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 ان لا يخلقهم: الفرس، اليهود والذباب, Thalatha kan 'ala Allah an la yakhluqahum: al-Fars, al-Yahud wal-dhabib) is the name of an anti-Iranian and anti-semitic Iraqi government pamphlet widely published during the era of Saddam Hussein.

The author, Khairallah Talfah, was an Iraqi Ba'ath Party official, and the maternal uncle and father-in-law of Saddam Hussein. He first wrote the ten-page pamphlet in 1940.

In 1981, following the start of the Iran–Iraq War, the Iraqi government publishing house Dar al-Hurriyya (Abode of Liberty) republished it, 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", Jews as a "mixture of dirt and the leftovers of diverse people",[1] and flies as poor misunderstood creatures "whom we do not understand God's purpose in creating".[2][3] 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."[2] 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.[4]

See also

References

  1. ↑ Blair, David (2003-03-18). "He dreamed of glory but dealt out only despair". The Daily Telegraph.
  2. 1 2 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.
  3. ↑ 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
  4. ↑ Kengor, Paul. "The rise and fall of a dictator", The Washington Times, January 7, 2007.
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