Dean's World -

Iraqi bloggers have begun reacting to and posting on the execution of Saddam Hussein last night.

Healing Iraq

The fear is evident on his face as he struggles to appear calm. He reportedly tried to resist when American soldiers handed him over to Iraqi guards, but then grew quiet and calm as he accepted a fate that was expected. The last moment appeal to a U.S. judge by Saddam's lawyers to stay the execution was rejected.

The Shi'ite executioners and witnesses were reported to have danced around Saddam's corpse after he was hanged while chanting Shi'ite religious slogans. The same situation was reported from the Green Zone by Al-Arabiya TV reporters who said members of the current Iraqi government were also celebrating. Iraqis took to the streets in Sadr City, Najaf and Basrah. Some carried portraits of Muqtada Al-Sadr and Abdul Aziz Al-Hakim, the new strongmen of Iraq.

He also posts the YouTube footage of the execution that was aired on Al-Iraqiya television.

Truth About Iraqis

This is about humiliation. Of Sunnis. Of Shias. Of Muslims. Of Arabs. Nothing else.

Iraqi authorities are refusing to hand over his body because they fear that the signs of torture will be visible and enrage Iraqis.

Remember O you who claim to follow Ali, Hassan and Hussein. Even Yazid delivered the corpses. Rememmber.

You'd think that the footage aired would dispel such rumors but I suppose that once they've made up their minds some will never be convinced of anything else.

neurotic iraqi wife

I also heard on the CNN that a witness that was present claimed some people started dancing around Saddam's body after his execution!!! In Islam, thats a big no no. I guess I have to go now, but will write a longer past later tonight on my thoughts when Im in the privacy of my own room. Today marks the end of an evil era, the end of an evil era and the beginning of an even worse one...The Doomed Era...Iraq's Doomed Era...

A Star from Mosul

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!

Hammorabi

Saddam Hussein was the most tyrant dictator in the recent history of mankind. In no way that a simple article like this may be able to describe how ruthless he was. His tyranny and ruthlessness were not only against the Iraqis though they were the most sufferers but it involved so many other peoples.

Roads to Iraq

Saddam dies, they executed Iraq before they executed Saddam, the resistance continues, I think that the Iraqi resistance tomorrow can show the world that Al-Hakim, Al-Maliki, Al-Chalabi, and the rest of the gang and everybody sold himself to the Americans will never escape justice.

Thoughts from Baghdad

On the subject of Saddam Hussein, I still can't believe that they hung him on the first day of Eid. Quite distasteful, quite blood-thirsty, very wrong. Like they're handing him over on a gold plate to one group of Iraqis, and completely throwing the plate in the faces of the others. Making Eid a double Eid for some, and a bloody Eid for the others. So wrong.

As more Iraqi bloggers react I'll update.

For a round-up of new media coverage and American blogospheric reaction see James Joyner's and Joe Gandelman's excellent posts.

Updates

Nabil's Blog

I think the Iraqi government has taken this day to carry out the vedrict to revenge to themselves and to attack sunni community in an indirect way, because today was only the sunni's Eid, not the shiite's Eid..
They were eagred to execute him as soon as they can, to insure their wicked sick minds that the idea of Saddam coming back to power will be terminated, though they know that this won't happen even if he remained alive..

Anyway, carrying out the verdict will not solve anything, and will not make the security situation any better, it will only make it worse, and by this bad timing they attacked an important sect of the Iraqi people, and I don't think that this sect will remain harmless to what they've did..

Iraqi Konfused Kid

While I think that Saddam deserves a thousand hangings, I completely disapprove of the way they have handled this - they chose a very bad timing for it, the holy Eid is a day of joy, of happiness, of forgiveness, people do not want to start their day by watching a man insulted a thousand times with a rope at his neck, true, I completely understand the fact that there are hundreds of families who are glad to see Saddam suffer and die like their sons and families did, but they are not all Iraqis, and they are not all people, and true, maybe Shiites would feel there might be a religious conrguence for this timing as it is harmonious with the vengeful nature of Shiite Islam, as hatred of tyranny and cruel avengance are major pillars in their sect, when all the other people watch these images accompanied by the whole lot of insults and curses, on such a holy peaceful occasion, the feeling they give you is one of complete injustice and being cruller than the man they are hanging.

The joy that could have been to see Saddam executed was lost in the bad conditions to which Iraq is heading, from a strategic point of view, Saddam's killing could go a long way in dispiriting Baathists, as Baath is largely a personality cult - it is without doubt a significant hit to morale, but it still remains unknown how far could this psychologically curb them.

Cross-posted at The Glittering Eye.

Asterism

The Iraq Study Group report is hanging over his [ed. Bush's] head like the Sword of Damocles. And after the split of the Sadrists from the Iraqi government, its unity is hanging by thread. The execution of Saddam Hussain will buy time. It placates the American public on one side and the Sadrists on the other. Saddam's execution is a big smoke screen to hide an ugly policy.

An Iraqi Tear

After Execution of Saddam; Iraqis lost forever the relations that destroyed their country. Saddam was not sentenced to death because of 148 Iraqis were executed when they planned to assassinate him while visiting Dujail in 1982 when he was President; this sentence came to save the “face” of the White House and many Iraqi politicians who are now key players in Iraq.

She goes on at some length, not distinguishing between a legal execution following a trial and an assassination.

Eye Raki

Eye Raki transcribes exchange from the videotape of the execution:

As they are putting the rope on his neck, he says "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger". After the rope is in place, the Iraqi's send blessings on Prophet Mohammed and his family, and one of the Sadrists shouts "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada" (its a Sadrist thing). Saddam smiles and says something you cant clearly hear because one of Iraqi's shouts back "go to hell". You can hear Saddam say "shame on you" just before someone says "Long Live Mohammed Baqer Al Sadr" and another says "go to hell" again. There is another voice which we hear for the first time repeatedly shouting "please...please", its most likely an Iraqi official asking everyone to keep quiet. Saddam then repeats the words "There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed is his messenger". He says it one more time before he drops but doesnt get time to finish his sentence..."There is no god but Allah, and Mohammed..." *trap door opens and he falls*. Immeiately after his neck snaps, people send blessings on Prophet Mohamemd and his family (without the 'Moqtada' dramatics this time) and shout "May Allah curse you" and "the dictator has fallen". Then amid the darkness, someone takes a picture and you can clearly see Saddam still hanging from the rope.

Warning: graphic stills from videotape.

Iraq at a Glance

Lovely!
We get rid of a tyrant to glorify a retarded fat boy!
Can you imagine how strong Al-Sadr and Al- Hakim are getting? They are everywhere in the government and controlled almost everything.
Will the Shiites start seriously in building a destroyed country or follow their ugly new clerics and wait for their hidden twelfth Imam to emerge in the end times?!

Iraq the Model

Executing Saddam is an execution to a dark era in Iraq's history and it's a message to all those who followed his ways that there is no turning back; yes, the people will never kneel to a tyrant again and will never give up.

The future is in the hands of the people and they will choose their way no matter how big the sacrifice is.

We have suffered too much for too long and we deserve a better life and that we will keep pursuing.

IraqiGeek

Despite all the things he had done, I still didn’t want him to be executed. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for capital punishment, but in this case, I don’t think this was the proper course of action. I think he should have been imprisoned for the reminder of his life. For someone like Saddam who has a greatness complex, living imprisoned where everyone has the power to control his activities would have been much worse. He was so full of himself, and so used to being on the top and having everyone obey whatever he said that keeping him imprisoned would have been like torture. By executing him, I think the Iraqi government did him a huge favor.

Me vs. Myself

Saddam's death is obviously the last card that the Bush Adminstration of losers had, and it was also the last card that Iran could draw. I had predicted that Saddam's execution will be delayed until the last days of Bush's presidency in 2008. But having this execution taking place now will blow the entire Iraqi situation up. In addition, the increasing resistance will prove to the world that the situation is not terrible because of those 'Saddamists'. The death of Saddam will strip down all the excuses from the Bush Adminstration and will prove that resistance is a national choice and the American Army must withdraw from Iraq.

neurotic iraqi wife

Yeah I will try to be optimistic, in less than five hours, the clock will tick, and I will tear off that page to see a new fresh 2007. N the guy who pretends to work in a carpenters shop scolded me today. He came into work despite it being Eid. He said youre a shia, how can you say youre sad for Saddam's death. He killed your people. I said, Im not sad at his death, Im sad that people worse than him are ruling you now. Barbarian criminals are ruling you, they are nothing but clones of Saddam, clones hidding behind their black abayas and i3mamas. N, who lives in the slums of Sadr City is not a sadr supporter. He smiled and said, believe me, their time will come. Just like it did for Saddam, theirs too will come. With these words, I bid you a Happy New Year, may it be a good one for you, and may that time that N is talking about be sooner than I think.

No Pain No Gain

I must say there is a difference for an Iraqi being sad about viewing this execution, people like me...and an Iraqi who had been sad from the moment they caught Saddam. Saddam is a weak man who refused to use his weapon he had in the hole while hiding but because alot of people listened to him, he became certainly powerful. There is much to say about this moment, the good and bad, but I can only say that this execution is not everything. It is simply a step closer to the ultimate goals of the average Iraq, which is to attain peace, security and equality. It is part of the solution. Whether Saddam's era will continue to be used as revenge or retaliation, that is one questionable possibility in regards to how much people are willing to fight for such a cause. Time as always, will tell.

Sooni

Just like always, to make one step forward we end with three steps backward! Showing Saddam's execution like a Shiite revenge will only deepen the gap we have now.

I know the Iraqi government is weak and have a lot of troubles but I couldn’t imagine that I would hear Muqtada's name in the execution room.

Talisman Gate

The story of Saddam's hanging is not about how Palestinians in Gaza wept over his demise, or the tears shed by Saddam's kinsmen at his grave.

The story is about the victims.

They feel happy, relieved. They feel closure. The restless spirits of the many dead can subside now.

Tell Me a Secret

You know that I always opposed Saddam and was always against him. Nevertheless, I was upset today.

Saddam was a criminal dictator, and he deserves to be hanged, but still, what happened isn't right.

Saddam should be trailled for all his crimes, against ALL IRAQIS, ALL IRAQIS, all the crimes he committed against Iraqis, Shea, Kurds and yes, yes, yes: against Sonna too.

Where Date Palms Grow

He was executed on dawn of “Eid” that’s 30th of December 2006, all Muslims celebrated Eid with the EXCEPTION of the Iraqi government they celebrated NEXT DAY!

So the First day of Eid Officially in Iraq was today.

Clearly announcing that the government of Iraq does not represent Iraqi’s but only Shia Iraqi’s and I tell you Shia’s Iraqis are not represented by these butchers.

Why was that? Simply because our democratic government was clarifying how biased they are, how sectarian they are, and finally how clearly they want to divide this country.

This biased country has done what Saddam used to do. What they also want to do is simply stick Saddam to Sunnisim.

Cross-posted at The Glittering Eye.