Of Mass Graves and DNA, Where the Sun Shines (from) in the Middle East, Chemical Ali Hassan………….
“The car bombs wounded at least 71 people as Iraq executed the man known as "Chemical Ali" under Saddam Hussein for his use of poison gas against minority Kurds. The hanging of Ali Hassan al-Majeed for crimes against humanity was a high-profile step in the Shi'ite-led government's prosecution of Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime and was likely to fan controversy six weeks before the March 7 parliamentary poll. The latest in a series of major attacks in Baghdad could be a political setback for Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, who has built his reputation on pulling Iraq out of war. The ballot will be held as Iraq emerges from the sectarian slaughter unleashed by the 2003 U.S. invasion and begins to sign multibillion-deals with global oil firms it hopes will usher in a new era of stability and prosperity. It was unclear whether the hanging of Majeed, a cousin of Saddam, took place before or after Monday's three separate suicide bombings, which went off within minutes of one another, shattering a seven-week lull in major attacks. The bombs mirrored a series of coordinated assaults since August on what should be well-protected targets such as government ministries…….....”
Ali Hassan was a power inside and outside Iraq in his day, but like most of them he was a thug. He even briefly ruled as governor over my home town, over my family, over many of my relatives who would not leave their homes and their land in the face of his tanks and soldiers. I know people who were tortured and killed under his rule, others who just vanished, never to come home. Remains of some of them are returning home gradually as new mass graves are discovered in Iraq and DNA tests done.
Saddam is getting cautiously rehabilitated in some media of the “moderate” Arab oligarchies. Not completely, but partially revived as his old supporters, his base, are the natural allies inside Iraq of these very same oligarchies. There was even a teary editorial in one Saudi media outlet titled “A Letter to Saddam’s Daughter” about ‘can’t we all get along’.
It is still a long way from the 1980s when much of my native media on the shores of my Gulf would have us believe that 'the sun shone out of Saddam’s arse'. Now the very same media would have us believe that the sun has changed course; that it now shines out of the arses of several other Arab oligarchs. But I am past the stage of believing that the sun shines from these unlikely places.
Some things never change in the Middle East, no?
Cheers
mhg
Mon Email
Comments