February 2, 1999

Name That Dictator 4

When in doubt, trying rallying the ‘Arab nation’ …

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President Saddam Hussein defiantly urged his forces to fight back as one Baghdad hospital reported five people had been killed and about 30 injured in U.S.-led air strikes against the Iraqi capital yesterday.

“Our great people and our brave armed forces … resist and fight them,” Saddam said in a statement carried by the official Iraqi News Agency. …

“Fight the enemies of God, the Arab nation and humanity. God willing, you will be the victors.” (12/17/98, Toronto Star)

Libyan radio issued a call to arms Tuesday to its citizens and the entire Arab world to strike out everywhere at Americans in retaliation for the U.S. attack on Libya, warning that those who do not heed will be “cursed forever.”

“To arms, O sons of our Arab nation, to dive on all targets which belong to terrorist America,” Libya’s Voice of the Greater Arab Homeland said in a broadcast monitored in London. (4/15/86, Chicago Tribune)

… while blaming the Zionists.

Country X Saturday blamed sabotage for the fire … and made clear it suspected the United States and Israel. …

Country X, monitored by the British Broadcasting Corporation, quoted a foreign ministry source as saying: “The colonialist states, especially the United States and the Zionist enemy, are doing their utmost to prevent the Arab countries from peaceful development and from using modern technology, even in the manufacture of medicines.” (Chicago Tribune)

The meeting came as Country X accused America and its allies of trying to split the country through military action and sanctions. The Dictator’s deputy told the opening of a poetry festival in Country X: “The tyrants and the evil of the world, America and the Zionists, and whoever is serving their interests and schemes today seek — as they did in the past and failed — to humiliate Country X and bring it to its knees by threatening destruction.”(Times of London)

Which is Libya and which is Iraq?

Get the answer — and the next scenario.

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“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

payment methods

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