Saddam - The Sacrificial Lion

Re: # 111

all the pakistanis in riyadh and dahran in saudi arabia were not supporting Saddam in 1990.

I thought, in order to get away from narrow focus of the subcontinent, the following may widen the horizon a bit- Rashid:

ABC Breakfast`s guest this morning(3rd Jan.) is the author of 17 books. He`s a journalist, speech writer and endearing rogue who has been described as a ``wise romatic fool`` - Who else could it be but Bob Ellis who is appalled by the hanging of Saddam Hussein.
***
`With its usual stunning incompetence, the Bush administration has made of Saddam`s hanging a secular Golgotha for Arab children to revere down the centuries.
The hero behaves impeccably, and as the rope tightens, his captors in black hoods jeer and curse him, shouting the name of his enemy Moqtada, and interrupt his final prayer of surrender to God, by dropping him prematurely from the scaffold and filming his swinging corpse and open eyes.
They then in a US helicopter take his coffin, demanding it be interred by night lest a great crowd gather, to a graveyard containing his two sons and grandson Mustafa, hereinafter a tribal shrine.
By this they hoped to draw a line beneath his ugly era. They have instead opened up a fissure in the Arab world, and a stink in the nostrils of Christendom, which can only grow.
On a holy day, on a Head of State, on a Biblical scaffold like a Rembrandt painting, after a dodgy trial in which three of his lawyers were shot, and after the pornographic filming of a death that no reporter, unprecedentedly, was allowed to see, Maliki and Bush have shown themselves to be diplomatic farceurs, who have made an Abu Ghraib of what could have been a national cleansing.`

#100 jang {`` i suspect he was highly sedated with medications.``}

Jang,
I suspect that you are highly motivated with negations.

#108 by tahmed32 on January 2, 2007 5:22pm PT

Peacefull Indians have given unatural deaths to leaders no less
Indira Gandhi who was as repressive and suppresive after71

Rajiv Gandhi although it was linked to local limited Tamils

Gandhi was violent;y put to death though unecessarily..

The sad truth is that Muslims can`t elect any leaders, can`t remove bad leaders, and now we can`t even properly hang someone in a dignified manner. The two things we used to perform effectively were killing and dying. Now we are down to only one expertise. :(

Sacrificial Lion is not a proper phrase. I think the author took liberty here?

So far the posts of Subhash (especially the last sentence, `Respect Death....`), Nasah for his succint description of `the current puppet of the US killing the erstwhile puppet` and Salim`s objective & brave posts though he himslef being a Shia Muslim shined here.

Being a tribal arab, Saddam wud never fear death. They live like that; blood and death doesnt scare them.

What Zarqawi showed in his videos and what Maliki govt showed had no fundamental differences. They both had reasons to execute their captors. American hyposcicy in world affairs is an open secret. Instead of giving peace in Iraq, Saddam`s execution wud highten the sectarin differences there. A country with world`s II largest oil resources is strewn to pieces by the wily designs of the US and the wilful handmaidens of Iraq. Instead being a wealthy country with KSA-type richness, Iraq is looking more like a fallen country like Somalia.

The cradle of human civilisation is now in cross-currents of bottomless American greed and mindless religious war of the subjects......

VRV #118 {``What Zarqawi showed in his videos and what Maliki govt showed had no fundamental differences. They both had reasons to execute their captors. American hyposcicy in world affairs is an open secret. Instead of giving peace in Iraq, Saddam`s execution wud highten the sectarin differences there.``}

VRV,
You have summarized the situation quite succinctly and, may I say, accurately. :) I am rather impressed by your perceptive insight.

#111 by bulleya on January 2, 2007 5:58pm PT


so muslim hatred of the US and Israel is ok becaue, in the eyes of muslims, it`s justified and has some noble root cause ..

but if the US targets muslims after 9/11 that`s racial bias and hatred...

Now I get it...when muslims hate, we need to look at the root cause...when they get paid back in the same coin, it`s islamophobia...

#118
Zarqawi was from Al Qaeda, which can reduce a nation to rubble and assassinate Ahmed Shah Massood and no one cares. The US has decided to fight in the same craven way and posters who were yesterday talking of hanging Karzai from a lamppost are showing outrage at Saddam`s hanging. The hypocrisy of both sides of this `civilisational` divide (as if there is any `civilisation` in mass killings) is sickening.

#120 Arjun2 {``when muslims hate, we need to look at the root cause...when they get paid back in the same coin, it`s islamophobia``}

Arjun Bhayya,

It`s kinda like when Christians start a holy war, declared by a bloodthirsty Pope and loot, rape, and massacre innocent civilians, it`s called a Crusade. When Muslims respond with their own violent holy war, it is called ``terrorism.``

#121,
Aiyn? kiya tusi pathani hondi aye?

tolinin: what you say is true. however, i was merely commenting on your remark regarding the reason they have not had a military coup in india while we have had three.

#123, Sadna,
I realize that you are obsessed with Afghanistan and the role played by Pakistan in the unfortunate country. Did you ever bother to think that when the Afghans were flirting with Russia and playing ``Communist,`` under Dawood and later, that they should not have involved Pakistan when their flirtation turned into a date rape? Pakistan would have been much better off had the Afghans become true Communists at heart.

Akber sb,
by justifying saddam , youare encouraging dictatorship.It`s not fair.
one should always audious for injustice , whatever the circumstances are.
of course , he was the lion among the dictators.
however timing was roung and selected intionally to hurt Muslims.
Saudi Arab didn`t say a word!

Whew! What a response!

Re: my Pakistani origin and other India-Pakistani or Bangladeshi or Afghani barb-trading: no comments

Re: Shia-Sunni issue: there are clear indications that the U.S. wishes to exacerbate this issue (Samarra incident, giving leeway to Muqtada, etc.) , although there is ample evidence that this is an artificial distinction. The historical origins of the Sunni/Shia versions of history will remain, so there is no point in focusing on them. In my opinion, Sunni/Shia do not meet the threshold of being theological sects, but rather political groups based on two different versions of history. http://thinkprogress.org/2006/12/29/fox-civil-war-positive/ - proof that the US is aware of this and is using it for its ends.

Re: hatred of the West: well, I admire the West for a lot of things. The current crop of untruthful chicken leaders are not worthy of their ancestors, like Thomas Jefferson or John Stuart Mill. We should not hate the West, nor worship it - treat it objectively.

Re: why I wrote this eulogy: If one can be written for Stalin, or Napoleon I, or Napoleon III, or Henry VIII, or Lord Mountbatten, why not Saddam? Something I will write on in the future (insha Allah) is that it is a sign of colonial inferiority complex that we hold our leaders to an angel-vs-devil standard, resulting in a deep sense of insecurity and worthlessness. Sub-continental or Muslim leaders are not better, nor worse than the leaders of the West or the East. They are humans, let us study them as humans, applaud their nice deeds, and criticize their failings. This will go a long way towards rehabilitating the morale of the Ummah, and of other neo-colonized peoples.

Also, when a person dies, it is `game over`. Game, set and match - just report on it. Give death the dignity it deserves. Letting biases or hatreds spill over after death shows the non-objectivity of the hater, and is akin to those who mutilate dead bodies.

I was never a fan of Saddam, nor is he my hero, but I believed he deserved a fair shake, just as every person in history does. Nations that write their own history survive, those that let their enemies do it for them - are doomed to be subdued and lost in history.

Will be back tomorrow.