![]() “When the military caught Saddam Hussein, they discovered he had a complete collection of Osmonds records.” Chuck Norris supposedly taught them Tang Soo Do (a Korean martial art) which they used in much of their choreography afterward. People say they were friends with Elvis, the Jackson 5, Frank Sinatra and the Bee Gees. There are many wild myths that have swirled around the Osmonds. It might be factual but there is no reliable source that we’re aware of.” His publicist’s response was cryptic: “We can confirm that this is something we/Team Donny have been told to be true.” But when pressed for source details, the publicist said, “No one is sure of the origin. Donny performed with his brothers before going solo and earning his own place in the echelons of celebrity (featured in “Start the Par-dee” with rapper Lil Yachty). The first to respond to my inquiries about the story was Donny Osmond’s publicist. Merrill Osmond, the lead vocalist/bassist in the group, gave a one-sentence account: “When the military caught Saddam Hussein,” he said, “they discovered he had a complete collection of Osmonds records.” The major – and entirely unintended – outcome has been to take Iraq out of the Saudi/Sunni axis and put in into the Iranian/Shi’ite one, with particular consequences for Syria.Surely a story like this would be documented on the internet, I naively thought, but was able to find only a brief mention in an old interview from The Guardian. ‘The invasion of Iraq – contrary to the expectations of George W Bush, Dick Cheney and Donald Rumsfeld, whose reputations were all wrecked by their involvement – did nothing to bring more democracy to the region, even though there’s now a degree of democracy in Iraq itself. ![]() ‘Iraq, and the Middle East in general, is no less volatile and dangerous than it was when Saddam was still in power – it’s just different,’ said Simpson. Ten years on, George W Bush and Tony Blair’s claim that history would justify their decision to invade Iraq doesn’t seem to be coming true. This left the way open for the radical extremists Saddam had kept under control, who’ve been left free to exploit the poverty and lawlessness for their purposes.’ Iraqi people, especially women and children, are paying a heavy price for that blunder and the virtual destruction of the well-educated, more or less secular middle and professional classes who should have been empowered to rebuild Iraq after decades of dictatorship, wars and sanction. Jabbar Hasan, director of the Iraqi Association, which supports Iraqi refugees in Britain, said: ‘The question shouldn’t be about removing Saddam, but the total, comprehensive and needless bungling of the lack of post-war strategy, which caused mayhem and terror. Remember the two million people who filled the streets of London just over a decade ago – they were right.’ Iraq’s invaders have moved on, as have the media. That’s more than died during the Rwanda massacre. ‘According to numerous studies, notably at MIT in Boston, a million people have died as a result of their actions. ‘An average of 200 people are killed every month in Iraq as a direct result of the illegal invasion ordered by Bush and Blair,’ said journalist and filmmaker John Pilger. Meanwhile, oil production has increased by 40 per cent in Iraq over the last five years, fuelling criticism that this was always a war over resources, not WMDs or deposing a dictator, with Iraqis paying the price. In October 2011, US president Barack Obama announced that all America troops would be withdrawn from Iraq by the end of that year, when the war was officially declared over. The weapons of mass destruction (WMDs) used to justify the invasion were never found the motivation for the war was altered post-invasion to ‘regime change’, further angering those who were against it. Violence and instability have continued in Iraq throughout the last decade. I didn’t find many Iraqis who were upset by the execution, but it did further damage around the world to Washington’s claim that it had invaded Iraq to make it a better place.’ ‘It smacked of revenge more than justice. ‘I watched in horror as Saddam was executed,’ he recalled. Saddam’s execution in December 2006 set a negative tone for what was to follow, said Simpson, who was in Iraq at the time of the invasion and the dictator’s hanging.
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