Amin Al-Hafiz has died: the former president of Syria prior to the Ba`thist coup of 1966. I was thinking about him all day yesterday although I was a kid when he was president. But the era of the 1950s and 1960s had far more interesting and colorful characters in Arab politics, politics aside. That is what Malcolm Kerr possibly meant when he wrote in his introduction to his classic book, The Arab Cold War, that Arab politics was "fun." It is not fun anymore. There is not a single Arab leader who is interesting. Amin Hafiz was certainly interesting and colorful. He was a mega buffoon but an interesting and funny buffoon. I mean, between the buffoon Sa'ib `Urayqat and Amin Hafiz, I take Hafiz any day. I sometimes go back to my archives and read some of his press conferences from the 1960s: the man could talk, and talk he did, non stop. His press conferences were a mixture of bravado, bombast, polemics, humor, story telling, digressions, sarcasm, mockery, bullshit, and tons of quotations from classical Arabic poetry. He really knew classical Arabic poetry and had a quotation for every occasion. Of course, his rule was an oppressive rule, and he is remembered for claiming to have a plan for the full liberation of Palestine in THREE DAYS. It is time, then, that I tell you that in his political life he was nicknamed "Al-Jahsh" (the Jack Ass). A fitting description for the man, for sure. Comrade Kamal tells me that he may be the first contemporary Arab leader to order the bombing of a mosque back in 1964 in Hamah. Now the propaganda stories about Elie Cohen (and all of them, especially the Zionist ones in the US, exaggerate the status and achievements of this spy) often claimed that Cohen had known Al-Hafiz when the latter was a military attache in Argentina in the 1950s. The Ba`thist loved to peddle this story. That story is not true. He in fact proved that he could not have met Cohen during those times in Argentina. He was physically courageous, I will say: when the Ba`thist coup struck his regime in 1966, he fought and called on his son to fight with him against those who came to arrest him. He was injured. He was arrested but was released from jail after the defeat in 1967. He subsequently sought shelter in Iraq, and joined the rank of pro-Saddam Syrian dissidents. He left Iraq after the American invasion of the country, and was received in Syria, provided--of course--that he does not speak.
Friday, December 18, 2009
The funniest Arab leader ever: the "Jack Ass" is dead
Amin Al-Hafiz has died: the former president of Syria prior to the Ba`thist coup of 1966. I was thinking about him all day yesterday although I was a kid when he was president. But the era of the 1950s and 1960s had far more interesting and colorful characters in Arab politics, politics aside. That is what Malcolm Kerr possibly meant when he wrote in his introduction to his classic book, The Arab Cold War, that Arab politics was "fun." It is not fun anymore. There is not a single Arab leader who is interesting. Amin Hafiz was certainly interesting and colorful. He was a mega buffoon but an interesting and funny buffoon. I mean, between the buffoon Sa'ib `Urayqat and Amin Hafiz, I take Hafiz any day. I sometimes go back to my archives and read some of his press conferences from the 1960s: the man could talk, and talk he did, non stop. His press conferences were a mixture of bravado, bombast, polemics, humor, story telling, digressions, sarcasm, mockery, bullshit, and tons of quotations from classical Arabic poetry. He really knew classical Arabic poetry and had a quotation for every occasion. Of course, his rule was an oppressive rule, and he is remembered for claiming to have a plan for the full liberation of Palestine in THREE DAYS. It is time, then, that I tell you that in his political life he was nicknamed "Al-Jahsh" (the Jack Ass). A fitting description for the man, for sure. Comrade Kamal tells me that he may be the first contemporary Arab leader to order the bombing of a mosque back in 1964 in Hamah. Now the propaganda stories about Elie Cohen (and all of them, especially the Zionist ones in the US, exaggerate the status and achievements of this spy) often claimed that Cohen had known Al-Hafiz when the latter was a military attache in Argentina in the 1950s. The Ba`thist loved to peddle this story. That story is not true. He in fact proved that he could not have met Cohen during those times in Argentina. He was physically courageous, I will say: when the Ba`thist coup struck his regime in 1966, he fought and called on his son to fight with him against those who came to arrest him. He was injured. He was arrested but was released from jail after the defeat in 1967. He subsequently sought shelter in Iraq, and joined the rank of pro-Saddam Syrian dissidents. He left Iraq after the American invasion of the country, and was received in Syria, provided--of course--that he does not speak.
