Mein  na manoun-ga  sare baam  nahi hei  koi

jab mein routa hun tou hunsne ki sada aati hei

After reading comments of my learned friends I confess that I am confused. I have no sympathy for Saddam but the image of his hanging is repulsive. I invite you to reflect on following and do not treat Saddam as a black and white issue:

1.     Stalin killed 20 million of his own (close to the population of Iraq) and Pol Pot killed 3 million in Cambodia and the list goes on. If 20^th century is crowded by tyrants and dictators then why was Saddam selected for punishment? Why Pinochet got a different treatment then Saddam?

2.    Saddam was executed for his undeclared crime: making his master unhappy. The Arab tyrants are free to terrorize their subjects but they dare not to disobey their master.   All Arab despots are now on notice.  Gaddafi got the hint and fell in line.

3.     Why was Saddam not tried in Hague like Milosevic? Just because America and its allies did not want their role to be revealed in the World Court.   

4. Saddam is gone but who will stand in the dock and be accountable for the death and destruction of Iraq since the invasion. Today’s (09.01.07) news is following:

U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, backed by American warplanes, killed 50 suspected       insurgents in an hours-long battle Tuesday in central Baghdad, the Iraqi defense ministry said.

What is the difference between yesterday’s Saddam and today’s Maliki and his foreign patrons as both are killing people with out due process.  Is aerial bombardment a more acceptable way of killing innocent Iraqis them gassing them as Saddam did?

5.     Muslims should not see Saddam’s hanging through their limited perspective of Shia-Sunni dispute or Kurd-Arab conflict. Those Kurds and Shias who are gloating and grateful to Western powers for executing Saddam should not forget that they are being used as pawn. These same powers used Saddam to kill one million mainly shia of Iran and see no problem with a NATO member Turkey that has killed tens of thousands Kurds.

6.     America is supporting Shia government of Maliki but at the same time thirsty for the blood his Shia cleric leader i.e., Muqtada Al-sadar.

7.     Western powers managed to sow the seed of hatred between various factions in Iraq as Britain did in the Sub-continent of India. Today Shia and Sunni are killing each other in Iraq as Hindus and Muslims did in India. Ethnic cleansing is going on and 12 per cent of the population has either left the country or displced within Iraq. 

8.     If by a miracle Iraq is left as a unified country then Shia will have to decide how to rule; choice is between forgiveness or revenge and tyranny or justice. If they will follow the course of reconciliation as Nelson Mandela did in South Africa in spite of the atrocities committed by whites minority then they will succeed otherwise they will unwittingly  subscribe to the American/Zionist plan “B” and divide Iraq in three provinces as it used to be under Ottomans.