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South Florida Sun-Sentinel Editorial Board – January 3, 2007
Hussein's execution provokes anger
Saddam Hussein's execution came sooner than expected. Its repercussions may last longer than expected. And it remains to be seen whether it will have a positive or negative effect on Iraq's struggle to achieve post-Hussein nationhood.
The hope, no doubt, was that removing Hussein from Iraq's political stage would enable a healing process to begin. But the timing of the execution and the actions of his executioners may serve only to worsen the country's sectarian conflict.
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki on Tuesday ordered an investigation into the handling of the execution, during which some witnesses taunted Hussein, and into the unauthorized release of a graphic cell phone video showing Hussein dropping through the gallows floor to his death.
Such actions only inflame tensions, as proved by the widespread protests in Sunni areas of Iraq this week. Additionally, Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is right to criticize the timing of the execution, just minutes before the start of a major Muslim holiday. As he points out, it's the kind of thing that can provoke anger throughout the region, playing into the hands of terrorists….
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/opinion/editorial/sfl-edittdiraqhusseinjan03,0,7276176,print.story
San Diego Union-Tribune - December 31, 2006
Killing Hussein on holiday wrong,
San Diego residents say
By Joe Hughes
Members of San Diego's Muslim community celebrating the Eid al-Adha religious holiday at the Del Mar Fairgrounds yesterday expressed fear that the observance forever will be linked to the execution of ousted Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein.
Many Muslims who came for prayer and solemnity in the morning chill also worried that the timing of the execution could fuel the sectarian violence in Iraq.
“It's like executing a guy on Christmas; it doesn't fit well,” said Edgar Hopida, spokesman for the San Diego chapter of the Council on American-Islamic relations.
Iraqi law dictates that executions are forbidden on the holiday, known as the Feast of Sacrifice and meant to commemorate Abraham's willingness to sacrifice his son on God's orders.
Most Muslims attending the holiday celebration were quick to label Hussein a tyrant and killer who deserved his fate.
A few leaned toward sparing his life. “Nobody should play executioner,” Miralem Mesanouic said….
<http://www.signonsandiego.com/uniontrib/20061231/news_1n31eid.html>
Tampa Bays 10 News – December 30, 2006
Saddam Hussein's execution, celebrated
and criticized in Bay area
Pinellas Park., Florida - Cake and balloons, traditionally used to celebrate a birthday, were part of a celebration of the death of Saddam Hussein and perhaps the "rebirth" of the Iraqi people.
"A big sigh of relief for me, for humanity, [and] for the world,” said Iraqi-American Hadi Hakki. “It’s a milestone."
Local Iraqi-Americans gathered in Pinellas Park, praising the former dictator's hanging.
But Saddam's execution comes as Muslims around the globe observe Eid-al-Adha, or Festival of the Sacrifice, a four day holiday marking the end of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca, one of the holiest days of the year in the religion.
"It’s a time of forgiveness, a time of compassion a time of love and mercy. Execution is completely opposite from that." said Ahmed Bedier, Executive Director of the Council on American Islamic Relations.
During local festivities in Tampa, Bedier called Saddam's death "just," but he likened its timing to executing a Christian on Easter.
"I think that was an unwise move on the part of the Iraqi government to do that which will make a bad problem way, way worse for the people in the area." Bedier said…..
<http://www.tampabays10.com/news/local/article.aspx?storyid=46307>
IPS – January 2, 2007
'Illegal' execution enrages Arabs
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
BAGHDAD, Jan. 2, 2007 (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." …….
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36041
IPS – December 30, 2006
Execution Begins to Deepen Divisions
Dahr Jamail and Ali al-Fadhily
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30, 2006 (IPS) - New divisions appear to be opening up between Iraqi political and religious leaders following the execution of Saddam Hussein Saturday.
Former president Saddam Hussein was hanged at an army base in the predominantly Shia district of Khadamiya in northern Baghdad outside of Baghdad's Green Zone just before 6am local time.
The execution of the 69-year-old former dictator was witnessed by a representative of Prime Minster Nouri al-Maliki and a Muslim cleric among others.
The execution appears already to be generating more sectarianism, which has already claimed tens of thousands of lives in the war-torn country. Sectarian divisions have opened up primarily between Shias and Sunnis, who follow different belief systems within Islam.
Several Shia leaders, particularly those of Iranian origin, say the execution would be a blow to resistance against the Iraqi government by Saddam loyalists. In Baghdad's sprawling Shia slum, the Sadr City, where most of the three million inhabitants are loyal to the Shia cleric Muqtada al-Sadr, people danced in the streets while others fired in the air to celebrate the execution.
National security advisor Mouaffaq al-Rubaii, a Shia, declared that "we wanted him to be executed on a special day."
Celebrations in Kurdish areas were no expression of unmixed joy, even though Kurds were persecuted more than any other group under Saddam's regime.
"The world ignored Saddam's crimes when he committed them," Azad Bakir, a 35-year-old engineer in the northern Kurdish city Arbil told IPS on phone. "But we are committing the same crime again by executing him like this."
And few Sunnis were cheering Saddam's death. A senior member of the Islamic Party who asked not to be named said the timing of the execution at the start of the Muslim holiday Eid al-Adha would prove a grave mistake. The festival marks the end of the Muslim pilgrimage to Mecca.
Muhammad Ayash, a spokesman for the Association of Muslim Scholars, a leading Sunni group, said Saddam had served his country well, and had been punished for the wrong reasons.
"He was executed for the good things he did such as fighting the U.S. aggression against the Arab nation," Ayash told IPS. "He stopped the dark Iranian plans in the area, and helped Palestinians survive the continuous Israeli crimes."
In predominantly Sunni cities like Beji, Ramadi and Saddam's hometown Tikrit, people fired shots in protest and swore to avenge the execution of the "legitimate president" of Iraq.
The execution may not bring the end to violence across Iraq that some Iraqi government leaders expect. At least 68 people were killed in bombings after the execution Saturday.
So far 2,998 U.S. soldiers have been killed in Iraq, including 109 just this month, according to the website Iraq Coalition Casualty Count.
The resistance to occupation is expected to continue. A spokesman for the Al-Mujahideen Army resistance group in Ramadi told IPS that his group saw Saddam Hussein simply as the leader of the Ba'ath Party who was "a helpless man in jail when we conducted our heroic operations against invaders."
The spokesman, who refused to give his name, added: "We praise his bravery in facing death, but his death will not increase or decrease our carefully planned actions until the U.S. invaders and their allies leave our country."
Across Iraq, Saddam seems to have won respect for the calm with which he went to his execution. And that could increase sympathy for him and his family…..
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=36027
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