Saddam Hussein's Public Relations Representative sentenced to death

There is a saying, "Show me who your friends are, and then I will judge you." For the majority of the time, who you associate with dictates what kind of a person you are. If you have optimistic friends that have goals in life to be successful, for the most part, you in turn will also want to have goals for your life, because you are motivated, so you too can be successful. On the other hand, if you have friends that are into drug dealing, then one day you may find yourself dealing drugs with them. Although these are examples I created, it is true that who you have dealings with and you decide to surround yourself with will have an affect on the person you are. This is the case a lot of the time with rulers and their representatives. Recently, Saddam Hussein was given the death penalty and put to death, on account of many wrong doings. It is no surprise that many of his partners and allies are also finding them selves in cornered positions. Tariq Aziz is one of those unfortunate people to also go down the same path as Hussein. Aziz was a former top aide to Hussein and his urbane public relations representative to the world. Mr. Aziz often represented Iraq at the United Nations and other global settings, serving as a public defender of Mr. Hussein.
In the New York Times, an article entitled, "Top Aide to Saddam Hussein is Sentenced to Death," the death sentencing of Mr. Aziz occurred on October 26, 2010. Aziz was found guilty by an Iraqi court, and was convicted of murder against members of rival Shiite political parties. For years, Aziz has put his efforts into justifying Iraq's use of chemical weapons, invasion of oil-rich Kuwait, and killings of Shiites and Kurds. Using chemical weapons is against the United Nations, and as a member of the United Nations, Iraq can't overstep its boundaries on producing nuclear weapons. Mr. Aziz is one of Iraq's most hunted officials and is "one of the best-known emblems of the Hussein era." (New York Times) When U.S. troops captured Aziz, this was a great victory because the United states want to put an end to the Hussein era, and this involves preventing Hussein's key components by any means necessary. One of Mr. Aziz's lawyers claimed, "that he was responsible only for Iraq’s diplomatic and political relations, and that he had no ties to the executions and purges carried out by Mr. Hussein’s government." (New York Times) The Iraqi court found no support of this claim, and immediately, Aziz was sentenced to be executed, just like his "friend" Saddam Hussein. "Death sentences were also handed down on Tuesday against other former officials in Mr. Hussein’s government including Abed Hammoud, a former secretary to Mr. Hussein, and former Interior Minister Sadoun Shakir."(New York Times) This goes to prove that any affiliates of Saddam Hussein are going to share the same fate as he did.
It is interesting to note that a public relations representative could potentially share the same fate as who they work with or for. This is important to take into consideration for any public relations practitioner, to make sure that not only what you do is ethical, but also make sure others that you are working for or with are conducting themselves in an ethical and moral manner. I support the Iraqi courts decision on this matter, because Aziz was responsible for the killings of many people (Shiites and Kurds) and also attempted to advance Iraq's stance in the world by trying to invade Kuwait and advancing nuclear weapon technology. I think it is essential for public relations representatives as well as other people to really know and understand who their friends are in order to prevent their bad conduct from rubbing off on you.
This article and topic relates to our class reading in Babbie because the Chapter discussed Content Analysis, which is "the study of recorded human communications." (Babbie 356) It would be interesting to do a content analysis based on the laws of Iraq or look into the local newspapers in Iraq to see how people view the sentencing of Mr. Aziz, as well as if there is anyone else in the country that still supports Saddam Hussein.
Lesson of the story: Be careful who your friends are.

U.S. plans to sell Jet Fighters and Helicopters to Saudis

The Obama Administration notified Congress recently that they were planning to sell up to $60 billion in advanced weaponry to Saudi Arabia. This advanced weaponry would include Jet Fighters and Helicopters including Apaches, Black Hawks, and Little Bird attack choppers. Congress has just 30 days to block the deal to prohibit this sale, but if they decide to let it pass, then this sale could be the largest arms deal in American history. Even though the Obama Administration is awaiting the decision made by Congress, officials claim that they don't expect a lot of opposition to the proposal and are optimistic that the deal will pass Congress.

What type of weaponry does Saudi Arabia currently have? According to the New York Times article entitled, U.S. plans to sell Jet Fighters and Helicopters to Saudis, "State Department and Pentagon officials told lawmakers that the sales would include 84 new F-15 fighter jets, upgrades to 70 existing Saudi F-15s, 190 helicopters and a wide array of missiles, bombs and delivery systems, as well as accessories like night-vision goggles and radar warning systems." (The New York Times) This deal, if passed, has the potential of shifting the region's balance of power and authority on a global level.

If you are wondering why the United States is proposing to enter into such a deal, the answer is quite simple: it is intended to strengthen the defense forces of Saudi Arabia, which has been a long time ally of the United States. According to Andrew Shapiro (the assistant secretary of state for political and military affairs) another reason is, "It will send a strong message to countries in the region that we are committed to support the security of our key partners and allies in the Arabian Gulf and broader Middle East. And it will enhance Saudi Arabia’s ability to deter and defend against threats to its borders and to its oil infrastructure, which is critical to our economic interests.”(New York Times) The United States realizes that one of our major oil suppliers is Saudi Arabia, and protecting our allies that we benefit tremendously from is at the top of our agenda. With the events of terrorism on the rise against the United States, it is crucial that this country protect and defend ourselves from all aspects in order to secure this country's welfare.

The United States has deeply rooted connections in the Middle East in order to maintain and build a strong relationship with other countries because this relationship proves to be mutually beneficial. The public relations dealings is essential to continue to provide communication between the United States and the Middle East in order to satisfy the needs of both entities. To apply the readings this week in our book for class by Earl Babbie,there could be several methods of research conducted. One is ethnomethodology (which I don't recommend being done, but it would be interesting to see) "involves the intentional breaking of agreements as a way of revealing their existence (Babbie 325) To apply, in order to show the importance of having this relationship between the United States and Saudi Arabia, ethnomethodology suggests to break this deal of the $60 billion in weaponry by the U.S. to Saudi Arabia. There could also be focus groups brought in to examine the opinion of people that work for the Obama Administration to see what they think of this deal and how it will affect their relationship with Saudi Arabia. Until those 30 days are up, we will see how Congress decides.

The need for an alliance between the United States and Pakistan

Did you ever have a best friend, who you trusted, and claimed to "have your back", but then helped out your enemy to do something bad towards you? Unfortunately, this may have happened to the majority of us, including the United States. The United States is allies with Pakistan, in which the United States agrees to send $1 billion annually to this country, and in return Pakistan agrees to take action against al-Qaida and Taliban forces that are located in their country. This appears that both sides have a fair share on what they are supposed to provide in this friendship and both have mutual benefits. Pakistan, according to the U.S., has been an unreliable ally because this country, "keeps evadings its responsibilities in taking military action against Taliban and al-Qaida forces in North Waziristan." (New Haven Register) In the article, "Pakistan, U.S. need alliance" by Kui B. Rai in The New Haven Register, it discussed how because of Pakistan's unreliability, both the United States and NATO attacked Pakistan, which in turn enraged the Pakistani public and makes the U.S. even more unpopular. Pakistan claims that they are not willing to fight the Taliban because they "want to recover its influence in that country and is concerned about Taliban attacks within Pakistan" (New Haven Register) Pakistan therefore cooperates with the United States and NATO in the war against the Taliban to what it considers an acceptable extent.
The United States considers Pakistan a necessary ally because their friendship has become crucial in fighting terrorists, so the U.S. continues to support this nation. Both countries realize that without the other country, they would be lacking vital components to continue their countries. In my opinion, I think that the United States is giving 60% in this relationship whereas Pakistan is givign 40%. A functioning relationship needs to be 50-50 from both ends of each party because it shows that both are giving and receiving equally. The United States is providing a huge amount of funds towards Pakistan for their cooperation as well as funding to Pakistan's army, and Pakistan in return is only providing some action being taken against the Taliban and Al-Qaida, almost as if they take action when they feel like it. I think there needs to be stricter guidelines that are more specific, developed by the United States, to state what they expect from Pakistan. Pakistan can hear these guidelines and tailor them to a certain extent that is agreeable between both parties, which can then result with having more precise solutions on what to do if faced with when deciding to take actions against the Taliban.
Communication is key in any relationship, especially when dealing with a friendship in which you must provide for your friend and take into consideration how your actions are going to benefit/harm them. Right now I think Pakistani's are not viewing the United States as being fair and just in their actions of attack, and so this is going to damage the relationship from Pakistans end. Americans, feel that Pakistan is not keeping their end of the bargain and so they feel that they are untrustworthy and unreliable, so this too is damaging the relationship from the United States' part. Both sides have ill feelings towards the other and so it is necessary for both sides to communicate and listen to each other to understand the feelings of the other party. In our class book of Babbie, we learned about survey research, and this may provide to be a useful tool to get a better understanding of both countries, by surveying Americans and Pakistanis with questions, open-ended, closed-ended, and agree/disagree. This survey research is, "a popular social research method, and is the administration of questionnaires to a sample of resondents selected from some population." (Babbie 309) This survey can hopefully be a guide to the opinion of the larger population and provide a representation of feelings generated from each country, which can then be looked at, and then a solution can be reached in order to better the friendship/relationship between Pakistan and the United States.

Times Square bomber gets life sentence

If someone were to look at you, and judge you by the type of clothing you are wearing, how would that make you feel? What about your nationality? Skin color? Religion? Without making the effort of getting to know who you really are, and what kind of a person you are, they automatically make assumptions about you based on what they first notice. As we know, these assumptions the majority of times are incorrect and are not truly an accurate representation of who you really are. But, if people would take the time to get to know you better, they would be surprised to find out the person you really are. Unfortunately, people are not given that chance, and so these assumptions automatically are linked to that person. What is even worse is when people, who recognize they exist under a stereotype, they try to educate people on who they really are and prove to the world that, that stereotype is incorrect and a poor representation of themselves. They try to show they are good people and they deserve the right to be acknowledged as the person they truly are. Sometimes, these poor people are faced with the obstacle of people under the same stereotype adding to the inaccurate associations. So, the efforts of people trying to improve the situation are overshadowed by the people giving a bad representation. It is like taking one step forward, and two steps back.
An event as described above occurred recently in which a Pakistani immigrant tried to detonate a car bomb in Times Square this past weekend. In the Record Journal article of "Times Square bomber gets life sentence", the bomber, Faisal Shahzad accepted a life sentence from this incident. Faisal apprently build a propane and gasoline bomb and drove it into Time Square, where he threatened to kill people. The reason as to why he did this was in order to protest Americans for occupying Muslim countries. He said, "We are only Muslims trying to defend our religion, people, homes and land, but if you call us terrorists, then we are proud terrorists and we will keep on terrorizing you until you leave our lands and people at peace" (Record Journal) Here, Faisal is trying to proclaim the reason of this bad act in the name of Islam and of Allah (God), which is not the actual purpose of God and this religion. Muslims are peaceful people, and the people in the Middle East are one of the most, if not the most generous and hospitable people in the world. If only people would take the chance to get to know them, and become more acquainted with this culture. After hearing this quote from Faisal, I began to wonder what Muslims were thinking and whether or not they supported this statement. I interviewed one of my friends, who is Muslim, on this matter and they said, "I do not support the statements made by Faisal Shahzad and I think that he is doing a diservice to me and people from my religion. I do my best to treat other people with respect and accept others of their differences and I in return expect people to do the same for me. I really hope that people don't think I am a terrorist." (Anonymous) I agree with this person's quote because we all need to be followers of the golden rule,"treat others the way you want to be treated."
Shahzad also claimed,"Brace yourselves, because the war with Muslims has just begun. Consider me the first droplet of the blood that will follow."(Record Journal) I include this quote not to alarm or frighten people, but I wanted to show that there is good and bad in every race/ethnicity. I think that if people were more educated and understanding of the Middle Eastern culture along with Muslims, they wouldn't have this fear or untolerable attitude towards this group. It is unfortunate that the actions of this man will now have a negative effect on Muslims in general, especially when Muslims are working so hard to improve their status and image in general,especially here in the United States. This is associated with the term ecological fallacy in which people erroneously base conclusions about individuals solely on the observation of groups (Babbie).
Public Relations representatives in the Middle East are working hard to improve their relationship with the United States and are trying to better the identity of its individuals by mending wrongs, and educating people with a better understanding. As the 10 year anniversary of September 11th, 2001 comes about next year, public relations practitioners in the Middle East are working hard to produce new campaigns and ways to connect with the United States. I believe all global citizens need to be more accepting of people different from you, break barriers, and get to know someone better before you judge them for their differences, and who knows, you may like what you discover and that person can potentially become a good friend of yours.