Saddam Hussein will probably die by hanging before Saturday evening for crimes against humanity. If not by Saturday, then very soon.
Meanwhile, Arab editorials around the world proclaim how great life was under Saddam's iron fist having so quickly forgotten how he gassed, murdered, tortured and raped his own people.
The Palestinian owned daily Al Quds Al Arabi argues that even though Saddam did indeed commit massacres, they blamed the ruling Iraqis for committing crimes much worse than Saddam ever committed and to try "those responsible" for killing 665,000 Iraqis since the collapse of Saddam's regime.
The propensity to believe even the most ridiculous conspiracy theories abounds
in the Middle East. Couple this with a prevailing mentality of
victimhood and most people are willing to believe anything anybody is
willing to say, including 665,000 Iraqi deaths since the U.S. invasion
of Iraq.
Whereas the anti-war organization Iraq Body Count puts the current Iraqi body count between 52,000 and 58,000 Iraqi, the majority of which is more likely Iraqi on Iraqi deaths.
Al Quds Al Arabi said
"We demand they [Iraqi ruling class] be tried on charges of igniting a civil sectarian war, exercising the ugliest forms of genocide, stealing public funds, and collaborating with foreigners against their country and people, and we doubt their punishment should be less than death by hanging."
Whereas, the Saudi owned daily Al Hayat said
"It is impossible to defend Saddam Hussein, for his violations were blatant. He was a brutal dictator...Saddam was bad, but we need to say that Iraq lives under a reality that is worse than Saddam.
Worse than Saddam is dismantling his regime and opening the doors to the unknown, in dismantling the Iraqi army ... and forming death squads to assassinate innocent people according to their [sectarian] identity."
It seems the prevailing mentality in the Middle East is Saddam may have been a really bad guy, but he's our bad guy. He may have raped, murdered, kidnapped and tortured the Iraqis, but at least he held the country together and for that he's a swell guy.
However, I don't hear anybody calling for Saddam to be put back into power.
Do you?
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