The Palestinians are shocked and dismayed at the fall of Saddam’s regime. They never learn.
“This is a sad day for all the Arabs and Muslims, particularly the Palestinians,” said Nael al-Am, a 36-year-old grocery owner in Ramallah. He is one of the few merchants who still keep a large-size poster of the deposed Iraqi president. Friends describe him as a staunch supporter of Saddam.
“I invested a lot of money in buying a satellite dish and a new TV set because I wanted to watch the day the battle for Baghdad begins,” explained the bearded shopkeeper. “I was sure that this was going to be one of the great battles of the century, where an Arab army would inflict heavy losses on the invading crusaders. I feel as if a dagger has been stuck in my heart when I see American soldiers strolling in the heart of Baghdad.”
I guess there will be a lot less candy and ullulating in Gaza tonight than when the WTC fell.
They’re not all deluded, however.
“Sahhaf reminded me of [Egyptian radio propagandist] Ahmed Said, who during the 1967 war, told us that the Israeli warplanes were falling like flies,” said Abed al-Zamel, a 70-year-old retired schoolteacher from Silwad village near Ramallah. “Once again the Arabs have fallen victim to the lies of their leaders and media. We never learn from our mistakes. When the war erupted, I warned my sons not to watch Arab TV stations so they would not be disappointed and depressed when the truth eventually comes out.”
Time to start learning from your mistakes. Perhaps a free Iraqi people can teach you a few lessons.
If Saddam is still alive, I hope that he’s watching what’s happening. I wonder if he had any comprehension of how much he was despised by what he perceived to be his chattel?
On one of the greatest days for human freedom in recent memory, as Iraqis, delirious with joy and disbelief that they can finally sincerely cheer in the streets as a tyrant’s statues fall, Spider Robinson is compelled to write an essay describing just how much the twenty-first century sucks.
Pieces like this really make me miss Poul Anderson and Bob Heinlein.
They’re starting to open up the torture chambers. I don’t know how people who worked so hard to keep this regime in power can look in the mirror, or sleep at night.
A prominent Shia cleric is putting the lie to Iraqi claims that we’ve been attacking mosques. Also, if his account is true, it’s good news, at least for Najaf:
Kho’i had earlier been cited as saying that Iraqi militiamen were using residents in Najaf as “human shields” around holy sites against the invading troops. The cleric, who arrived in Najaf last Tuesday from his usual base in London, told IRNA that life in the holy city was very much back to normal.
“Restaurants, shops and the grand bazaar are currently open and the only problem is the lack of power which force shops to close earlier,” he said.
Kho’i described Najaf “very secure and calm”, saying the city was completely in the hands of its residents and the last remnants of Iraqi militiamen from the ruling Ba’th party and Saddam’s suicide Fedayeen forces in the city had “either gone to hell or been captured or fled”.
A new audio tape has shown up, late to the party, supposedly of bin Laden calling for martyrs to fight the US and the Arab nations that supported the deposing of Saddam.