TEHRAN The Washington Post in a recent issue wrote a political commentary in which it presented Iraqi President Saddam as a potential threat to the region.' All who know the reality on the ground know that Saddam himself is not a threat.
They also believe that there are hidden hands in Iraq in the service of U.S. imperialism working against regional countries.
In 1980, it was the U.S. and its satellites in the region and elsewhere in the world who provoked the Iraqi regime to attack the newly-born Islamic Republic.
The U.S. and its satellites gave weapons and finances to the Iraqi regime to continue the war for eight years.
Again in 1991, the then U.S. ambassador April Glasspin held a secret meeting with Saddam and his allies that resulted in Iraq's overnight attack on its tiny neighbor, Kuwait.
Observers also refer to the oil policy of the Iraqi regime.
He stopped selling crude oil on the international market, although Iraq used to sell oil even during strict embargoes.
As a result, observers believe, oil prices are going down, which is in the Western interest. Again observers believe that such an irrational decision is not being made by Saddam but the same pro-U.S. hidden hands.
Saddam, however, should get rid of those pro-U.S. hidden hands so that his real image may come out for the people of the region.