.Tears outside Iraq
When it comes to reacting towards events in Iraq it's always helpful to remember a simple rule: Kurds, Shia Muslims and Kuwaitis are from Mars, the rest of the Arab/Muslim world is from Venus.
This rule helps explain the difference in how both camps reacted to the execution of the former Iraqi dictator. The former had suffered a lot at the hands of Saddam; the latter is preoccupied with America and sees everything through the prism of anti-Americanism.
It was not surprising to see Iraqi Kurds, Iraqi Shia Muslims, and Kuwaitis welcoming the execution of the man who caused so much agony to them. Iraqi Sunni Muslims however had no reason to celebrate. Saddam's demise has brought them nothing except loss and the leaked execution video clip showed that it was all about tribal sectarian vengeance rather than carrying out a court's order.
The above explains how those who were affected by Saddam's reign reacted to his execution. The question now is: how did the wider Arab/Muslim world react? How did Egypt, my country, react to the execution of one of the Arab world's most brutal dictators?
The reaction in Egypt and by its media had two facets. First, as mentioned above, the majority view events in Iraq through the prism of anti-Americanism, hatred towards the US administration. Anything that happens in Iraq is viewed with "an American twist". The elected Iraqi government is an American puppet and any elections held in Iraq are regarded as false because they were held under "US occupation". Why Hamas's victory in occupied Palestine was welcomed with open arms is still a question I can't find an answer to.
Anyway, as a result of this obsession with America and with hoping for its failure in Iraq, Saddam's capture and his subsequent execution was received with lamentation and a sense of humiliation. The fact that the US and its allies stormed Iraq and forcefully removed a well-entrenched president of an Arab country hurt the pride of many in the Arab/Muslim world. You had to have had your pride crushed by Saddam Hussein (ie Shia Muslims, Kurds, Kuwaitis) if you are to accept the outcome of the Iraq war.
The other facet of the Egyptian reaction towards the execution had to do with the timing of carrying out the sentence. The public and the media felt repulsed at executing the man on the first day of the Muslim feast Eid al-Adha. I find this feeling pretty understandable. The whole process was exactly like performing and airing the ordeal first thing on a Christmas morning.
The bad timing of the execution did not help the United States at all. Many here accused America and the west in general of continuing their "humiliation of Islam" and "ridiculing of Muslim feeling" by executing Saddam on that particular day. The execution of Saddam Hussein joined the Danish cartoons and the Pope's speech.
"The US wanted to deliver us this message: here is a once powerful Arab leader being executed in the most humiliating of manners. And we're doing it on the first day of your holy feast," a friend angrily told me as he was trying to explain his own theory behind the execution. I tried to explain that it was the Iraqi government who chose this specific date. "And what's the difference between the two?" he answered.
Many of my blog's western readers tell me that they feel bewildered at the indifference emanating from the Arab street and especially the Arab media towards the crimes committed by Saddam. Very few of our intellectuals and media personalities will tell you that Saddam is innocent, however his crimes fade away in front of the level of anti-Americanism present in the region. This is the reason why al-Jazeera doesn't pay much attention to this Sunni suicide bomber who killed and maimed over 150 Shia Muslims in a Baghdad market.
Saddam's execution did cause a lot of controversy and tears. But the tears were much more outside than inside Iraq.
Comment is free
This rule helps explain the difference in how both camps reacted to the execution of the former Iraqi dictator. The former had suffered a lot at the hands of Saddam; the latter is preoccupied with America and sees everything through the prism of anti-Americanism.
It was not surprising to see Iraqi Kurds, Iraqi Shia Muslims, and Kuwaitis welcoming the execution of the man who caused so much agony to them. Iraqi Sunni Muslims however had no reason to celebrate. Saddam's demise has brought them nothing except loss and the leaked execution video clip showed that it was all about tribal sectarian vengeance rather than carrying out a court's order.
The above explains how those who were affected by Saddam's reign reacted to his execution. The question now is: how did the wider Arab/Muslim world react? How did Egypt, my country, react to the execution of one of the Arab world's most brutal dictators?
The reaction in Egypt and by its media had two facets. First, as mentioned above, the majority view events in Iraq through the prism of anti-Americanism, hatred towards the US administration. Anything that happens in Iraq is viewed with "an American twist". The elected Iraqi government is an American puppet and any elections held in Iraq are regarded as false because they were held under "US occupation". Why Hamas's victory in occupied Palestine was welcomed with open arms is still a question I can't find an answer to.
Anyway, as a result of this obsession with America and with hoping for its failure in Iraq, Saddam's capture and his subsequent execution was received with lamentation and a sense of humiliation. The fact that the US and its allies stormed Iraq and forcefully removed a well-entrenched president of an Arab country hurt the pride of many in the Arab/Muslim world. You had to have had your pride crushed by Saddam Hussein (ie Shia Muslims, Kurds, Kuwaitis) if you are to accept the outcome of the Iraq war.
The other facet of the Egyptian reaction towards the execution had to do with the timing of carrying out the sentence. The public and the media felt repulsed at executing the man on the first day of the Muslim feast Eid al-Adha. I find this feeling pretty understandable. The whole process was exactly like performing and airing the ordeal first thing on a Christmas morning.
The bad timing of the execution did not help the United States at all. Many here accused America and the west in general of continuing their "humiliation of Islam" and "ridiculing of Muslim feeling" by executing Saddam on that particular day. The execution of Saddam Hussein joined the Danish cartoons and the Pope's speech.
"The US wanted to deliver us this message: here is a once powerful Arab leader being executed in the most humiliating of manners. And we're doing it on the first day of your holy feast," a friend angrily told me as he was trying to explain his own theory behind the execution. I tried to explain that it was the Iraqi government who chose this specific date. "And what's the difference between the two?" he answered.
Many of my blog's western readers tell me that they feel bewildered at the indifference emanating from the Arab street and especially the Arab media towards the crimes committed by Saddam. Very few of our intellectuals and media personalities will tell you that Saddam is innocent, however his crimes fade away in front of the level of anti-Americanism present in the region. This is the reason why al-Jazeera doesn't pay much attention to this Sunni suicide bomber who killed and maimed over 150 Shia Muslims in a Baghdad market.
Saddam's execution did cause a lot of controversy and tears. But the tears were much more outside than inside Iraq.
Comment is free
posted by madtom at 4:08 PM
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