Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies

Three Whom God Should Not Have Created: Persians, Jews, and Flies (Arabic: ثلاثة كان على الله أن لا يخلقهم: الفرس، اليهود والذباب, Thalatha kan 'ala Allah an la yakhluqahum: al-Furs, al-Yahud wal-dhubab) is a ten-page political pamphlet by Khairallah Talfah, an Iraqi Ba'ath Party official and the maternal uncle and father-in-law of Saddam Hussein.[1] The pamphlet was authored in 1940, but was published during the era of Saddam Hussein.[2][3][4][5] The document is highly derogatory towards Persians and Jews.

In 1980, following the start of the Iran–Iraq War, the Iraqi government publishing house Dar al-Hurriyya (Abode of Liberty) republished it[6], and the Iraqi Ministry of Education distributed the propaganda as part of a textbook for school-children.

The work describes Persians as "animals God created in the shape of humans"[7][8], Jews as a "mixture of dirt and the leftovers of diverse people",[9] and flies as poor misunderstood creatures "whom we do not understand God's purpose in creating".[10][11] According to Con Coughlin, "This weak Iraqi attempt at imitating Mein Kampf nevertheless had a bearing on Saddam's future policymaking. As president of Iraq, Saddam's foreign policy was determined by his hatred of the Persians, or Iranians as they are better known, and the Israelis."[10] To put it more soberly, Iraq competed militarily with Pahlavi Iran to its east and Israel to its west, and was perceived by both countries to be an existential threat, until Saddam settled his differences with Mohammad Reza Shah Pahlavi through the 1975 Algiers Agreement.

Saddam Hussein had the book's title phrase etched into a plaque he kept on his desk.[12]

See also

References
  1. Encyclopedia of the Developing World, Volume 2. Thomas M. Leonard. Taylor & Francis, 2006. ISBN 0415976634, p.793
  2. Quicksand: America's Pursuit of Power in the Middle East. Geoffrey Wawro. Penguin, 2010. ISBN 1101197684
  3. Treacherous Alliance: The Secret Dealings of Israel, Iran, and the United States. Trita Parsi. Yale University Press, 2007. ISBN 0300120575 p.97
  4. Saddam Hussein. Rebecca Stefoff. Edition revised. Millbrook Press, 1995. ISBN 1562944754 p.40
  5. Saddam Hussein and the Crisis in the Gulf. A Times Books special report. Samir Al-Khalil, Judith Miller, Laurie Mylroie. New York Times Company, Random House. 1990. ISBN 0812919211 p.38
  6. The Infernal Library: On Dictators, the Books They Wrote, and Other Catastrophes of Literacy. Daniel Kalder. Henry Holt and Company, 2018. ISBN 1627793429 p.300
  7. Instant empire: Saddam Hussein's ambition for Iraq. Simon Henderson. Mercury House, 1991. ISBN 1562790072 p.94
  8. Trading with the enemy: how Britain armed Iraq. John Sweeney. Pan publishers, 1993. ISBN 0330331280 p.93
  9. Blair, David (18 March 2003). "He dreamed of glory but dealt out only despair". The Daily Telegraph.
  10. Con Coughlin. Saddam: His Rise and Fall, page 19. ISBN 978-0-06-050543-1: Quoted from Samir al-Khalil. Republic of Fear, 1989. University of California press. p. 17.
  11. Efraim Karsh, Inari Rautsi. Saddam Hussein: a political biography. Grove Press, 2003. ISBN 0-8021-3978-7, ISBN 978-0-8021-3978-8 Pg 15
  12. Kengor, Paul. "The rise and fall of a dictator", The Washington Times, 7 January 2007.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.