Zeyad compiles Iraqi bloggers' reactions to Saddam's hanging
Zeyad of Healing Iraq has a very informative compilation of the main reactions that Iraqis blogging in English have had to Saddam Hussein's hanging. (Okay, it's also posted at IraqSlogger; but that's not to say it ain't worth reading. It certainly is.)
He has reactions from 23 bloggers representing a broad range of political positions. They all look very thoughtful, and many of them express the idea that, though the author may well have looked forward to this day, still the way that it eventually happened left them disquieted or even disgusted.
Some highlights:
From Sami - Iraqi Thoughts:
- I don't think the situation will change in Iraq much because the people who hate Saddam or love him are all still going to have the same deep hatred and divisons towards each other. Unity isn't about being the same but about accepting each other's differences and the way Iraqis act that does not look like happening any time soon.
- What's next? Does it mean my family will be safe now that Saddam Hussein is dead? Does it mean the Iraqis will stop hating each other and killing each other? There are no more Shiites and Sunnis slaughtering each other? [Ironically Hussein is accused of provoking sectarian conflict in Iraq!] Did they [Iraqi government and their advisors] think killing Saddam Hussein will unite the Iraqis and solve the problem? The answer to those questions is: No. And they don't care!
- The assassination of Saddam Hussein has killed the last hope of peace in Iraq. I think, this assassination has been planned by Iran, Israel, and Britain; those players used the US as a fire-catcher! Iran chose to assassinate him on the 1st. day of Al-Ad'ha to say that the Eid is not on the 30th of December, which means that Muslims are not unified, and of course because Saddam had stopped the Persian dream to occupy the Arab countries in the gulf area. Israel has chose the way of assassination by Hanging him to make revenge for the Israeli spies who were hanged in Baghdad in 1969. Britain insists on the assassination for the revenge of Saddam Hussein nationalization of the Iraqi petroleum in 1971. The only losers in this event are the Iraqis and the American soldiers in Iraq.
In general, Zeyad did a great job of including bloggers from political positions very different from his own, as well as those similar to himself. On the other hand, the political views of many people in Iraq, including Zeyad, have been changing so rapidly recently-- and mainly, I think, in a strongly anti-US direction-- that it's getting very hard to make informed judgments (or even guessess) about where many of them "stand".
Zeyad didn't include Riverbend's impassioned criticism of the whole execution process... But then, River didn't post it till 10:12 p.m., so maybe he hadn't seen it when he did his compilation.
He did include the blogged-in-English reactions of all three of Faiza's sons. But he didn't include any blogged-in-Arabic material. Here, for good Arabic readers, are Faiza's reflections on the subject, posted yesterday.
Wow look to Saad Albazzaz what he report about Saddam :
هيئة الدفاع عن الرئيس الراحل صدام:"
Looks he feels back to his old days when he was one of his regime tool