A Star from Mosul

Eid Mubarak

Saturday, December 30, 2006

At about 6 AM, I got an SMS from the US telling me that "Saddam has just been executed", I was very sleepy, could barely think, read it once, then twice, then WHAT!!?
Why now? Why first day of Eid? Why so early? Why no notice?

I rushed downstaris, mom was praying the Morning prayer, the electricity was off, there was no way to confirm the news (except the radio, but no one thought of that)..
We were so angry, not for the fact that he was executed, but for how and when he was executed.

I managed to sleep for few hours before waking up again for breakfast, I logged online to the BBC and AlJazeera and knew the details.. You see when asked why the execution was done on the first day of Eid, a member of the court said that Eid starts on Sunday in Iraq as I read on Al-Jazeera.
This made me even angrier.. Thanks to the new freedom, Eid starts on Saturday for Sunnis, and on Sunday for some of the Shiites, Monday for the others. Sunnis are Iraqis, and Eid DOES start on Saturday in Iraq..

Anyway, at about 12 o'clock, about 100 persons were in out house, all to congratulate us on Eid. Much more than every year since grandpa (The eldest in our family) is in Mosul and is living in our house with grandma. I and HNK were very busy making coffee and serving, the youth went outside, and the others split into two rooms, barely fitting.
Some of the visitors didn't even know about the execution, and were shocked. You see, not everyone had electricity. It makes me laugh when I write about our situation.. Gosh, couldn't they respect us more?? *Sigh*

Saddam's death won't lead to anything good, as did his arrest, and trial.. As I've said before, he was a dectator, but now, to me, he was not but a leader who made things work!

Never have we had better times after the war than the worst before.. truly.

Anyway, I just wanted to blow off some steam.. Eid Mubarak to all the Muslims.

posted by Najma at 2:48 PM, |

36 Comments:

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At 12/30/2006 05:00:00 PM Original_Jeff said:

Happy Eid to you and your family, Najma.

In your posts about the University, I have a sudden urge to jump up and defend the male gender from your attacks! :-) But I trust one day you will find some useful or at least tolerable qualities in males!

At 12/30/2006 07:06:00 PM Raghda Zaid said:

I was shocked too when I waked up in the morning and knew that Saddam has been executed in the first day of Eid, couldn’t they wait for few days till the Eid ends??

At 12/30/2006 07:45:00 PM olga said:

Why do we kill people who kill people to show people that killing people is WRONG?! I don't know what should I think about that...

At 12/30/2006 10:40:00 PM Libby said:

I have no idea why Saddam was executed at this time. Your guess is better than mine.

Anyway, what a lot of people in your house. Your grandparents must have a lot of family and friends.
I bet there's plenty of good food at your house. (for after fasting, of course). Do guests bring food?
Are you and Hnk busy helping your Mom prepare it?

I hope every day of Eid is safe for you and your family.....and for all of your visiters too.

At 12/30/2006 10:44:00 PM Anonymous said:

your post has been viewed by over 500 people on a web site here in the states. you are pretty well known here keep up the fine work...peace to you and yours

At 12/30/2006 11:24:00 PM Anonymous said:

I heard something on t.v. yesterday that might help you understand why they killed him today.They said that, in your laws, when someone has over 70 years, he cant be executed. they said they were afraid that another debate starts and last long enough for saddam Hussein to turn 70 so they wanted to executate him the faster as possible. Well thats what they said here(in Canada) on t.v. but I don't know what is really true in it. I really hope the situation will get better in your country.

At 12/31/2006 02:54:00 AM Jan said:

One by one his opponents are carried away and are executed. He started the war against Iran. He executed more than 150 men which cost him his life. He did more distgusting things.

Today's execution could be postponed for a week. The bad thing is that his dead is linked to Eid which returns every year. It's not very effective for the peace process and stability in your country.

Najma, I whish you a lot of wishdom in these difficult times.

At 12/31/2006 08:17:00 AM David said:

Najma, I wish you a happy and peaceful Eid! :)

I didn't understand the rush to execute Saddam. Yes he was convicted of a terrible crime, but he committed other crimes much worse. I think that he should have been allowed to live until after his trial for the killing of 5000 Kurdish people. I think it would have helped the Kurdish people to rest more peacefully knowing that they had justice done upon Saddam.

At 12/31/2006 08:45:00 AM Chemmett said:

Hope you and your family are able to celebrate Eid in peace, and that this execution doesn't produce further violence.

At 12/31/2006 10:29:00 AM Anonymous said:

Hello Najma,

Happy Eid and Happy New Year as well.

Take care

At 12/31/2006 11:00:00 AM becca said:

... and I heard someone saying that Eid doesn't start until sunrise, and the execution was carried out before that ...

I don't know. The whole thing disgusts me.

At 12/31/2006 07:50:00 PM Anonymous said:

As with Mussolini, Saddam was executed relatively quickly to send a message to his followers and admirers that he is dead and warn against continuing to fight for him or his ideals. Unlike Mussolini, hopefully a public display of Saddam's body or head will be unnecessary to convince the remaining hardcore Baathists to give up the fight. If you recall, they hung Mussolini's body upside down to be abused by his victims until it was decomposing. Overall, it probably will have no measurable effect, but it closes the book for anybody who feared or hoped for Saddam's escape and resurgence. His cult of personality, both for and against him, is over.

At 12/31/2006 10:09:00 PM Frank said:

Eid Mubarak and Happy New Year

At 12/31/2006 11:56:00 PM mashi_97 said:

كل عام وأنت بخير أخت نجمه
لااستطيع إيجاد أي تفسير آخر لعملية الإعدام سوى الإهانة للمسلمين
وخاصة وأن هناك إجماعاً لدى المسلمين بأن موعد يوم الأضحى يتفق الحجيج عليه
ليس كعيد الفطر
ولكن
الصفويين كان لهم رأي آخر ومواعيد أخرى جديدة
حسبنا الله ونعم الوكيل

At 1/01/2007 05:44:00 AM Anonymous said:

I agree they should have waited, Najma. Why divide Iraqis and make some of them angry with their govt. when all they had to was wait till the holiday is over?

Anyway, I hope you and your family have a Happy Eid (100 people! If only American neighbors were that friendly!) and that you remain safe and continue to enjoy university life. Best wishes especially to HNK, Aya and little Ayman.

At 1/01/2007 08:39:00 AM Sameer said:

6:00am, in Iraq, is 10:00pm on the eastern coast of the United States - the nightly news starts at 10:00pm. The nightly news is the most watched news during the day.

The trial was farce, the execution was farce. A theatrical execution for the American public - nothing more, nothing less.

Eid Mubarak Najma.

At 1/01/2007 09:48:00 AM Anonymous said:

Everyone alive at every time dies eventually and I know Saddam was fully aware of that. It was very upsetting to me to see that he had been summarily executed.

Please try to accept that he was ready, no matter what your feelings for him were and let this disturbing execution pass in your mind in peace.

Myself, I hope he is in Paradise, fully educated in God's Great Eternal Reality, as throngs of his earthly victims greet him with overwhelming joy at his repentance.....everyone sees their errors finally and repents when they see the glory of our maker and joins the throng of worshippers, or not.
God is nothing if not merciful, do not trouble your young heart about this any further, please.

At 1/01/2007 10:48:00 AM becca said:

I just read this and thought you'd be interested:

Rush to Hang Hussein Was Questioned

At 1/01/2007 12:45:00 PM shelter said:

I feel there's something inherently wrong with the timing of the execution. A bit (for lack of a better word) untimely & insincere. Now I don't really feel that justice has been served.

Still, happy Hari Raya Haji to you.

At 1/01/2007 05:54:00 PM Frank said:

Did the book ever arrive?

I might be in Aleppo at the University in January. If I was teaching a Summer School there would you like to come?

At 1/02/2007 08:38:00 AM Ekhnatooon said:

Hi,Najma
Happy Eied,and happy new year too,it is still eied her in Egypt,it ends after four days here!
i was so much shocked of the excution of the ex prediednt Sadam Hussien,the man did alot of bad things,i can say i did not like him,but the Iraq was much safer @ his reign,the blood shed was less;
The americans wanted to humiliate our islam,and all muslims by doing this,how come they excute him in the(عيد الأضحى)day @the dawn time they wanted to show us that they do some sacrifice there like muslims do,and your puppet government shared them the whole thing,they wanted also to give a message to all the stupid arab governers,that to be (cute boys) and to obey whatever their american masters ask for,well it was excution for the dignity of all Arabs,even those who did the Excution were so severe and have no mercy at all,there was a video captured by a cell phone camera,it showed that there was a guy saying to(hell Sadam) and "Moktada-Moktada"even at the death moment they had no mercy,but the man showed that he was a real man there,at this tensioned time,he was standing like a real man,saying the shehada,he was so stable showing that he was not worried at all,and that was enough for make me respect him more,god bless his soul.
Bth,the first thing that made me respect him,it was an offer after they americans arrested him,they offered him release/or some deal in one condition ,just to ask the resistance to stop and throw their guns,but he refused,after all of this he bacame a great figure of manhood;Alah bless his soul.
*najma,you can contact me and tell me what books do you want,the subjects,titles,etc,we have a book fair this month,cairo international book fair,i will search there and i will try to help
take care there,its still burning.
you can contact me on this mail mrfrenzy@hotmail.com
Good luck

At 1/02/2007 09:24:00 PM Treasure of Baghdad said:

Happy Eid Najma! I hope this year brings peace to you and your family.

Wish you all the best!

BT

At 1/03/2007 02:48:00 AM kilr0y said:

Hl, Happy Eid, and hope for a peaceful one.
Do all these visitors know your Grandfather from years before, or is he just a friendly guy and attracts so many for fellowship?
Enjoy the new year.

At 1/04/2007 05:41:00 AM Anonymous said:

I simply do not understand why our President chose to invade Your country, with some far-fetched goal of saving You from Saddam, and saving us from WMD. THAT WAS WRONG. I think that You were Far, far better off with Saddam and his sons in power. We have given more than 3,000 lives towards the freedom of Iraq. You certainly don't want it - and You certainly have shown what animals you are by killing each other by the thousands. Even when Saddam was given to You for "Your justice" - You had tried him, You had convicted him, You had pronounced sentence, and You then carried it out. DO NOT blame anyone other than those who You have elected. You have forgotten Your proud, purple fingers. I want to see all of the foreign troops out of there, now. I definitely do not want to see Iraq pay their debt, as I do not believe You have one. You are showing what you want by killing each other, by the hundreds, on a daily basis. You have centuries of hatred that You simply must act out at each and every opportunity - You plot and videotape Your impending violence on martyr tapes.

If You become a hole in the ground from Iran trying to eliminate You, or an accidental hole of them trying to eliminate Israel (who I definitely do not think should exist), or if You simply kill all of Yourselves in sectarion violence, get it over with, and do so NOW. Let it be. The US was WRONG. PERIOD. I am truly sorry for what our government did to You. However, I used to think that Saddam was the only butcher in Your country. Whoa, was I ever wrong.

Happy Holidays to You and Yours. Sincerely, I really and truly mean that. While I am disgusted by Your actions, it is Your way. You simply need to rule Yourselves by whatever manner suits You, and let us come home. We are truly not wanted there, and we truly do not want to be there. I just want both of my sons back, before You kill them, too. I am sad to say that it works both ways. But committing two wrongs does not create a right. Peace.

At 1/05/2007 06:44:00 AM Anonymous said:

Besides insulting the Sunni's...it is pretty clear why Saddam was tried for something other than the Kurdish gas attack and executed the way he was. Americans gave him support both in his war with Iran and the weapons used against the Kurds. If he was allowed to testify he would name people close to the Bush family circle. It is called killing the truth.

At 1/06/2007 08:08:00 PM Don Cox said:

"I have no idea why Saddam was executed at this time. Your guess is better than mine."____My guess is that they planned to do it several days earlier and the usual delays and problems happened, so they ran out of time. It is easy to suppose that there were evil plans to insult Sunnis, but ordinary bad planning seems much more likely. The Iraqi government is not exactly super efficient.____Like Charles I of England, he seems to have died with courage and dignity.

At 1/11/2007 04:37:00 PM Anonymous said:

I'm not going to comment on the execution because I have mixed feelings about it. It took me awhile to find your blog after all this time. I used to read it alot after I came back from Iraq and I enjoyed reading what you had to say. It's been over a year since I was last here. I thought about you today and was hoping that you were ok through all the madness happening around you. It sounds like my hopes are true. Take care of yourself. I'm going to catch up on your posts now.

At 1/12/2007 04:36:00 PM Anonymous said:

Saddam was executed because he stood up to the US/Israel/Iran

At 1/12/2007 06:50:00 PM Anonymous said:

in our country, italy, almost all ppl. are against death penalty.
it was orrifiyng that a man was killed in that way.
i think, my opinion of course, that iraq's prime minister lost
a great occasion.
maybe Saddam was not a saint but it was a man and he was convicted,
and could die in a jail.. but not killed.
after nurimberg, tokio, human being tried to give a fair trial
to a animals like Milosevich... Pinochet.... why not to Saddam ?
it was a gift to mr. Bush and to mr CHirac.... nobody tells about
lot of help that french gave him... not only US !!!
now he cant talk. and so all the world to protest... !!!!
really pityfull maliki's statement about "domestic affairs" !!!!
i pray that other 2 will let in a jail and not killed.
r

At 1/17/2007 02:28:00 AM JERRY said:

I like how you put the details the day it happened!

At 1/23/2007 01:44:00 AM Things to think said:

Hello, friend.
When I read on the newspaper about the execution date I thought: "well, probabily someone will film the execution and tomorrow it will be showed to the rest of the world".

That's it.

Then I thought again: "If there was a big security sistem to protect all the people envolved in that execution how someone could film that? Could someone got (a secret "american" autorization to do that film and show it to the rest of world, like an EXAMPLE?

This things were comum at the Media Age... But it's only things to think.

At 1/23/2007 06:42:00 AM nicky said:

I kinda agree with Olga and I don't even think that the execution of Saddam Hussein is definitely the best step to take. :(

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