CBC to serve as Olympic rights-holder in Canada through 2032 Brisbane Games

The last time oil-tankers were being shot up in the Persian Gulf, back in the 1980s, it was Saddam Hussein’s brutal tyranny in Iraq versus Ayatollah Khomeini’s revolutionary Islamist regime in Iran.

The United States backed Saddam because he was just another murderous thug, whereas the new regime in Tehran was an actual threat to American interests. It had overthrown Iran’s American-backed puppet king and wanted to spread its Islamist ideology across the region.

So, of course, Ronald Reagan’s administration chose Saddam’s side. It sent Iraq arms by clandestine means (because Congress wouldn’t authorize it) and even provided targeting information for Iraqi poison gas attacks on Iran. The Americans chose the “lesser evil,” but at least they knew it was evil.

Once in a while they would even say it out loud, quoting U.S. diplomat Henry Kissinger: “It’s a shame that both sides can’t lose.” But they never did anything about it, and after eight years of slaughter, the war ended in a no-score draw.

The continuing debate over the Canadian Museum for Human Rights’ Uprooted: Nakba Past and Present exhibit has focused significantly on what the exhibit leaves out.

Some critics argue that the exhibit should have explained the United Nations Partition Plan, the Arab rejection of that plan, the 1948 invasion by neighbouring Arab states, the displacement of Jews from Arab countries, Hamas, October 7, the hostages and the reasons for Israeli security measures.

Others argue with equal conviction that it should also have addressed the Deir Yassin massacre, the expansion of Israeli settlements, decades of occupation, the Right of Return, changing demographic realities and the experiences of Palestinian refugees throughout the Middle East.

All of those subjects matter. Many remain the subject of legitimate scholarly debate. But the controversy points to a broader question that extends well beyond this particular exhibit.