JANUARY2007
Aïd El Adna : célébration de l'obéissance et du sacrifice, 1er janvier 2007
Aïd El Adna : celebration of
obedience and sacrifice, January 1st, 2007
Bush-god
: Not the sheep
Isaiah : You didn't understand anything!
SADDAM HUSSEIN HUNG AT DAWN DEC 30TH 2006
The judge said Hussein appeared
"totally oblivious to what was going on around him.
I was very surprised. He was not afraid of death."
Unlike the official Iraqi videotape of his final moments, the new pictures are accompanied by the sound of Saddam Hussein responding to taunts from those present. One of the onlookers is heard telling the former Iraqi leader that he destroyed Iraq and was going straight to hell. Saddam Hussein appeared to smile at those taunting him from below the gallows. He said they were not showing manhood. He is then heard citing verses from the Koran before the trapdoor opened.BBC
'Illegal' Execution Enrages Arabs
By Dahr Jamail and Ali Al-Fadhily
01/02/07 -- - BAGHDAD, Jan 2 (IPS) - The execution of
former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein carried out at the
start of the Muslim festival Eid al-Adha has angered
Iraqis and others across the Middle East.*
Saddam Hussein was hanged on what is held to be a day of
mercy and feasting in the Islamic world. It is usually
celebrated with the slaughter of a lamb, which represents
the innocent blood of Ishmael, who was sacrificed by his
father, the prophet Abraham, to honour God.
Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin, the Kurdish judge who had
first presided over Saddam Hussein's trial told reporters
that the execution at the beginning of Eid was illegal
under Iraqi law, besides violating the customs of Islam.
Amin said that under Iraqi law "no verdict should be
implemented during the official holidays or religious
festivals."
While Iraqi Shias, particularly those in the U.S.-backed
Iraqi government, view the execution as a sign that Allah
supports them, many Sunnis across Iraq and the Middle
East now see Saddam Hussein as a great martyr.
"Saddam Hussein is the greatest martyr of the
century," Ahmed Hanousy, a student in Amman in
Jordan told IPS. A 50 year-old man in Baghdad said
"the Americans and Iranians meant to insult all
Arabs by this execution."
Others see the execution in all sorts of ways. Sabriya
Salih, a
55-year-old man from Baghdad who was evicted from his
home by Shia death squads told IPS "I am happy for
this end. I have too much to worry about now, but look
what a holy death Saddam received."
Salih paused and added: "He died at the holiest
moments of the year with pilgrims just finishing their
pilgrimage ceremonies hailing "Allahu Akbar"
(God is greatest) as if God meant to give him that
glory."
In official expression of anger, Libya denounced the
timing of the execution and announced three days of
official mourning. Eid celebrations were cancelled. The
government of Saudi Arabia also condemned the timing of
the execution.
Many Iraqis said they were disturbed by the footage just
before the execution. "They surprised us by showing
the video," 40-year-old Um Sammy told IPS in
Baghdad. "I was busy preparing sweets for my guests
when I heard my little kids crying in terror. All the
children were terrified."
A nine-year-old girl from Fallujah who is a refugee in
Baghdad said she cried when she saw the footage on
television. "Why did they do it in Eid? Why did they
put it on TV to scare us?"
Later, shots of the execution taken by a witness from a
mobile phone showed Saddam being taunted by his
executioners in his final moments. The video has
exacerbated tensions between Sunnis and Shias, who follow
Islam in different ways.
First broadcast by al-Jazeera Sunday, the shots recorded
someone praising Muhammad Bakr al-Sadr. Al-Sadr, founder
of the Shia Dawa party and an uncle of Shia cleric
Muqtada al-Sadr, was executed by Saddam in 1980.
This, coupled with images of Saddam smiling at those
taunting him from below the gallows, has evidently drawn
widespread sympathy for Saddam. The Sunni Association of
Muslim Scholars issued a statement condemning the
execution. The Association said this was an execution
carried out by the government of Prime Minister Nouri
al-Maliki "for the Americans."
The fact that those hanging Saddam praised al-Sadr is
evidence that the Mehdi Army militia of Muqtada al-Sadr
controls at least a large portion of Iraq's security
forces. This underscores Sunni views that the security
forces have been deeply infiltrated by Shia militias.
A member of Saddam's defence team, Najib al-Nuaimi, told
reporters the day after the execution that no Sunni
lawyer was allowed among the witnesses at the execution.
"This is not within normal procedures,"
al-Nuaimi said. He added that the execution was an act of
revenge and carried out for political purposes.
"It is rather stupid of those in government and
their American allies," a Sunni cleric in Ramadi
told IPS. "They gifted Saddam the best death at the
best moment of the year and enlisted him a hero by all
measures."
Others were deeply offended by the move. A garbage
collector who gave his name as Ali said he wept when he
heard the news. "How could there be killing on such
a day," he said. "He was 69 years old, and they
could have just left him to die in his jail for God's
sake."
Some Shias objected to the timing for their own reason.
"They spoiled my pleasure of his execution by
killing him like that," Ilwiya, a
35-year-old Shia woman from Washash village west of
Baghdad told IPS. "Now he will be called a martyr
because of the bad timing."
Thus far, violence continues unabated across Iraq
following the execution. The U.S. military has been
placed on high alert in anticipation of retaliatory
attacks.
More than 3,000 U.S. soldiers have now died in Iraq, and
according to the Pentagon, the U.S. military is facing
more than 100 attacks a day.
The Black Bull died today
By Mirza Yawar Baig
12/30/06 "Information Clearing
House"-- -- They did it. They gave
this Ummah a sacrifice on the day of Eid ul Adha. What an
unforgettable Eid!! A human sacrifice. Not a sheep or
goat. What a message!! What a powerful message that I am
sure has shaken all the thrones of the puppets who are
watching the events.
Saddam Hussain, they say, is dead. The news reporting is
one good example of the pimp press in full swing. If
anyone who is not suffering from amnesia can recall,
'Weapons of Mass Destruction' was a phrase coined by
American foreign policy experts to lie to their own
nation and the world and justify their invasion of Iraq.
Then their lie was exposed but by then their objective of
looting Iraq's oil had also been accomplished. They had
control of the oil fields. And in the process a few
hundred thousand Iraqis died at the hands of Americans;
well that is inevitable - collateral damage. As they say
Weapons of Mass Deception - which of course the pimp
press is responsible for and continues to perpetrate on
the world.
Death is not the "item" in the news. It is the
death of the myth of American justice and freedom. So now
we can all breathe freely as we see the true nature of
the animal before us. Even those who continued to insist
on living in doubt can deny it no longer. But watch out!!
This news item and a million like it, floating on the net
or shouting themselves hoarse on the TV are all focused
on trying to make you and me distracted from the reality
of what we are seeing here. So they talk about how brutal
Saddam was and how many people he killed and how he
'started' the Iraq-Iran war.
The issue of course is none of those things. If these
were in fact issues, then we would see Bush and all his
cronies and most of their puppets sitting on thrones in
their gilded prisons, swinging from the gallows long
before Saddam came anywhere near them. The issue is
America's right to invade a sovereign nation. Any
country's right to invade and occupy another sovereign
nation and loot its wealth. That is the issue. Are we,
the people of the world saying that it is the right of
America or anyone with the power to do so, to take by
force what they want from whoever they want? Are we, the
people of the world, saying that it is the right of the
rapist to rape? Are we, the people of the world, saying
that it is the right of the bandit or the highway robber
to hold you up and take from you what he wishes by force?
Because in my opinion, by remaining silent, that is
exactly what we will be saying. You decide what you want
to do. I have already made my decision as you can see.
The pimp press and all those who it serves want you and
me to forget these issues. And they believe that if they
make enough noise, we will.
Remember O People! The name of the animal is Empire. And
you and I have a choice. Sell your soul and bow your head
in submission to the King. Or raise your head and it will
be cut off. It's as simple as that. Freedom is as it will
be defined for you. Justice is as will be given to you.
Democracy is as is approved for you. If you elect Hamas
as your party of choice, that is not democracy. It will
be sabotaged and ever willing pimps will be put in the
place of the people you really wanted. If you have any
sense you will see the writing on the wall and next time
around you will elect Abbas. If not the Empire has
unlimited power, money and people to enforce its will.
All that will happen is that a 100 of you will die for
every American soldier who comes to enforce the will of
the Empire. That is a price that the Empire can and will
extract. After all it did not get to where it is today by
being made of sugar candy, did it?
Resources are for those who can take them and use them.
Where they happen to be located is immaterial. Their
owners are still the same. Those who come in the way
because they happen to be located physically on those
resources have a choice; move away quietly and maybe you
will even be paid something. If not, you will be moved by
force...not sideways...but 6 feet below. Now even the
dumbest in the world should be able to understand that,
no??
But no!! There are those who are dumber than the dumb.
They are those who believe in their right to determine
how they will live, by what code. They are those who
believe that it is their right to live by their laws in
their lands without apology to anyone. They are those who
believe in their right to choose who will lead them. They
are those who believe that foreigners can't dictate to
them, who they should elect to their councils. They are
those who believe in their right to use what they own, to
sell it to who they want, in whatever currency they
choose to sell and at whatever price. They are those who
believe that it is the right of the owner of a property
to decide to sell or not and at what price. They believe
that the buyer can't dictate those terms to them. They
are those who believe that all humans are equal
irrespective of race, color or religion. They believe
that a lack of melanin in the skin is not a sign of human
superiority just as a surfeit of it is not. They believe
that if this life is to be lived, then it must be lived
with honor. They believe that a death with honor is far
more preferable than a life without honor. They believe
that enslavement is in the mind. And that until they
accept in their minds and hearts that they are slaves,
they cannot be enslaved. And such people will never be
enslaved. No matter how many they kill.
What they don't understand is that every head that is cut
off to terrorize only strengthens the resolve that
injustice must be removed from the face of the earth. And
whatever price is to be paid, is worth the result. The
plant of justice is fertilized by the blood of martyrs.
As I write this post I am reminded of the Arabic legend
of the White Bull: At Thawr il Abyadh
Once upon a time three bulls lived in the forest. One
white, one brown and one black. They were brothers and
lived together in harmony. In that forest also lived a
tiger who had his eye on the bulls. But every time he
attacked one of them the others came to his aid and
together they drove the tiger away.
The tiger decided that he needed to change his strategy.
So one day when the Black Bull was away, he went to the
other two and said, "You know, the Black Bull is
black and dirty and evil. Why do you keep him with you?
His is a disgrace to you. You are beautiful and noble. If
the Black Bull is no longer there, you will have all the
grazing to yourself. He takes away your food and adds no
value to you." The two bulls listened to the tiger's
spiel and said, "Well, you know, he is our brother.
What can we do?"
"You need not do anything at all," said the
tiger. "I am your friend. I will do what needs to be
done. Just don't come to the aid of the Black Bull when
he calls you." The others agreed.
The next day, they heard the voice of the Black Bull
calling for help in anguish and fear. They listened to
him and went back to their grazing. Gradually the calls
stopped. The two brothers could not look each other in
the eye but then, nice green grass wipes away memories
and after a little while it was as if the Black Bull
never existed.
Then one day the tiger came to the White Bull when he was
alone and said, "So are you happy with the advise I
gave you? Didn't I advise you well? Now here is another
advise. You are the real king of the forest. You are
White and clean and pure and holy and beautiful. You are
wise and good. You deserve to live in solitary splendor
like a king. Not with some dirty brown trash who you have
to share your food with. Why do you need him? He is a
liability and an embarrassment to you."
"Well, what should I do?"
"You know the score. Nothing at all. I am there to
take care of everything for you. Just relax."
Next day, the White Bull heard the dying screams of the
Brown Bull and closed his ears and went back to his
grazing.
The White Bull lived for a few days all by himself,
grazing where he wanted and drinking from the clean
streams of the forest. Then one morning the tiger came
again. From the look in his eyes, the White Bull knew
that this visit was different. All his life flashed
before his eyes. He recalled the time when the three
brothers stood together, shoulder to shoulder. Then he
recalled all the incidents since then. As the tiger sat
before him, not in any hurry, knowing that the result was
pre-determined, the White Bull said to him, "I have
one last wish. Will you grant it to me?"
"Anything at all my friend", said the tiger.
The White Bull then climbed a hill and when he got to the
top of it, he called out to the people of the forest,
"O! People, I do not die today. I died the day the
Black Bull died."
Don't cry for me
Mesopotamia: no tears for Saddam.
By As'ad
aliKhalil
http://www.angryarab.blogspot.com/
Yet again, the Bush administration looks stupid
exactly when it thinks it is being smart, or when it
thinks it is being strategic in its actions.
Saddam Husayn was not your typical tyrant: he was not
even a consistent ideologue; unlike what his supporters
would like to think. Saddam switched his views and
stances, all depending on the interest of his tyrannical
regime. He flirted (and more than flirted) with the US
and Israel for much of the 1980s. He was a pagan and
atheist in the 1970s: you can see that in the
commissioned biographies from that time (Iskandar, Matar,
etc), before discovering piety after his defeat in
1991--see my article in the Muslim World journal in which
I compared Nasser after 67 defeat with Saddam after 91
defeat, and how they both discovered religion and
Jabriyyah in their political thought. But what was always
consistent about him: was his deep jealousy of Nasser,
and his deep eagerness to emulate Nasser (this is similar
to the deep jealousy that characterizes Walid Jumblat's
attitude to Hasan Nasrallah). Yet, he had none of
Nasser's qualities: he was not modest in his lifestyle,
and nor was his family--to put it mildly, and he had none
of the oratorical skills of Nasser. Saddam had to pay to
get support outside of Iraq, Nasser did not have to pay a
mallim.
Lebanese columnist Samir `Atallath tells the story of the
Arab journalist who visited Saddam during the tough years
of the Iran-Iraq war. When the journalist was in Saddam's
office, a huge massive bomb was heard, and it shook the
building where they were seated. Saddam did not move nor
did he show any emotion. He then turned to the journalist
and asked: Do you think that Nasser would have acted as
calmly, or words to that effect? The Iraqi people of
course has the right if they wish to exact a punishment
on Saddam for his crimes against Iraqis (and against
others). But the execution has been marred by a number of
issues that will later serve to backfire against the
ruling puppet government of Iraq, and its backers in the
US.
1) the entire course of legal and political processes in
Iraq, including the weekly or monthly elections, are not
legitimate in the presence of the American occupiers. All
day long, administration propagandists kept stressing
that this was an Iraqi decision. Yeah. Sure. This year,
Iraqi puppet officials, including the former puppet prime
minister, admitted that in fact the ruling prime minister
of Iraq can't order a police officer on a mission without
the authorization of US occupiers. And they now want us
to believe that the Iraqis acted entirely on their own,
as if they can. And the timing itself: it was not
dictated by US calculations? And Iraq is not supposed to
be sovereign and independent? And the 140,000 US troops
are merely there for purposes of traffic control around
the country? Whether they are elections or trials, the
processes under foreign occupation are not legitimate or
valid, certainly not in the eyes of Arab public opinion.
2) The trial itself, like everything that the US managed
in Iraq, were bungled. If the US occupiers wanted to show
Arabs a legal system or a court proceeding unlike what
they have in their own countries, the US failed
miserably, just as it failed miserably in translating any
of its empty rhetorical promises. The trial was in fact
as cartoonish and as politically managed as trials in
neighboring Arab countries. From the changes of the judge
(and whatever happened to that judge who went missing as
soon as he said in "court" that he does not
consider Saddam to be a tyrant?), to the selection of the
crimes--clearly intending to spare Gulf countries,
Europe, and US embarrassment from their association with
the crimes of Saddam during the Iran-Iraq war years. That
was why Dujayl--of all his crimes--was chosen. And notice
that the Anfal trial was rushed in order to not link it
to his other crimes during the time.
3) The decision to execute Saddam will further aggravate
sectarian tensions in the region. Sistani had to even
change the day of `Id Al-Adha. Even the `iD can be
changed by that most cowardly of clerics--who was
cowardly under Saddam and is cowardly under US
occupation. Of course, this could not have been
inevitable. In other words, had the puppet governments of
Iraq not act in blatantly sectarian ways and forms--and
the US occupation was clear from the beginning on
utilizing--typically unsuccessfully--and exploiting
sectarian differences in Iraq, the people of Iraq could
have come together to condemn the crimes of Saddam and to
accept a fair and legitimate trial. But the successive
Shi`ite sectarian governments of US-occupied Iraq, and
their sectarian Shi`ite militias, brought many of the
Sunnis of Iraq closer with Saddam. And the support that
the puppet government of Iraq receives from Iran and from
Hizbullah--openly or not so openly, it does not
matter--only serves to reinforce the sectarian cast of
the ruling puppet government. This execution will go down
as a sectarian decision and not as a political or legal
decision, as it should be, because the ruling government
a) relies on a foreign army of occupation; and b) because
the ruling government employs sectarian death squads that
have been killing Sunni Iraqis and Palestinians; c)
because the ruling death squads are inspired by a Grand
(not at all) Ayatollah who left his house only once in 6
years. AlArabiya (a virtual arm of the propaganda
apparatus of the occupation) thought it was being smart
when it asked a Shi`ite cleric to first appear and praise
the execution. But that cleric is known to be an advocate
for occupation.
4) This will not represent the end of the Ba`th Party. In
fact, the Iraq Ba`th Party got rid of its worse baggage.
Now the Ba`th can unfortunately rally and re-emerge
without having to answer or account for the crimes of
Saddam. Now they can claim that they did not know, and
did not authorize--that it was all Saddam and his two
sons who are all dead. The Ba`th Party will come back,
just as the Taliban seem to be returning--yet another
sign of the failures of the Bush Doctrine. Not a single
element of that doctrine was fulfilled, or will be
fulfilled. And the Ba`th party, I always argued, is as
brutal in the underground as it is in government.
5) Arab regimes are more secure than ever--not from their
people (who are either sleeping or outraged over Danish
cartoons) but from the wrath of the US. All Arab regimes
now know that the option of another US war against any
other Arab regime is ruled out for a long time to come.
That option was squashed by the stupidity of this
administration, and the abysmal failures of the Bush
doctrine. Arab regimes are now secure in the belief that
the US will resort to threats but threats of a different
kind. This explains the recent self-confident tone of the
Iranian and Syrian regimes.
6) The quality of the US puppets in Baghdad have in a
weird (and unfortunate way) increased the credibility of
Saddam in the eyes of some Iraqis and more non-Iraqi
Arabs.
7) Revenge attacks will be planned and executed, in Iraq
and beyond. The execution of Saddam will be seen by
Ba`thists and non-Ba`thists alike as killing of a
"leader" and will be used to justify the
assassination of Middle East leaders, especially those
who are close to the US.
8) People in the region will look back at Saddam with
some nostalgia because Arab leaders are now more
submissive and subservient than ever to US/Israel, and
Saddam's bombast and bluster in his last years will be
remembered.
9) It is a sign that the Bush administration has nothing
to offer but same of the same. Some brilliant mind in the
White House I suspect came up with this idea of the
execution hoping that it will galvanize American public
opinion--they don't think beyond that.
10) It may be a sign that the US is ready to leave Iraq.
It may be part of tying the knots before leaving; they
are trying to make sure that Saddam will not be there
after they leave.
11) It is because Saddam was such a brutal tyrant, he
deserved to be tried in a legitimate and real court;
where a non-sectarian government can make him account for
his crimes. But that was not to be in the presence of a
sectarian puppet government, backed by foreign occupiers.
12) I personally am most happy that Saddam will no more
be producing novels and poetry. (I can't believe that
`Abdul-Bari `Atwan in his most (grotesquely) hagiographic
tribute to Saddam today referred to Saddam's court
fulminations as "eloquent")!
13) I am not happy with the coverage that I am watching
on AlJazeera now. It is way too somber and way too
melancholic, and they ran non-stop a statement by
Saddam's nephew, all day long, just as AlArabiyya
coverage is way to celebratory and fake in trying to deny
the sectarian undertones of the perception of the
execution (that is perceived of an act by Kurdish and
Shi`ite militias (backed by US) against a
"Sunni". Is it not ironical that Al-Arabiya was
trolling out Shi`ite voices to legitimize the execution
on the same day that a senior Wahhabi cleric in Saudi
Arabia officially declared the infidelity of Shi`ites?
AlJazeera needs to add footage and coverage of Saddam's
crimes.
14) The contemporary history of Iraq will continue to be
bloody. I once asked my professor, Hanna Batatu (search
the archives of this site for my entry on his great book
on Iraq) as to why he was late in producing his book on
Iraq. He told me that when he finished his dissertation,
he was ready to turn it into a book. But the bloodshed of
the early 1960s, and the hanging of communists from
electricity poles by Ba`thists, bitterly distressed him.
He could not come back to his notes, he told me.
As'ad Abu Khalil is now professor of political
science at California State University, Stanislaus and
visiting professor at UC, Berkeley. His favorite food is
fried eggplants.
A dictator
created then destroyed by America
By Robert Fisk
12/30/06 "The
Independent" -- -- Saddam to the
gallows. It was an easy equation. Who could be more
deserving of that last walk to the scaffold - that crack
of the neck at the end of a rope - than the Beast of
Baghdad, the Hitler of the Tigris, the man who murdered
untold hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis while
spraying chemical weapons over his enemies? Our masters
will tell us in a few hours that it is a "great
day" for Iraqis and will hope that the Muslim world
will forget that his death sentence was signed - by the
Iraqi "government", but on behalf of the
Americans - on the very eve of the Eid al-Adha, the Feast
of the Sacrifice, the moment of greatest forgiveness in
the Arab world.
But history will record that the Arabs and other Muslims
and, indeed, many millions in the West, will ask another
question this weekend, a question that will not be posed
in other Western newspapers because it is not the
narrative laid down for us by our presidents and prime
ministers - what about the other guilty men?
No, Tony Blair is not Saddam. We don't gas our enemies.
George W Bush is not Saddam. He didn't invade Iran or
Kuwait. He only invaded Iraq. But hundreds of thousands
of Iraqi civilians are dead - and thousands of Western
troops are dead - because Messrs Bush and Blair and the
Spanish Prime Minister and the Italian Prime Minister and
the Australian Prime Minister went to war in 2003 on a
potage of lies and mendacity and, given the weapons we
used, with great brutality.
In the aftermath of the international crimes against
humanity of 2001 we have tortured, we have murdered, we
have brutalised and killed the innocent - we have even
added our shame at Abu Ghraib to Saddam's shame at Abu
Ghraib - and yet we are supposed to forget these terrible
crimes as we applaud the swinging corpse of the dictator
we created.
Who encouraged Saddam to invade Iran in 1980, which was
the greatest war crime he has committed for it led to the
deaths of a million and a half souls? And who sold him
the components for the chemical weapons with which he
drenched Iran and the Kurds? We did. No wonder the
Americans, who controlled Saddam's weird trial, forbad
any mention of this, his most obscene atrocity, in the
charges against him. Could he not have been handed over
to the Iranians for sentencing for this massive war
crime? Of course not. Because that would also expose our
culpability.
And the mass killings we perpetrated in 2003 with our
depleted uranium shells and our "bunker buster"
bombs and our phosphorous, the murderous post-invasion
sieges of Fallujah and Najaf, the hell-disaster we
unleashed on the Iraqi population in the aftermath of our
"victory" - our "mission
accomplished" - who will be found guilty of this?
Such expiation as we might expect will come, no doubt, in
the self-serving memoirs of Blair and Bush, written in
comfortable and wealthy retirement.
Hours before Saddam's death sentence, his family - his
first wife, Sajida, and Saddam's daughter and their other
relatives - had given up hope.
"Whatever could be done has been done - we can only
wait for time to take its course," one of them said
last night. But Saddam knew, and had already announced
his own "martyrdom": he was still the president
of Iraq and he would die for Iraq. All condemned men face
a decision: to die with a last, grovelling plea for mercy
or to die with whatever dignity they can wrap around
themselves in their last hours on earth. His last trial
appearance - that wan smile that spread over the
mass-murderer's face - showed us which path Saddam
intended to walk to the noose.
I have catalogued his monstrous crimes over the years. I
have talked to the Kurdish survivors of Halabja and the
Shia who rose up against the dictator at our request in
1991 and who were betrayed by us - and whose comrades, in
their tens of thousands, along with their wives, were
hanged like thrushes by Saddam's executioners.
I have walked round the execution chamber of Abu Ghraib -
only months, it later transpired, after we had been using
the same prison for a few tortures and killings of our
own - and I have watched Iraqis pull thousands of their
dead relatives from the mass graves of Hilla. One of them
has a newly-inserted artificial hip and a medical
identification number on his arm. He had been taken
directly from hospital to his place of execution. Like
Donald Rumsfeld, I have even shaken the dictator's soft,
damp hand. Yet the old war criminal finished his days in
power writing romantic novels.
It was my colleague, Tom Friedman - now a messianic
columnist for The New York Times - who perfectly caught
Saddam's character just before the 2003 invasion: Saddam
was, he wrote, "part Don Corleone, part Donald
Duck". And, in this unique definition, Friedman
caught the horror of all dictators; their sadistic
attraction and the grotesque, unbelievable nature of
their barbarity.
But that is not how the Arab world will see him. At
first, those who suffered from Saddam's cruelty will
welcome his execution. Hundreds wanted to pull the
hangman's lever. So will many other Kurds and Shia
outside Iraq welcome his end. But they - and millions of
other Muslims - will remember how he was informed of his
death sentence at the dawn of the Eid al-Adha feast,
which recalls the would-be sacrifice by Abraham, of his
son, a commemoration which even the ghastly Saddam
cynically used to celebrate by releasing prisoners from
his jails. "Handed over to the Iraqi
authorities," he may have been before his death. But
his execution will go down - correctly - as an American
affair and time will add its false but lasting gloss to
all this - that the West destroyed an Arab leader who no
longer obeyed his orders from Washington, that, for all
his wrongdoing (and this will be the terrible get-out for
Arab historians, this shaving away of his crimes) Saddam
died a "martyr" to the will of the new
"Crusaders".
When he was captured in November of 2003, the insurgency
against American troops increased in ferocity. After his
death, it will redouble in intensity again. Freed from
the remotest possibility of Saddam's return by his
execution, the West's enemies in Iraq have no reason to
fear the return of his Baathist regime. Osama bin Laden
will certainly rejoice, along with Bush and Blair. And
there's a thought. So many crimes avenged.
But we will have got away with it.
© 2006 Independent News and Media Limited
My
condolences to the people of
Hanging
After Flawed Trial Undermines Rule of Law
Statement, Human Rights Watch
"The execution of former Iraqi President Saddam
Hussein following a deeply flawed trial for crimes
against humanity marks a significant step away from
respect for human rights and the rule of law in
Iraq," Human Rights Watch said. Human Rights Watch
has for more than 15 years documented the human rights
crimes committed by Hussein's former government, and has
campaigned to bring the perpetrators to justice.
Rakan Hamma Ali, 76, of Halabja,
lost his wife and two of his sons in the infamous
chemical attack there. Responding to word of Hussein's
death sentence, he said: "Me and my only son are
still suffering respiratory diseases and no-one is paying
attention to us. We don't care if Saddam is sentenced to
death or not, we just want politicians to stop making use
of our tragedy for their personal benefit."
India, which had warm ties with the Iraqi regime of former dictator Saddam Hussein condemned the execution of the ousted president, as Muslims took to the streets to protest the killing. "We had already expressed the hope the execution would not be carried out. We are disappointed that it has been," said Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee in a statement hours after the early morning execution.
"We hope this unfortunate event will not affect the process of reconciliation, restoration of peace and normalcy in Iraq.The official condemnation came as Muslims in several parts of India, home to 130 million Muslims, demonstrated against Saddam's execution.In the eastern city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), several thousand protesters shouted anti-US slogans and set ablaze effigies of US President George Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair
In West Bengal state, of which Kolkata is the capital, the ruling Marxists reacted sharply to Hussein's execution."US imperialism has acted according its programme without caring for global protests," said Marxist leader Biman Bose.
Hardline Kashmiri separatist Syed Ali Shah Geelani condemned Hussein's execution as an "anti-human, anti-democratic and anti-moral act"."The timing of the hanging was planned to hurt the sentiments of Muslims worldwide as it came at a time when we were preparing for the holy festival at the end of the annual Hajj," he said.
"I feel like I've lost my brother," said 70-year-old Puthiyal Beevathu, who watched the protests, adding she wept when Hussein's death was announced on television.Kerala's ruling Communist Party of India (Marxist) called for stores and businesses to shut down on Saturday afternoon.India's former foreign minister, Natwar Singh, also said Saddam should not have been executed. "He should have been given life imprisonment. My own reaction is that it will arouse very strong passions in large parts of the world," he said.
A Convenient Verdict?
Emad Mekay, Electronic Iraq (7 November 2006)
"Saddam Hussein doesn't have many friends
here," writes Emad Mekay from Cairo, "but the
death sentence handed down Sunday against the former
Iraqi president has invited accusations that the
announcement was timed to influence the U.S.
congressional elections set for Tuesday, only two days
after the verdict...It is not the first time legal
maneuvering in the case seems to have been scheduled for
maximum benefit to the Bush administration. In August,
the trial recessed only to reconvene on Sep. 11, the
anniversary of the al Qaeda terror attacks on the United
States.
When
all else fails...
Riverbend, Baghdad Burning (6 November 2006)
Iraqi blogger Riverbend responds to the Saddam Hussein
verdict: "It's not about the man--presidents come
and go, governments come and go. It's the frustration of
feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi
inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American
politics. It is the rage of feeling like a mere chess
piece to be moved back and forth at will. It is the
aggravation of having a government so blind and uncaring
about their people's needs that they don't even feel like
it's necessary to go through the motions or put up an
act."