Insight
Remember
When • •
Skirting The `Poodle'
From the pages of the Jewish News for
this week 10, 20, 30, 40, 50 and 60
years ago.
Saddam could easily fool UN's timid chief weapons inspector, says Israeli expert.
The newly formed Association for
the Rights of the Disabled, formed
under the auspices of the
Association of Civil Rights in Israel,
is the first organization in Israel to
advocate for systematic change for
persons with disabilities.
A
DON COHEN
Special to the Jewish News
"poodle" is how University of Haifa Professor
Amatzia Baram characterizes Dr. Hans Blix, cur-
rent head of the United Nations Monitoring,
Verification and Inspection Commission
(UNMOVIC) in Iraq.
"He was handpicked by Saddam Hussein — he was the
27th person on the list," Dr. Baram told a lunchtime gath-
ering of about 40 persons at the Max M. Fisher Building in
Bloomfield Township on Dec. 13.
The American and British choice, Swede Rolf Ekeus, a
"bloodhound," was at the top of the list submitted to the
U.N., he said.
Dr. Baram, chairman of the University of Haifa's
Department of Middle Eastern History, is a widely recog-
nized expert on Iraq who consults regularly with the
Pentagon. His talk was sponsored by the Jewish
Community Council of Metropolitan Detroit, which also
arranged an appearance on WJR radio's Mitch Albom
Show and a meeting with the Detroit News.
The professor's lunchtime message was clear: Saddam
Hussein's Iraq is a serious threat to Israel and America and
also to its Arab neighbors. Iraq must be stopped before the
acquisition of nuclear weapons makes Hussein largely
untouchable.
"It's very depressing, but quite interesting if you are
interested in the criminal mind," Dr. Baram said of his 25
years of studying Saddam Hussein. "It is crucial to under-
stand how a person like that thinks."
He dismissed the 11,000-page report Iraq recently gave the
U.N. as "telling what they have, but not all that they have.
"They are giving information on dual-use technology
[both peaceful and military] used for really innocent proj-
ects, but the same technology is being used elsewhere for
terrible purposes," he said.
"There is enough information to know their guys are
lying," Dr. Baram said. "We don't know where he has it,
don't know what he has, but we know he has."
Dr. Baram feels Hussein understands the determination
of the United States and therefore will allow weapons
inspectors to move freely. But while plans call for a total of
300 inspectors, with about 100 inspectors active at a given
time, Dr. Baram believes 2,000-3,000 inspectors every-
where all the time would be needed to uncover Hussein's
stockpiles.
Out Of Iraq
The professor also feels it is critical that Blix exercise his author-
ity under U.N. Resolution 1441 to "take as many men as he
would like out of Iraq and grill them until they get informa-
tion." So far Blix has resisted American pressure to do so.
Congregation Beth Ahm [today's
name] holds a Shabbat service honor-
ing the retirement of life member
Judge Nathan J. Kaufman of the
Michigan Court of Appeals.
Paris chief Rabbi Alain Goldman
inaugurates a new synagogue in the
Paris suburb of "Kremlin Bicetre."
1 9 111111111111111111011111MM
Jewish writer Carola Stern, co-
founder of the German branch of
Amnesty International, is awarded
the Carl von Ossietzky Medal in
Berlin. -
The American Jewish Yearbook
estimates the world Jewish popula-
tion at 14,236,000. With a popula-
tion of 80,000, Detroit ranks 12th
among U.S. Jewish communities.
Dr. Amatzia Baram of the University of Haifa
"The only time [previous inspectors] got useful informa-
tion was when they cracked down on people, then infor-
mation began to ooze out," Dr. Baram said. He claimed
that 80-90 percent of what [previous inspectors] found was
because of a defector, with only 10-15 percent found
through the inspections themselves.
"Saddam is not totally out of trouble, but he is on a safe
course," Dr. Baram said. He feels Hussein, understands the
importance of not antagonizing the U.N. and not provid-
ing the U.S. a pretext for an attack. "Hussein is not suici-
dal. When he is angry at someone, he kills them, he does
not kill himself.
"If there is nothing found, there will be pressure on the
U.S. to lift the oil sales and weapons-purchase embargoes,"
Dr. Baram said. If this happens, he predicted Hussein will
have nuclear weapons within two or three years.
According to Dr. Baram, with such weapons, Iraq can
make "nuclear threats against Israel and the Gulf State
to try to dictate oil prices and quotas and get a cut
Arabs
— something small, maybe 10 percent — of oil revenue."
He could also provide terrorist groups with weapons of
mass destruction, Dr. Baram added.
"I can see this as Armageddon," he said, "and it will be
Armageddon." ❑
Former Nazi Col. Walter Rauff is
taken into custody in Chile,
charged with the responsibility for
the murder of 90,000 Jews.
Jewish Social Services Bureau is
planning to produce a movie about
Jewish foster care mothers as a way
to enlist more foster homes.
Gemiluth Chassodim celebrates
its 10th anniversary with a banquet
and publication of the congrega-
tion's history.
9
Following a visit from Jewish lead-
ers, President Franklin Roosevelt
considers the establishment of a
United States-United Nations com-
mission to assess the personal
responsibility of the Nazis in the
slaughter of 2 million Jews.
— Compiled by Holly Teasdle,
archivist, the Leo M. Franklin
Archives, Temple Beth El
12/20
2002
23