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Saddam & Assad friendly toward Christians

Reader comment on item: 50 Years of Syrian Misery
in response to reader comment: some good in the Bathist regime?

Submitted by Eliyahu (Israel), Mar 10, 2013 at 16:00

Daniel is right of course. But the reason, more obviously in Saddam's case, was that the Christians were too few to be considered a threat to him. On the other hand, Saddam oppressed the Shiites, the majority in Iraq whereas Saddam himself was a Sunni. He also persecuted Kurds who wanted independence or at least autonomy. Which he could not accept as a pan-Arab nationalist.

The same goes for Hafez Assad with the additional factor that Assad was an Alawite, an offshoot of the Shi'ah, facing a Sunni Arab majority and considered it useful for the non-Sunni and non- Arabs [about 40% of the population?] to stay together against a Sunni attempt to rise up.

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Reader comments (17) on this item

Title Commenter Date Thread
1Assad the Exception? [235 words]ChadMar 10, 2013 18:10204182
2You raise an interesting point [334 words]saraMar 10, 2013 18:41204182
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1Follow the money [33 words]EthanPMar 10, 2013 20:07204173
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1some good in the Bathist regime? [16 words]
w/response from Daniel Pipes
Barbara HoshikoMar 9, 2013 16:40204158
1Saddam & Assad friendly toward Christians [115 words]EliyahuMar 10, 2013 16:00204158
50 Years of Syrian Mysery [171 words]JudithMar 9, 2013 13:21204153
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w/response from Daniel Pipes
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4language lost [203 words]mythMar 9, 2013 17:18204130
2No Simple Answers. [157 words]EthanPMar 9, 2013 21:04204130
1"Surely we have been here before .?" [74 words]UgriMar 11, 2013 01:28204130

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Note: Opinions expressed in comments are those of the authors alone and not necessarily those of Daniel Pipes. Original writing only, please. Comments are screened and in some cases edited before posting. Reasoned disagreement is welcome but not comments that are scurrilous, off-topic, commercial, disparaging religions, or otherwise inappropriate. For complete regulations, see the "Guidelines for Reader Comments".

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