The Nation,
Pakistan
Timing of Saddam's Hanging Shows What Bush Thinks of Muslims
“By choosing the sacred day of Eid Al-Adha for the ghastly act, the Bush administration wants to convey to the world's Muslims that it couldn't give a hoot for their religious sensitivities.”
EDITORIAL
January 1, 2007
Pakistan - The Nation - Original Article (English) 
President Saddam Hussein's hanging on Saturday has evoked a mixed global
reaction. Predictably, President Bush called it "an important milestone on
Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend
itself." He deserves congratulations for his restraint in not gloating, as
some other states unfortunately have done.
The
execution, though, has reinforced the sense of foreboding for Iraq. The
democracy Mr. Bush pretends to deceive the world with is nowhere to be seen. Rather, there is the fear is that the post-Saddam era will see greater bloodshed, deeper
sectarian and ethnic divisions and increasing momentum toward the
disintegration of the country. The U.S. will now find it harder to stage an "honorable"
exit, but the Bush administration doesn't intend to leave yet anyway, as is
evidenced by the White House's consideration of sending more troops.
The Organization
of Islamic Conferences [OIC 
], which is supposed to be represent the
interests of the Muslim world, reacted with impotence. Pakistan, which was once
the foremost state in the Ummah [Muslim community], merely called Saddam's
hanging a tragic event that could intensify tensions, thus putting it squarely
in the American camp. The so-called Arab Street was silent and deserted, unable
to figure out how to respond at the dawn of Eid [Saddam was hung as the Eid holiday
began].
In a faint
reminder of his former maverick style, Libya's Colonel Gaddafi denounced
the execution and declared three days of mourning, although having given up his
eccentric struggle against the imperialist West, he has recently gone out of
his way to reconcile with Washington. There were scenes of jubilation among Shiites,
especially in Iraq, at seeing the last of a tyrant that has done them such gross
injustice.
Iraq's
Sunnis, especially President Hussein's fellow Tikritis, strongly criticized the
execution as an act of "U.S. deceitfulness." Iran and Kuwait hailed
the act. European countries have criticized the hanging mainly because of principled
opposition to the death penalty, and the Russians, while expressing regret,
fear that Saddam's demise will make the already tragic situation worse. Human
Rights Watch accused the Maliki government of pressurizing judges to hand down
a guilty verdict.
By
choosing the sacred day of Eid Al-Adha for the ghastly act, the
Bush administration wants to convey to the world's Muslims that it couldn't care less for their religious sensitivities. It was a sad day for Muslims and a
telling reminder of their ineffectiveness. Would that the 1.25 billion Muslims awaken
from their slumber to reorder their priorities and look for the causes of this
shabby treatment.
Working
peacefully but purposefully to replace their unrepresentative regimes is an
essential first step.
[Editor's
Note: Eid Al-Adha is the Festival of Sacrifice held on the
last day of the Hajj, celebrating the willingness
of Abraham [the first Jew] to sacrifice his son Ishmael when Allah
asked him to. Saddam's
execution at dawn on that day has been taken as an insult by many Muslims,
particularly Sunnis. For this reason, Egypt, along with Saudi Arabia and the
rest of the nations on the western side of the Persian Gulf [Sunnis call it the
Arab Gulf] were appalled at the timing of Saddam's hanging, to say nothing of
the way his sentence was carried out].
[NEWSWIRE PHOTOS: Saddam Hussein].
