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Let me not say "I told you"

Saturday, January 06, 2007


Over mango tango (a mix of orange juice, mango and whipped cream) and with a friend who knew nothing of politics ("ummmm, why are you guys talking so much about Iraq? Did something happen there or something?"), my friend Haroon and I discussed the recent execution of Saddam Hussein.

Both of us being naturally interested in politics and especially Middle East politics, we began discussing the importance of Hussein's execution on the night before Eid-ul-Adha, one of the two most important Muslim holidays of the year. Yes, Saddam Hussein was executed on the eve of what in Christian culture would be seen as the execution of a former president who has committed war crimes on Christmas Eve, or a prime minister who has been executed on the first day of Hannukah. We talked about two things and Haroon disagreed with one, namely the idea that Saddam would now be seen as a martyr by the Sunnis of Iraq, seeing as cell phone camera footage showed the demeaning treatment he had been given during the final moments of his life. Yes, I sympathize with Saddam Hussein when it comes to the last moments of his life because NO ONE deserves to die that way, not even someone who has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of fellow citizens. We both agreed on the point that his execution was well-planned ahead of time so as to collide with Eid-ul-Adha. It was a strategy of revenge of sorts, probably to the Sunnis of Iraq to demonstrate that now, it is the power hour of the Shi'a.

Today, BBC has an interesting article on Egyptian president Hosni Mobarak's reactions to the execution. It turns out, he's not happy either. As for the reactions in the Middle Eastern media, well, let's just say that right now, the cup is almost empty. And what does Amnesty International have to say about all this? Oh, sad times...

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