Seeing pictures of Saddam being beaten with shoes, Yemenis change attitude

Kuwait News Agency ^ | April 11, 2003 | Yahia Al-Haddi

[HAL9000]

SANAA, April 11 (KUNA) -- Some Yemenis who had sentiments of admiration for the deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, now have different feelings toward the man, whose statues were downed and his posters were beaten with shoes in public places in the Iraqi war-stricken capital Baghdad.

Saeed Abdullah, 40, who manages a popular cafe in the heart of the Yemeni capital, said the sudden disappearance of Saddam has become the main topic of daily debates among his customers, and protested that these discussions often heat up and turn into quarrels.

Hamdi Ahmad, a government employee, said, "our sentiments toward him turned into hatred after we saw the Iraqis smashing his posters and statues in Baghdad .. Now we realise that the Iraqis know him better than us."

Tewfic Al-Sabri, 25, a student, said the shift in the public feelings toward Saddam was normal and expected. Saddam, he added, had become popular in Yemen when he had vowed to liberate Palestine and fought Iran. "But it was established that his war on Iran was senselss and pledges were mere empty slogans."

A university professsor, who asked not to mention his name, affirmed that the pictures, broadcast live by television satellite stations worldwide on Wednesday of Iraqis smashing the pictures and statues of Saddam changed the Yemenis' sentiments of admiration toward the man to feelings of hatrede.

[?]urs being glued in front of the television, listening to flat lies of Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Al-Sahaf, pledging victory and cursing the coalition forces.

"I was not aware of the fact that the Iraqi people were yearning to get rid of the tyrrant," he said.

Ahmad Al-Wasabi, who runs a store for electronic appliances, has just removed a large photo of Saddam that had decorated his shop. "I no longer view such a dictator with admiration ... We have been baffled and I believe that he is the cause of the crises in the region."

Naef Hassan, political editor of the opposition newspaper, Al-Wadawi, said the general sentiments toward the deposed regime was being transformed in the country as a result of the lies made by the leaders of this defunct regime.

"Many people in Yemen changed their attitude toward Saddam's regime after seeing photos of the man being beaten with shoes on streets of Baghdad." Fathi Abul Nasr, a poet, said he was pleased with the downfall of the regime of Saddam. "The educated elite hates Saddam .. no poet in the world loves Saddam .. poets can't stand dictators."

Abul Nasr said he received e-mails from an Iraqi friend, who has been living in London since nine years ago because Saddam executed many members of her family. She recalled hearing groaning voices of inmates at pain while visiting her imprisoned father, brothers and relatives at an Iraqi prison. Nabil Sabaa, a well-known writer, said the fall of Saddam symbolizes end of Arab leaders known of empty rhetoric and slogans. "Any leader like Saddam will evaporate and forgotten." (end)

[Kudsman]

GIWIST. Lets get them out in the open once and for all. |-)

[Freedom2specul8]

.

[zeugma]

Excellent post!!!!

If you put that together, I must say it's a heck of a job!!! That needs to be a post all its own posted hourly.

[zeugma]

"Ajami Saadoun Khlis, whose son and brother were executed under the Saddam regime, sobbed like a child on the shoulder of the Guardian's Egyptian translator. He mopped the tears but they kept coming. 'You just arrived,' he said. 'You're late. What took you so long? God help you become victorious. I want to say hello to Bush, to shake his hand. We came out of the grave.'"

One of my favorites too. Worth yet another reprint :-)

[Publicus]

The Kuwaitis have been great.

They have long memories that's why they continue to be grateful to us for our organizing and leading Desert Storm.

They also stood up to severe criticism from some Arab countries for being so supportive. The little guys also told the French and Germans to pound salt.

They stayed true through and through. Gems.

[Publicus]

Why are you look down at Arabs?

Some have been very good friends to us.

[carmody]

Wow! Thank you for that post! Someone should take those quotes and run them side by side to the democrat/hollywood anti-war quotes.

[WaterDragon]

Can Arabs in other countries really have been so ignorant of Saddam's true nature?

[chgomac]

Thanks Spruce, you do a terrific job in keeping everyone informed!

Iraq is going to be a very wealthy country which needs to keep its people informed...here's hoping the new government provides each Iraqi with a tv, a radio, a computer and newspapers & magazines....there is a lot of truth in the idea that knowledge is power.

[maryz]

Have these people - including their "university professors" been living UNDER A ROCK or a pile of sand somewhere??????

No, they've been depending on Al Jazeera -- which I gather changed its tactics as Baghdad "fell" (one wants to say "rose") and actually broadcast the taking down of the statues and the rejoicing Iraqis!

[rabidralph]

I think we would do well to send a huge batch of shoes to the Middle East.

Track shoes, with the pointy spikes in the soles.

[ppaul]

We have been baffled and I believe that he is the cause of the crises in the region.

So maybe now they'll stop blaming Israel?

Wishful thinking.

[George W. Bush]

I'll play devil's advocate. I've been think if Canada and France invade the United States -- don't you think the liberals would pour into the streets burning pictures of Bush and the American Flag. Free from democracy once and for all -- all hail socialism! Yada yada.

I agree. And we should understand that these people are so repressed that a lot of this shoe-waving is a hysterical expression of finally being able to do anything in freedom. It's unlikely the Iraqis have yearned to be free in the sense that we think of freedom. More likely, they want something better than what they have and see Saddam as the impediment to that. More than anything, Saddam's regime was brutally stupid toward its own people. These Stalinist regimes never differ much in fundamentals.

[madison10]

Nah. They've been listening to and watching the likes of "Baghdad Bob" and reading Arab newspapers exclusively. Hussein paid for the media to say good things about him. Rather like Democrat voters and network television. Brainwashed and ignorant.

[George W. Bush]

Those little Iraqi girls are real cuties, just adorable dolls!

The pictures of the Iraqi children are touching and wonderful. And it is a true picture of Iraq, half of whose population is under 20. Whatever else we accomplish there, we have to raise that age. Without Saddam around, it shouldn't be that hard to do if we keep the U.N. out.

[SodiumWarthog]

This should be a thread itself. Yoman's work there Spruce.

[Jessamine]

Spectacular collection! Thank you so much for sharing it.

[BlueAngel]

Thank you, Spruce. Magnificent!

[Grampa Dave]

Finally a little wakeup time for some of the rabid Islamofacists.

I got an interesting email from a friend who has monitored the middle East for decades, including a decade before Iran seized our embassy.

This friend said that Friday night throughout the Middle East saw minimal Islamofacist/kazis marching on the streets shouting their death to America mantras.

Apparently some of the religious leaders did not call for these street scenes of hate. They are being challenged by some of their people about their new reality of the real Soddomite.

He explained a little about the Iraqis using their shoes to beat a picture or another Iraqi. They hate dogs and one of the worst insult is to call someone a son of a dog. Even worse is to threaten to hit or actually hit someone with shoes that may have walked in Dog Clinton on the streets and other filth.

When he saw that older Iraqi in the pictures a couple of weeks ago beating Soddomite's picture with a shoe, he felt that we had won the hearts of the Iraqis who would be freed.

[auggy]

"Would that this were the case! If only, if only this was true. American poets are mostly in love with Fidel Castro and his ilk.

And many university professors ---they love Castro and Saddam. Our uneducated elite in Hollywood also do."

Let's not forget our DemocRatic Party, also.