to read regarding systemic violences depicted against everyone from citizens, to minorities and women.

[Stephen Coates · Rating 5 out of 5]

Written in 1993 following the first Gulf war, the first part of the book documents the cruelties then being inflicted by Saddam Hussein on the Kurds of Iraq’s north and the Shiites of Iraq’s south. In addition to noting the gassing of Kurds in the village of Guptapa during the campaign called "al-Anfal" which destroyed 2,000 Kurdish villages in the late 1980s and killed over 100,000 non-combatants, the book quotes at length several persons Mikiya had come to know, using pseudonyms for their safety, and these accounts are detailed, personal and chilling as they exemplify the experiences of millions of Iraqis under this cruel regime not to mention the Kuwaitis during the six months their country was occupied. Beyond the specific acts of cruelty of this regime, he cites the employment record of a person in the Iraqi army whose Activity (job description) is "Violation of Women’s Honour", in effect, he’s a professional rapist. Given the status of women in Arabia (Jordan has a section in its prison for women who’d had sex with a man to whom they weren’t married to stay after the end of their sentence until a marriage to anyone can be arranged to save them from being murdered by their families), underscores the seriousness of such violations.

Although varying greatly in length and thus detail, there are parallels with Christopher Hitchens’s essay "The Struggle of the Kurds" in Love, Poverty, and War: Journeys and Essays in which he described the destruction of Qalat Dizah that, after the population was expelled, was totally obliterated and of Halabjah that was gassed.

The second part of the book focuses on silence and reading this part would be helped by some understanding of the long standing ambition within the Arab countries for a single unified country of Arabia. The silence Makiya describes was the silence of Middle Eastern intellectuals in both Arabic countries and those living in the safety of the west, many with tenured university posts, to the horrors of Hussain’s rule. Makiya cites some who compared Hussain to Bismark overlooking that Bismark unified Germany through negotiation instead of atrocities. Makiya also cited some intellectuals who dismissed comparisons of Hussain with Hitler using the "he might be a brute but he’s our brute" line and others who supported Iraq’s annexation of Kuwait claiming that Kuwait was "occupied" (occupied by whom? Kuwaitis?). There was also a silence on the question of, if Iraq’s annexation of Kuwait was not challenged, which countries would be next. Silence, Makiya argued "is not born out of fear, it is born out of the poverty of thought".

The lack of criticism of Hussain’s war against Iran, invasion of Kuwait and internal atrocities was coupled with an ongoing assertion, pervasive throughout Middle Eastern intelligentsia was that the real villain in these conflicts was the West, especially the USA and that all the Arabic countries were perpetual victims of US policies and actions. Almost without exception, the intelligencia he cited echoes this complaint. Victimhood, Makiya argued "has been turned into something like a new Arab art form without anyone seeming to realise that it is the greatest killer of solidarity with others that could possibly be invented."

As cited in the book, Makiya had led a signature-gathering campaign titled Charter 91 that called for a written post-Hussain constitution which began with the stunning Jeffersonian declaration: "People have rights for no other reason than that they exist as individual human beings." However, he found that, without exception, none of the outwardly liberal Iraqis was prepared to sign this declaration. The poverty of thought Makiya cited would appear to extend beyond those fearful of the then Iraqi secret police.

[Jessie · Rating 5 out of 5]

A mature, honest, and excellently written treatise on the state of Iraq in the early 1990s, and by extension that of the entire Mashriq. It is divided into two parts - Cruelty consists of eyewitness accounts of the horrors that took place during the Gulf War and the subsequent intifada against Saddam Hussein. Particularly harrowing was one man’s account of the murder of over a dozen members of his family, including his two children and his mother, in the Iraqi government’s chemical weapons attacks against the Kurds. Silence is composed of the author’s reviling against the positions of not just the uneducated masses but also the Arab intellectuals to blame their problems on America and Israel, shrouding themselves in victimhood to avoid bearing any responsibility for the condition of their countries. He argues that Saddam was applauded by these ‘intellectuals’ because he presented himself as a beacon of Arabness against Zionism and the West, when he should have been condemned for the disgusting tyrant he was. The few pages on the employment of civil rapists under the Iraqi Ba’ath regime, and how this connects to the idea of a family’s honour (read: a man’s honour) being borne through the bodies of women, was more than enough to make me thank my lucky stars that I was born English. Kanan Makiya states that “A new start...must begin with an Arab groundswell...which views someone like Saddam Hussein as the principle of cruelty incarnate, not as the principle of Arab strength.” Although by now Saddam is long gone, the author’s arguments unfortunately seem to remain relevant.

[Jacob · Rating 4 out of 5]

The depiction and re-telling of the cruelty that the Shiite and Kurdish populations experienced under the Saddam regime in the first half of the book is incredibly eye-opening and highlights the main point of the book, which is the importance of recognizing the existence of violence committed by Arabs against other Arabs or ethnic minorities. Rather than blaming all of the issues in the Mashriq on the Western Imperialists, Makiya gives agency to the people living in the region for the ills they face. The second half of the book borders on a polemic against Makiya’s academic opponents, but it sufficiently addresses the arguments put forward by the Arab intelligentsia in defense of Saddam’s invasion of Kuwait.

[Firas Al Ramahi · Rating 4 out of 5]

قسم مكية الكتاب الى قسمين القسوة التي صارت سمة للعراقي وكيف إنهارت المنظومة القيمية الأخلاقية والإنسانية لدى جزء غير قليل من أفراد الشعب العراقي جرّاء النزعة القومية الشوفينية لأيدلوجيا البعث المقيتة والصمت من المثقف السلطوي العراقي والعربي جراء سحق الجزء الأكبر من الشعب العراقي بماكنة صدام وتبرير الجرائم سواء على الشعب العراقي او الشعب الكردي ..
فضح خنوع الصمت هذا هو إحتلال الكويت وهو مدار والمحور الذي عرّى جميع الأقلام وارباب الفنون الأنسانية الاخرى فلولا إحتلال صدام للكويت لبقيت قضية مظلومية العراقيين قابعة بالصدور تخنقها اقلام المثقف الذي يلهج بأشعاره لأنتصارات القائد الضرورة .
أي مفارقة هذه ..