 THE death sentence handed to ousted dictator Saddam Hussein today widened the already yawning chasm between the country's warring Sunni and Shiite communities.
| Y'think? Y'mean if Sammy hadn't been sentenced they'd be drawing closer, maybe starting neighborhood bowling leagues instead of bumping each other off? |
While the sprawling east Baghdad suburb of Sadr City erupted with joy at the news that the hated despot was bound for the gallows, there was an angry reaction on Saddam's hometurf in the mainly Sunni north and west of the country. “The hanging of the former Iraqi president is part of an American scheme. He was a symbol of liberation in Iraq,” declared Dr Muzahim Allawi, a university professor, in Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.
| "I mean, sure, he was a bloody-handed dictator, but he was our bloody-handed dictator. |
The theme of foreign interference in the verdict was a constant one, with many accusing the United States and its remaining 150,000 troops in Iraq of persecuting the former strongman for its own ends. “The sentence is pre-prepared in Washington and Tel Aviv,” spat civil servant Qusay Addai, bitterly.
| "Yes! It's a Jewish conspiracy! Just look how they had the legally elected government of Germany bumped off after WWII! This is the same thing!" |
Student Qasim Nayif agreed: “The Americans are responsible for the judgement which certainly pleased (US President George W.) Bush and (former Israeli premier Ariel) Sharon.”
| "It pleased some Iraqis, I guess, but they're all no-accounts." |
Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's Government, fearing a backlash by armed nationalist groups still loyal to Saddam's Baath party, had ordered a curfew in Baghdad, Tikrit and the sectarian battlefields of Diyala province. There were unconfirmed reports of clashes between US forces and insurgents in Ramadi, a resistance stronghold west of Baghdad, but in the capital itself the sporadic gunfire appeared to be mainly celebratory. |