Being a political prisoner of the Ba`th regimes of Syria and Iraq

Look this has become a propaganda ploy.  It started with the preparation of the US invasion of Iraq in 2003.  Ahmad Chalabi and such characters would troll out former political prisoners of Saddam and tell us that they are desperate and eager for an invasion.  Being a political prisoner does not give one political infallibility.  There were former political prisoners of Soviet Bloc regimes who are right-wing reactionaries and whose views on any subject are not worth a dime.  Similarly, the fact that some former political prisoners of the Syrian regime are eager for a NATO intervention does not add credibility or legitimacy to the intervention itself.  Try other ploys, please.  And there are former political prisoners of the Syrian regime who oppose NATO intervention.