BAGHDAD: As ousted dictator Saddam Hussein prepared for his execution on Friday his imminent fate continued to divide the people of the war-torn country he ruled for 24 turbulent years.
While many rejoiced in what they regard as just punishment for a despot with the blood of tens of thousands of his countrymen on his hands, many members of Iraq’s embattled Sunni minority expressed anger at the verdict.
Meanwhile, Iraqis across the country lamented that his death would do nothing to bring to an end the bitter sectarian war that erupted after Saddam’s downfall, plunging the country into a crisis bordering on civil war.
“Whether we execute him or not is not important,” sighed Mukhalled Jaralla, a 42-year-old teacher in the northern city of Mosul, speaking for many among Iraq’s long-suffering 26-million-strong population
“What is important is salvaging Iraq from this grim situation. Saddam is now part of history. The world has started forgetting him,” he said
Ibrahim Yassin, a 35-year-old unemployed man from the central city of Baquba, said: “Executing Saddam won’t solve the problems in Iraq. Most of us were hoping for his death, but the situation now is getting worse.” Iraq’s interior ministry said on Friday that government security forces would be put on high alert once the date of Saddam’s execution -- due any time before Jan. 26 -- is confirmed, to prevent any violent backlash. If there is an angry reaction, it is most likely to come from the heartland of Saddam’s support around his hometown Tikrit in the Sunni areas of northern and western Iraq.
“The execution of the Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is a catastrophe for Iraqis and in the Middle East,” declared Ihsan Abdullah, a 22-year-old university student from Tikrit.
Like many conspiracy-wary Iraqis, Abdullah detected the hand of both the United States and Iran behind the guilty verdict in Saddam’s trial on charges of killing 148 Shiite villagers in the early 1980s.
Others in Tikrit thought Saddam had been right to order the killings, arguing that it had been the proper reaction after an attempt on his life.
“Saddam Hussein was not a dictator, like they say,” declared 62-year-old grocer Abu Alaa. “His execution is not just. He was just defending himself against those who wanted to kill him.” In the Shiite region south of Baghdad, most welcomed the news that Saddam was to hang, but even here there was nervousness, with some fearing his death would provoke partisans of the once-powerful Baath party.
“Saddam’s execution will increase the violence as it will provoke the most chauvinist party in the world,” said Ali Fadhil, 40, a teacher from Kut.
Opinions were also divided in northern Iraq’s autonomous Kurdish region, where the independence-minded population suffered greatly under genocidal attacks from Saddam’s Arab forces.
“The execution of Saddam is important, because it will put an end to the ideology of dictatorship. It will be a warning to all Arab leaders,” said 31-year-old journalist Rewab Karim in the northern city of Erbil. But while the vast majority of Kurds hope to one day celebrate the sight of Saddam hanging from the gallows, many will feel short-changed that his death will come before the end of his genocide trial. “I hope Saddam will be finished off after the Anfal trial, it’s very important to us,” said Jamila Hussein, a Kurdish woman from Erbil, referring to the ongoing prosecution over the 1988 Anfal campaign against the Kurds.
Further south in Sulaimaniyah Haiwa Mullaqadir, a Kurdish footballer, agreed. “I’d support an execution, but only after the Anfal case,” he said. Throughout a country brutalised by decades of conflict and deprivation, there was little talk of mercy, but some at least supported the stand that of President Jalal Talabani, who has never supported the use of death penalty.—AFP
