This article is now a month old. I had meant to reprint it much sooner, but perhaps it’s just as well that I didn’t. I have noticed that timely reports often tell us more when they are no longer timely; that is, when a little time has passed and has put the report into perspective. To me, the most telling statement reported is this one from a store owner in Baghdad. “This is a day for the Persians and not for the Arabs. God have mercy on his soul.”
What that tells me (but, I realize, perhaps mostly because it confirms what I already believed) is that as Iranian influence grows, so will resistance to that influence. It is as natural as the rising sun each morning. If, when and as outside influence (namely the US military presence) is withdrawn, regional counter-balances automatically deploy and some modus vivendi is reached. THAT is why it’s a blunder to be involved over there in the first place. All we are doing is delaying the readjustment of forces. In interpersonal relationships the process is called “enablling” and it never works out well.
Reactions to Hussein’s Death Reflect Deep Divide
By Nancy Trejos
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, December 30, 2006; 7:44 AM
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30–Reaction to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein’s execution reflected the deep sectarian divide that has torn the country apart since he was forced out of office in 2003.
In the southern city of Najaf, hundreds gathered close to the Imam Ali mosque, one of Shiite Islam’s holiest sites, to celebrate the death of the Sunni leader they considered a tyrant. Others marched through the streets, carrying Iraqi flags and pictures of religious leaders while shooting in the air. “Saddam was executed. Die you Baathists,” they shouted, referring to his Baath party.
In the town of Albu Ajeel, four miles from Hussein’s Sunni hometown of Tikrit, about 400 people carried pictures of him and called for revenge. Carrying guns, they tried to enter Tikrit but were blocked by police. Mosques broadcast recitations from the Koran as an expression of mourning.
Hussein was hanged in the predawn hours of Saturday for crimes against humanity in the retaliatory killings of Shiite men and boys in the town of Dujail in the 1980s.
Hussein sympathizers condemned the timing of his death, on the day Sunnis consider the beginning of their holy Eid celebration. In Tikrit, there were no signs of the Eid celebration, no children dressed in new clothes, no people exchanging happy greetings.
“There’s no Eid,” said Sami Mahmoud, 35, a store owner in the Karrada district of Baghdad. “This is a day for the Persians and not for the Arabs. God have mercy on his soul.”
Abdullah Al Obaidy, a tribal figure from the Obaid Tribe in the northern Iraq town Haweeja, said he and his family cried when they saw the news on state television.
“He had not said or done anything wrong,” he said. “The Americans made a mistake by occupying Iraq, and relied on mercenaries and stooges who robbed the country and stole Iraq ’s history, heritage and culture. This day registered a martyr and a hero who died for his cause.”
Shiites rejoiced, calling it a holiday gift. They consider Sunday the first day of Eid.
“This is the real joy of Eid,” Hussein Abu Ali, 35, a civil servant who lives in Karrada and said he had been exiled by Hussein as a child. “This is the biggest Eid ever. Now Saddam’s execution has surpassed the joy of Eid.”
Karar Hadi, 32, a taxi driver, said he was out when he heard the news on the radio but quickly went home to celebrate with his family. “When I arrived there, I took my AK-47 and shot 30 bullets in the air to express my happiness,” he said.
Regardless of their sects, Iraqis inside the capital and elsewhere acknowledged the importance of the morning’s events. Hussein has loomed large over their lives for three decades.
“It’s something which we will never forget for the rest of our lives,” Ali said. “Generations will be remembering this date.”
Other Iraqis feared that Hussein’s execution would breed more violence, at least in the short term. Some of those fears materialized. In the Shiite southern city of Kufa, near Najaf, an olive green KIA minibus exploded around 9:30 a.m. near the market place, said Kufa Mayor Yusif Al Janaby. A man parked the vehicle on the side of a road then walked away but was caught by a local shop owner, the mayor said. An angry mob beat him with sticks, rocks and their bare hands, killing him, he said.
Munthir Al Ithary, the director of the Najaf Health Department, said the blast killed 34 civilians and wounded 58, including women and children.
“I feel afraid. I’m not sure what’s going to happen,” said Wrood Traq, 25, Ali’s cousin. “I wish to live in peace. I wish to leave happily.”
Special correspondents Saad Sarhan in Najaf and Muhanned Saif Aldin in Tikrit contributed to this report.