Situation in Iraq

Iraqi Bloggers React to Saddam’s Verdict:

“Although I am happy that Saddam is going to be executed, I think it’s not going to change the real mess in Iraq…”

“Most of the Iraqis I’ve prodded felt oblivious to what could happen to Saddam’s neck. A Sunni cousin of mine by the name of Omar in Ghazaliya said, “To the hell,” while another Sunni cousin of mine in Egypt said, “To the heck.” I for one, felt happy, and congratulated everyone I saw…”

“We are witnessing an incredible moment in the history of freedom. I had no idea that the verdict would release such an intense bond of fealty to Saddam among those who reject and fight the new Iraq…”

“The decision on Sunday was bittersweet, as an Iraqi Kurd I think this is the day of justice we have all looked forward to and dreamed about, that Saddam would find his fate and that the martyrs and people of Iraq who have suffered due to him would be on the other side of the equation…”

Baghdad Treasure:

Although I am happy that Saddam is going to be executed, I think it’s not going to change the real mess in Iraq. It is something like Zarqawi’s death, which changed nothing. I think most Iraqis, especially those who lost relatives by Saddam’s tyranny, are happy that he is sentenced to death. But at the same time, the same people are still sad and depressed due what is going on there. It is what I call bittersweet.
I also think that executing him is something that is going to make him rest. I believe he should not be dead. He should be tortured like the ones he and his men tortured. He should be humiliated like how he humiliated his people. Then, he should be hanged. Where? In al-Tahrir square, where he once hanged victims in public. This is the kind of justice that should be done.
I think that Iraqis should focus on the present. The past has passed. It is in this critical time that we Iraqis should focus on how to restore our life and our country. It’s not an easy task but we should do something. I know most of us are helping our country by continue studying and working. Even our writing is a tool that is going to help Iraq. The government and the occupation seem to be unable to help, if they wanted to help.

Iraqi Konfused Kid:

Most of the Iraqis I’ve prodded felt oblivious to what could happen to Saddam’s neck. A Sunni cousin of mine by the name of Omar in Ghazaliya said, “To the hell,” while another Sunni cousin of mine in Egypt said, “To the heck.” I for one, felt happy, and congratulated everyone I saw. While having justice done to the tyrant would have been so much better if it were not for the sad state of Iraq today, I only felt good today because this could actually achieve good effects on the ground -I think that the minute Saddam is executed many of the Baathists would stop and reconsider what they are fighting for. The Iraqi Baath party always will be a personality cult. Hell may break loose for the next couple of days but remember, we are already in hell, so bring it on.

Nibras Kazimi - Talisman Gate:

We are witnessing an incredible moment in the history of freedom. I had no idea that the verdict would release such an intense bond of fealty to Saddam among those who reject and fight the new Iraq.

Today, we learn that the insurgency is doomed, and that the insurgents know that they are facing doom. And today, they have come to recognize doom in whatever length of rope is necessary to hang a man—indeed, to hang an era.

AYS - Iraq at a Glance:

I was watching it alone in my flat. Honestly, tears flew from my eyes as the judge announced the ‘death by hanging’ sentence. I don’t know why! Yes, he destroyed my country, killed the people, ruined everything, squandered our fortune, and dispossessed the people in addition to the uncountable crimes. But I feel sorry for him today!

Sami - An Iraqi’s Thoughts:

The decision on Sunday was bittersweet, as an Iraqi Kurd I think this is the day of justice we have all looked forward to and dreamed about, that Saddam would find his fate and that the martyrs and people of Iraq who have suffered due to him would be on the other side of the equation.

The irony is I sincerely hoped he would apologise, it may sound childish but I thought maybe somewhere along the line he would say he was sorry for the harm and pain that he inflicted upon the Iraqi people and that if he could go back in time he would do things differently. That will never happen and for the rest of my lifetime I will be arguing with non-educated liberals and right wing Arabs about how bad he was, with their counter argument of what is happening now is WORSE than Saddam.

What matters is not who killed more or who died, Saddam created a mentality and way of thinking that not only people from Tikrit use…. I was watching Abdul Aziz Hakim and if Saddam thought people deserved to be killed based on sect or ethnicity than there are those people Iraqis suffer from today, who enforce extremism and religion onto the people of Iraq.

I sincerely thought that Iraq would be liberated from Saddam’s style of totalitarian thinking and people would be ‘liberated’ and free to act and feel the way they do. I am very happy that Saddam has received the ultimate insult but hope that all those who copy his ways in one or another somehow find the same fate as him.

Majed Jarrar – Me vs. Myself:

The imprudent administration of the United States thought that by finishing the play of Saddam’s trial they could appeal to more people that they were finally able to achieve their fake victory in Iraq. One would definitely argue now that ‘evil’ is removed from Iraq and the situation is on its way to be perfect soon. Americans and people of the world are smarter than this. Evil will always remain in Iraq until the US administration completely pulls out all its troops from here.

Elen Ghulam – Ihath:

Goodbye Iraq’s butcher;
may you never grow in our dreams.
You were the farce that placed itself
where lives were torn apart.
You called out to our country,
and you tormented those already in pain.
Now you belong to hell,
and in shame we spell out your name.
And it seems to me you lived your life
like a candle in the wind:
fading with the sunset
when the rain set in.
And your footsteps we try to erase,
along Iraq’s bloody path;
your candle’s burned out long before
your cowards ever will.
Greatness you’ve lost;
these empty days without your tyranny.
This torch we’ll always carry
for our nation’s golden child.
And even though we try,
the truth brings us to tears;
all our words cannot express
the nightmares you brought us through the years.
Goodbye Iraq’s butcher,
from a country lost with or without you,
we won’t miss your iron fist
not that you ever cared.

Marshmallow – Iraqi Roses:

For me, I am neither against nor with what the court decided yesterday, enough with it … what will get in my pocket if I cheer up or mourn him? NOTHING!! Iraqis are getting killed every day and double or triple what was in the past. We get confused how we are going to burry our dead beloved people and where, we get that fear inside us when we hold the funerals, we get scared and nervous when we go to work and not sure whether we will make it or not!!! This decision will generate a huge controversy amongst Iraqis for a while but it will be kept down by time, because their icon no longer will be alive. Just like what happened when they captured him, the people went crazy, celebrating and fighting, but later every thing went back to its normal status.

Sooni:

Finally, we folded the book of tyranny in Iraq. It was not surprising to hear the death penalty, Saddam killed more than anyone can imagine with his wars and the countless atrocities against his own people, but it was surprising to see a good bunch of whiners grieving upon the tyrant.

Gilgamesh – Into the Sun:

I would have applauded this trail process, later the verdict, whether death penalty or not, if it would have been a solely Iraqi process, coming from the ethos of the Iraqi people and nothing else, I would have applauded this verdict if it was not tailored to suit the interests of foreign occupying forces in my country, and I would have applauded this verdict, if Iraqi people were smart enough to be a unified force, and one voice, and not clashing over a death sentence that has nothing to do with them and quite exogenous to their very wants and desires!

Najma - A Star From Mosul:

What are my reactions on the trial? NONE. I didn’t even watch it. I didn’t want to. It won’t change a thing, not to the better at least.

What’s Saddam to me? Once a president who I hated. Now a former president who just “made” things work!!

Omar and Mohammed - Iraq the Model:

I was overwhelmed with joy and relief as I watched the criminals being read their verdicts. For the first time in our region tyrants are being punished for their crimes through a court of law.
Until this moment and while I’m typing these words I’m still receiving words of congratulations in emails, phone calls and text messages from friends inside and outside the country. These were our only means to share our happiness because of the curfew that limits our movement.
This is the day for Saddam’s lovers to weep and I expect their shock and grieve to be huge. They had always thought their master was immortal so let them live in their disappointment while we live for our future.

Riverbend – Baghdad Burning:

When All Else Fails… Execute the dictator. It’s that simple. When American troops are being killed by the dozen, when the country you are occupying is threatening to break up into smaller countries, when you have militias and death squads roaming the streets and you’ve put a group of Mullahs in power- execute the dictator.

Everyone expected this verdict from the very first day of the trial. There was a brief interlude when, with the first judge, it was thought that it might actually be a coherent trial where Iraqis could hear explanations and see what happened. That was soon over with the prosecution’s first false witness. Events that followed were so ridiculous; it’s difficult to believe them even now.

Dr. Nazhad Hawramany – Iraqi Kurdistan:

The verdict of the Iraqi Special Tribunal to execute Saddam Hussein and some of his aides by hanging for crimes against humanity is fair and just. It gives the long yearned justice for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqis killed on his hands and the hands of his cronies over nearly 40 years of dictatorial and brutal rule. His victims were never given the chance of a trial and were killed under torture or buried live in mass graves or fed into mincing machines alive legs first.
The Iraqi people are still suffering the psychological consequences of his republic of fear.
The Iraqi people proved to the entire world that they were civilized and put Saddam and his cronies in a court of law to be tried fairly and openly for his numerous crimes.
Every Iraqi is relieved now that at last justice is delivered.

Khalid Jarrar – Secrets in Baghdad:

Saddam is nothing but a political card American politicians are playing against the American public.

The day of the fall of Baghdad was the day that Saddam stopped being important to me, he lost the power and became history.

So now after three years of the shameful situation Iraq is in now, all what Bush’s administration has to offer the public to gain some voted is Saddam’s death.

And what exactly is his death gonna do to improve Iraq or life in Iraq? The sectarian tension or the security situation? The electricity or water? The curfews or the blocked streets? The puppet government or the dirty politicians? The loans of the billions stolen from Iraq as cash or oil since the invasion by Iraqi or Americans politicians?

Nothing at all.

Here is what I think will happen: Saddam is not gonna be executed now, this small play is just for the current small elections. Now of course the appeal story will start, more and more episodes of Saddam’s trial on TV, and then finally on the important elections of 2008, when also the miserable American administration won’t have anything to offer to Americans as a shadow of success in Iraq, they will decide that the court decided again that he should be executed, right before the elections, the audience applause, curtain is down.

Truth About Iraqis:

Saddam was not brought to justice by the Iraqis. He did not face an impartial Iraqi court. His sentence was not handed down by Iraqis.

Therefore, because justice has been so raped, and because the new Iraq is a bastardized version of the old, Saddam will likely be referred to as a martyr.

And nothing will be solved with his execution. Tyrants and saviors come and go. Birds leave their residue on their statues - if any are left.

The Iraqi resistance will not fade.
They do not fight for Saddam.
They fight for Iraq.

Salam Adil – Asterism:

Historic is probably the only word to describe the death penalty passed to Saddam today. I would say good riddance to him for too many reasons which you can read in other Iraqi blogs. But American politicians will not be celebrating. The biggest victor from this will be the Mehdi Army.

Neurotic Iraqi Wife:

If it makes all those he tortured happy and satisfied then yes, I will be glad too. If it makes all those mothers that lost their sons smile, then yes I will smile too. If it makes all the kids he orphaned have hope again, then yes I will have hope too…But Only If….

Hala - In Love With Iraq:

A Mockery of Justice So what! This is what he deserves. A theatrical court! Again so what isn’t it better than no court at all?

A lot are worried about the injustice the trial reflected.

A simple Iraqi man had the best answer and said on TV, “Those who think of it this way have never been ruled by a dictator and simply have no idea what dictatorship means”.

Hammorabi:

The sentence of Saddam is a step forward for the end of a dark period on the life of Iraq and the world. This may give more hope for the Iraqis and stability in the region.

No Pain, No Gain:

I know iraqis can lack trust in things until it happens. I wont believe it till it really happens. In several parts of history for example, attempts of success in overthrowing saddam brought an extreme amount of emotion to the setting at the time but didn’t succeed in the end. In 2003, Iraqis were taken away from Saddam’s rule for the time being but were extremely fearful of his comeback and aftermath such as now. Neither is there a difference for doubting this verdict of the court…. can we believe it will happen…to have the rope hung over his neck? Thats only for time to tell.

Iraq Pundit:

During the years that Saddam ruled Iraq and killed countless Iraqis without the benefit of a trial, how often did the supposedly principled voices of Ramsey Clark, Amnesty International or Human Rights Watch speak out against the Baathists? Saddam never gave anyone a fair trial — if he gave them a trial at all.

Ishtar - Iraqi Screen:

He said, “ I began to envy the people who were considered as martyrs in time of Saddam, at least, he used to grant them permanent salary, car and piece of land and a salary for their parents, what did Dawa party give me for my son? only car bombs and IEDS.

Fatima - Thoughts From Baghdad:

How do I feel about it? I remember watching Saddam on TV when he was still in power, and to me he epitomized the Arabic word jabbar- arrogant, powerful tyrant- more than any other dictator ruler out there. Seeing him when he was caught and through out his trials, and today, was just so humbling. Going from so high up, from such power and arrogance and jabaroot to such an end, subhanaAllah, very humbling.
What else am I feeling? I’m seeing people turn this into a Sunni/Shiite clash, and that is not right. Like I mentioned before, everyone, Sunni/Shiite/Kurd, were affected by the former regime. But things have not gotten better since Saddam’s days, to say the least, and many people here are just not celebrating.

Chikitita - First Words, First Walk, First… in Iraq:

As for my other friend, in the early days of the trial, she was happy that Saddam was finally humiliated, though not for the crime perpetrated against her late husband, who was not recognized as a martyr by the current government, who happened to have similar feelings towards communists. I rang her to see what she had to say. She was in tears.

“Get outta here don’t tell me you feel bad?” I teased, though I know she’s such a softie, cries over anything that ranges from sappy Egyptian movies to religious sermons to crappy ballads to Shia songs to Mills& Boon types of books.

“Well I do! My neighbour lost her sons. The militia killed the four of them and wrote Wahabis on their door! I’ve known them for 30 years, for God’s sake!” she said.

“So not feeling good about the verdict, eh?” I asked.

“He killed my husband, but I have never been as scared for my son as I am now,” she said.