Encounters with Saddam, Gaddafi and the Middle East today

Before the fall of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi in October 2011, another Middle Eastern strongman, one with whom we also had memorable encounters, was overthrown in December 2003: Saddam Hussein.

- JOSE DE VENECIA JR.

We wish to stress that in recalling these encounters, we do not seek to glorify Gaddafi or Saddam. Rather, we recount these episodes as part of the tapestry of history — remembrances that carry valuable lessons in politics, governance, and, above all, humanity.

Like with Gaddafi, we first met Saddam in the 1970s, when we were a pioneering businessman in the Middle East and North Africa. Our company then was prime contractor for the Jeddah Port on the Red Sea and Jubail Port on the Persian Gulf in Saudi Arabia. We undertook electrification projects across central Saudi Arabia, mass housing and infrastructure in Iraq, Kuwait, and Jordan, and agricultural ventures in Libya.

Both men radiated an aura of power. They carried themselves with a quiet magnetism, yet behind the bluster, they could be surprisingly soft-spoken and even gracious.

In 1997, as Speaker of the House of Representatives, we met Saddam again under extraordinary circumstances. Three Filipinos had been sentenced to life imprisonment in a Baghdad jail. We led a Philippine delegation, including our wife Gina and several legislators, to negotiate their release.