Qwaider قويدر

12.29.06 @ 7:48 pm

Iman … Mistakes, many of them … lead him here… lead us here … the situation is grave and he shoulders part of the blame.
Am I happy he’s being put down? No, because this is a blow to every Arab in the world. Am I proud of him? Absolutely not!
Is the situation now better or even acceptable? No way in hell.. But if we want to serve justice, GWB and his goons need to be lined shoulder to shoulder before the death squad.

Roba

12.29.06 @ 8:27 pm

Well said, Eman.

Iman

12.29.06 @ 10:03 pm

Every world leader contributed his fair share of the miseries that plague the world.. but that’s not the point …whatever the case may be, he’s dead now… and having seen Saddam in this state remains to be very sad for me!

moi

12.29.06 @ 11:27 pm

I don’t think he was a great leader, and I was very happy to see him degraded and pulled out of a rat hole as he was, and now getting the end he deserved. I do not understand why it’s hard for some people to disagree with the occupation in Iraq and the way the US has gone about this war and still be against an oppressive and cold blooded tyrant like Saddam. Anyone who feels a grain of sympathy towards him should go visit the families of his victims in Iraq, his own daughters whose husbands were shot in cold blood, and the countless families who found the remains of their sons and fathers lying on their front door steps in trash bags.
Indeed, his soul will now meet the fairest Judge…

queenie

12.30.06 @ 12:21 am

The whole “Eid Day Execution” is annoying the hell out of me. I am as mad about this sneaky US propaganda as about the whole war on Iraq. My Eid this year has been taken away, it’s no longer the day of sacrifice for Allah, but the day Saddam was executed. I don’t want to go to Eid prayers in the morning and have to discuss Saddam and how his supporters will now be able to claim him as martyr or “sacrifice”…I don’t like how the US has tied his hanging to one of the holiest Muslim days, and the Hajj…

However, I too have mixed feelings about the “justice” that has been served here…

kerr

12.30.06 @ 1:15 am

I agree with Quider and queenie the way they went aout. Yes I am sad on a Eid day that this happened. But non the less Happy Eid. Kul 3am wa antum Bekhier and Iman, el Eid el jay wi inti 3ala jabal 3arafat

Rihab

12.30.06 @ 9:56 am

First off, Saddam did a lot for Iraq and Iraqis, but he was also a very brutal dictator who caused a lot of misery for a lot of Iraqi families. Moreover, he invaded another Arab country and caused a lot of miseries for many Kuwaiti families and many non-Kuwaiti families who resided there. So bearing all that in mind, it is beyond me how the word “great” can be used to describe him and I think describing him as such shows a lot of disrespect to his victims.

However, that being said, the way this whole trial started off was wrong - first of all, he should not have beeen tried in his country while it is still under occupation, second of all he should have been tried for all his crimes before receiving any form of punishment and lastly, he should have been tried in an international crimes court given the fact that his crimes went beyond the borders of his country. There was no intention of observing “justice” with this trial, but there were some points that the executers wanted to make; that is, facing trial & punishment for crimes committed against a single sect of Iraqi society (Shiites), a divide has been politically established and it underlines where the power ultimately rests, furthermore, the symbolism (and insistence) that it take place on the morning of Eid, is merely to cause further humiliation to his supporters as well as a warning to other leaders within the region.

Shaden

12.30.06 @ 1:46 pm

I love what you said.

Hamzeh N.

12.30.06 @ 5:18 pm

Apathetic to Saddam’s fate, but reminded of Iraq’s sad state. That is basically how I felt all day.

To be honest, my feelings were not hurt because they executed him on the dawn of Eid. If they really wanted to “rub it in” or to “insult muslims”, then I’m sorry to disapoint them, it did me absolutely nothing, but I do admit it did kind of steal the joy of Eid since everyone around me was talking about it and I would have much more preferred having different discussions during Eid, but then again, everyone else could have chosen to be as apathetic as I am, so maybe it’s not entirely the American or Iraqi executioners’ fault!

Happy Eid Iman

queenie

12.30.06 @ 8:51 pm

Rihab, you make some good points about the specifics of the trial, I also agree that he should’ve been tried for all his crimes before he recieves punishment.

Laila

12.31.06 @ 7:03 am

Iman, I know what you are saying, it’s a sad time for me too.

Rihab, you summed it up really well. and I especially agree that all the events be tried before even issuing a sentence on any. They have succeeded in denying the victims of the anfal any closure.

Anyway, Eid Mubarak to all.

Iman

12.31.06 @ 11:32 pm

moi & Rihab (I understand your point clearly…but my intention of this post was not to delve into the bizarre things he’s done to his people and neighboring country…I simply want to remember him for his ‘great’ side as I see it!) kerr,(happy Eid to you too…thanks o inta kaman! lol) Hamzeh (did you really expect people around you to not talk about it? we’ll talk later), queenie, Laila, shaden … Thank you all for your thoughts.

Rabee

01.1.07 @ 3:50 pm

Reasons why the execution of Saddam is wrong:

1) most Arab leaders deserve the same fate and have slaughtered untold number of political dissidents and innoncent. Yet those brutal regimes considered friendly to US are praised and protected.

2) If Saddam was overthrown by an Iraqi revolt and later executed after a fair trail, then it’s the decision of the Iraqi people. Iraq is an American-occupied territory and those who caught saddam and those who hanged him are American invasion soldiers.

3) The Americans and the British killed thousands of innocent Arabs directy or indirectly, by providing bombs to Israel, in Iraq, Lebanon, and Palestine. Why Saddam? As a matter of fact, the Americans and the Brits killed far more innocents than al-Qaeda can or could kill.

4) Saddam knew too much for the US to let go of him. A life sentence would have given Saddam plenty of time to spill the beans. The Americans refused to turn Saddam over to an international court, like Slobedan, for fear he will not be killed. A trial in a US-occupied Iraq by Saddam’s political foes will ensure his execution and all the dirty secrets will die with him.

5) the demeaning visuals associated with the capture of Saddam and his execution, when contrasted with the respectful treatment Slobo the Rapis received, send a disturbing message about the depth of the American hatred for Arabs. Not even Nazi or Imperial Japanese war criminals who committed far more heinous atrocities received this racist treatment.

6) the choice of the first day of Sunni holiday, with US approval, was designed to fan the flames of sectarian hatred, a mission the US and Brits have committed themselves to part of a larger regional strategy to divide and conquer.

saad

01.2.07 @ 12:44 am

I agree that Saddam was charismatic. But Iman, can I ask why you think he was great? Did he contribute anything to the Palestinian cause other than paying the families of Palestinian suicide bombers? Are Palestinians any closer to statehood due to his actions? Did he contribute at all to Arab unity or did he work against it by invading an Arab country? Did he contribute to Muslim unity or did he work against it by pursuing policies that exacerbated Sunni-Shia tensions within his country in addition to invading a Shia country? Did he pursue a sound economic policy to make Iraq a prosperous nation? Sure, one can argue that international sanctions caused the deaths of a million Iraqi children. But Iran has suffered sanctions for almost 30 years and their economy is doing pretty well compared to Iraq’s under Saddam’s regime. One can admire Saddam for at least standing up to the West and to Israel. But did that benefit or hurt Iraq? Iran and Syria have stood up to the West and Israel and they are still in much better shape than Iraq was under Saddam’s rule. I don’t want to diss a dead man but what specifically made Saddam great in your opinion?

kerr

01.2.07 @ 10:20 am

Saad, they are NOT suicide bombers?

fluent-sudani

01.5.07 @ 4:24 pm

Rabana erhamo. He stood up for his land and people against occupants.