Posted on 07/01/2004 8:37:20 AM PDT by TexKat
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein stands accused of gassing Iraq's Kurds, crushing its Shi'ites and condemning thousands to death in his dreaded torture chambers, but some Iraqis still want him back as president.
"I don't know why they are trying Saddam. He is guilty of nothing," said Ahmed Abdallah, a student from Baghdad's Sunni Muslim Adhamiya district, once favored by Saddam.
"If it were up to me, I would bring him back as president today, not tomorrow."
Downcast but defiant, a thinner Saddam arrived at a courthouse in handcuffs and chains on Thursday to hear the charges against him.
The images, the first since U.S. forces found him hiding in a hole near his home town of Tikrit in December, stung the pride of some Iraqis who saw his public disgrace as a slap in the face for all Arabs.
"He was a president, an Arab leader. I feel all Arabs are humiliated when I see him as a prisoner like this, no matter what he did," said Faleh Jasem, a driver who was watching the first footage of Saddam facing an Iraqi judge.
"I would feel so hurt if they executed him, because he took a heroic position. He stood up to America and that makes him a real man in my eyes."
"HE WILL ALWAYS BE IN OUR HEARTS"
Many Iraqis want Saddam to be executed, some say they would rather he suffer a more protracted punishment for 35 years of Baathist brutality that saw Sunni Muslim Arabs favored at the expense of the Shi'ite majority and the minority Kurds.
Iraq's interim government is considering restoring the death penalty, suspended during the U.S.-led occupation, but those who benefited from his rule hailed him as a strongman who only crushed bad apples.
"Saddam was our president and we were happy with him so who are these infidels to take him away?" said Hana Majid, whose eldest son lost his job as a senior officer when the United States dissolved the army after last year's war.
"All those people in mass graves were just rabble who deserved everything they got."
In the first step toward a trial that may not start for months, Saddam was accused of suppressing Kurdish and Shi'ite revolts after the 1991 Gulf War, massacring Kurds, killing religious leaders and political figures over three decades.
"The Americans are punishing Saddam for standing up to them," said Mohammed al-Sammaraei, who runs a music shop in Adhamiya, where pictures of the former ruler still take pride of place in some living rooms.
"Under Saddam, I used to work in the government. Now I am sitting at home," said Abdallah, another Adhimiya resident who declined to give his full name.
"Saddam was a part of us for 35 years. He will always be in our hearts," he said touching his chest.
Some people liked Pinochet as well..
The vast majority of Iraqis who are delighted that Saddam's boot is no longer on their necks. The above short paragraph is the only mention they got.
The mainstream news media isn't even pretending to be unbiased any more.
"He was a president, an Arab leader. I feel all Arabs are humiliated when I see him as a prisoner like this, no matter what he did," said Faleh Jasem, a driver who was watching the first footage of Saddam facing an Iraqi judge."
Can someone please tell one of our fine troops in Iraq that a certain Ahmed Abdallah has requested a personal visit?
Thanks in advance.
meet = met
Is there some reason this idiot isn't standing trial?
The mainstream media will go to great lengths to seek out the minority opinion, so as to enlarge it's real strength, thereby furthering their own agenda.
Adhimiya district = Target
NOW!
Didn't he claim to have talked to several foreign leaders who want him to win the election? Didn't he also say he was in Vietnam?
I knew this was from Reuters just reading the title.
Totally sick. How easily swayed some of them are still to this day. And to hear the young people speak like this just makes me sick. To have this brutal tyrant off of the streets is a blessing. But some of them still don't see it this way.
It might be a very long haul.
Does it make you sick? It sure makes "me" sick!
as long as he didn't do it to you, right? Jerk was probably next on the feed-into-the-shredder list and still doesn't know it.
I didn't know Michael Moore is 23!
Letting Saddam survive capture/interrogation was an incredibly stupid error on our part.
Im sure real men execute, gas women and children, deny education, and build shredders in their backyard for enjoyment. Please let us not forget the chopping off of hands, arms, tongues and torture. Saddam is a real demon.I think his father Satan should be very proud. I will take a real cowboy over this slime anyday. This is so disturbing.
These so-called journalists are becoming increasingly transparent as each week marches on to election day. It goes beyond making me sick....
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