Ayoon Wa Azan ( They Do Not Know )
Jihad el-Khazen Al-Hayat - 04/01/07//
Saddam Hussein was a criminal, but his execution was also a crime.
Saddam would have been convicted even if the judges were Scandinavian. However, the occupation and the Iraqi government chose a pseudo court and a judge who had indicted the ousted president before he was appointed to chair the court.
Saddam deserved to be executed a thousand times. But his execution came to decry the US occupation and the government of Nouri al-Maliki as a whole, especially the prime minister who proved a failure even in killing.
The execution was carried out on the holiest day of the Muslim calendar, the day of mercy. I challenge the Bush administration to give the name of a current or former president who was executed on the eve or on Christmas day.
In recent years - and I am speaking of a few decades not a thousand years, many genocides were committed in Asia, Europe and Africa. Not a single current or former president was ever executed for that, though.
Saddam's major crime was not killing some 148 Shiites in Dujail, gassing Kurds in Anfal, or oppressing Shiites and Kurds along with some of his kinsmen. His crime was that he was Arab and Muslim, which meant that his blood had no sanctity.
The blood of those who executed him has no sanctity either, but they don't know this fact.
I stop the talk on Saddam here as I had decided to overlook my personal views on 2006. However, the end of the year was as horrible as its beginning. Now, some pictures have returned to the memory:
There's a civil war in Iraq. This is a fact that nobody can deny, except someone who is foolish or stubborn. It broke out on February 22, 2006, after the bombardment of the Shrine of the Two Imams in Samaraa. Although the aim of this crime was very evident, many Iraqis quickly resorted to sectarian fighting, which meant fulfilling the aim of the crime. The killing, or the execution, of Saddam is nothing but another aspect of the civil war.
On June 8, Abu Musab al-Zarkawi was killed. He was a criminal and terrorist who betrayed his religion and his nation. Considering the number of armed attacks carried out throughout the year, however, we would find that the attacks were doubled after the killing of Zarkawi. The ongoing occupation is the main reason for such attacks. Before the invasion there was no al-Qaeda in Iraq, and it would have no presence there once the occupation is over. Similarly, the occupation and its Iraqi government will find out that executing Saddam will have no impact on the course of their armed confrontation with legitimate resistance and cowardly terrorism.
I believe that US Vice-President Dick Cheney deserves a trail similar to Saddam's, even more. Both the former Iraqi president and the current US vice-president have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Cheney was accused of leading a warmongers cabal that forged the evidence for the war on Iraq, a colonial war that has killed more than 600 thousand Iraqis so far. On February 11, Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a fellow hunter, lawyer Harry Wittington, during a quail hunting campaign. He hit him with as many as 200 birdshot pellets.
Had there been justice in this world, the shot would have hit Cheney. I declare here, though, in the clearest manner, that I wouldn't want him killed, whether accidentally or intentionally. I want him to be deservedly convicted and jailed in Abu Ghraib.
We all know that Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. What remains in my memory of that event, however, is not the penalty shootout. I remember Zinedine Zidane's headbutting of Italian defender Marco Materazzi in his chest. Zidane remains a hero in the eyes of the French, the Algerians and all Arabs. French President Jacques Chirac embraced him upon the national team's return to France.
Israel spoilt the summer with its terrorist attack on July 12 on the Lebanese infrastructure after Hezbollah had abducted two Israeli soldiers and killed two others. The US was a major accomplice in the Israeli crime by opposing a cease-fire until August 11 when the Security Council passed a resolution that took effect on August 14.
Israel fired on Lebanon four million submunitions. These small bombs were used to make cluster bombs. About one million cluster bombs are still unexploded in Lebanon. Every now and then we hear that someone has died or another injured in an explosion of one of those.
On September 12, Pope Benedict XIV delivered a speech that included offensive remarks about Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Then, he tried hard to mend fences with Muslims. I believe that his visit to Turkey two months later succeeded to a great extent to build new bridges of understanding.
The year witnessed another dispute on a religious backdrop. On October 5, Britain's ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw attacked the headscarf. The world was turned upside down. I paid a visit to Egypt the next moth and found a similar dispute over similar remarks by Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.
I believe Arabs and Muslims have other issues that are more important.
My family and I have offered condolences to former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel for the assassination of his son, Pierre Gemayel. I would like today to send him my regards for his noble stand and statements that followed the assassination. He overcame his personal pains to meet the national commitment. His stand reminded me of a similar one by our brother Ghassan Tueini when his son, Gebran, was murdered last year.
Finally,
2006 was a disastrous year. One of those we wish wouldn't return again. The Republican Party's loss in mid-term elections on November 7 doesn't make up for it. Neither does UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement on September 7 that he will resign this year.
The reasons for this disastrous year are all about US President George Bush and one of his actions that reflect the disaster. He proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 15 that Russia adopts similar freedoms of speech and faith as in Iraq.
I find no better explanation for the disastrous year than his words.
Jihad el-Khazen Al-Hayat - 04/01/07//
Saddam Hussein was a criminal, but his execution was also a crime.
Saddam would have been convicted even if the judges were Scandinavian. However, the occupation and the Iraqi government chose a pseudo court and a judge who had indicted the ousted president before he was appointed to chair the court.
Saddam deserved to be executed a thousand times. But his execution came to decry the US occupation and the government of Nouri al-Maliki as a whole, especially the prime minister who proved a failure even in killing.
The execution was carried out on the holiest day of the Muslim calendar, the day of mercy. I challenge the Bush administration to give the name of a current or former president who was executed on the eve or on Christmas day.
In recent years - and I am speaking of a few decades not a thousand years, many genocides were committed in Asia, Europe and Africa. Not a single current or former president was ever executed for that, though.
Saddam's major crime was not killing some 148 Shiites in Dujail, gassing Kurds in Anfal, or oppressing Shiites and Kurds along with some of his kinsmen. His crime was that he was Arab and Muslim, which meant that his blood had no sanctity.
The blood of those who executed him has no sanctity either, but they don't know this fact.
I stop the talk on Saddam here as I had decided to overlook my personal views on 2006. However, the end of the year was as horrible as its beginning. Now, some pictures have returned to the memory:
There's a civil war in Iraq. This is a fact that nobody can deny, except someone who is foolish or stubborn. It broke out on February 22, 2006, after the bombardment of the Shrine of the Two Imams in Samaraa. Although the aim of this crime was very evident, many Iraqis quickly resorted to sectarian fighting, which meant fulfilling the aim of the crime. The killing, or the execution, of Saddam is nothing but another aspect of the civil war.
On June 8, Abu Musab al-Zarkawi was killed. He was a criminal and terrorist who betrayed his religion and his nation. Considering the number of armed attacks carried out throughout the year, however, we would find that the attacks were doubled after the killing of Zarkawi. The ongoing occupation is the main reason for such attacks. Before the invasion there was no al-Qaeda in Iraq, and it would have no presence there once the occupation is over. Similarly, the occupation and its Iraqi government will find out that executing Saddam will have no impact on the course of their armed confrontation with legitimate resistance and cowardly terrorism.
I believe that US Vice-President Dick Cheney deserves a trail similar to Saddam's, even more. Both the former Iraqi president and the current US vice-president have killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.
Cheney was accused of leading a warmongers cabal that forged the evidence for the war on Iraq, a colonial war that has killed more than 600 thousand Iraqis so far. On February 11, Cheney accidentally shot and wounded a fellow hunter, lawyer Harry Wittington, during a quail hunting campaign. He hit him with as many as 200 birdshot pellets.
Had there been justice in this world, the shot would have hit Cheney. I declare here, though, in the clearest manner, that I wouldn't want him killed, whether accidentally or intentionally. I want him to be deservedly convicted and jailed in Abu Ghraib.
We all know that Italy won the 2006 FIFA World Cup. What remains in my memory of that event, however, is not the penalty shootout. I remember Zinedine Zidane's headbutting of Italian defender Marco Materazzi in his chest. Zidane remains a hero in the eyes of the French, the Algerians and all Arabs. French President Jacques Chirac embraced him upon the national team's return to France.
Israel spoilt the summer with its terrorist attack on July 12 on the Lebanese infrastructure after Hezbollah had abducted two Israeli soldiers and killed two others. The US was a major accomplice in the Israeli crime by opposing a cease-fire until August 11 when the Security Council passed a resolution that took effect on August 14.
Israel fired on Lebanon four million submunitions. These small bombs were used to make cluster bombs. About one million cluster bombs are still unexploded in Lebanon. Every now and then we hear that someone has died or another injured in an explosion of one of those.
On September 12, Pope Benedict XIV delivered a speech that included offensive remarks about Islam and Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Then, he tried hard to mend fences with Muslims. I believe that his visit to Turkey two months later succeeded to a great extent to build new bridges of understanding.
The year witnessed another dispute on a religious backdrop. On October 5, Britain's ex-Foreign Secretary Jack Straw attacked the headscarf. The world was turned upside down. I paid a visit to Egypt the next moth and found a similar dispute over similar remarks by Egyptian Minister of Culture Farouk Hosni.
I believe Arabs and Muslims have other issues that are more important.
My family and I have offered condolences to former Lebanese President Amin Gemayel for the assassination of his son, Pierre Gemayel. I would like today to send him my regards for his noble stand and statements that followed the assassination. He overcame his personal pains to meet the national commitment. His stand reminded me of a similar one by our brother Ghassan Tueini when his son, Gebran, was murdered last year.
Finally,
2006 was a disastrous year. One of those we wish wouldn't return again. The Republican Party's loss in mid-term elections on November 7 doesn't make up for it. Neither does UK Prime Minister Tony Blair's announcement on September 7 that he will resign this year.
The reasons for this disastrous year are all about US President George Bush and one of his actions that reflect the disaster. He proposed to Russian President Vladimir Putin on July 15 that Russia adopts similar freedoms of speech and faith as in Iraq.
I find no better explanation for the disastrous year than his words.
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