Gallows of Deceit, Gallows of Shame.

I loved that letter adressed to Saddam Hussein on al basrah.net. The author basically says to the late President of Iraq : "Now you are Free and alive in the hands of God..."

Yes indeed you are now Free. Free from the filth we are witnessing.

At present, a good deal of Iraqis are timidly coming out of their "ideological hideouts" with a little regret here and a bit of remorse there and coyly pussyfooting around the subject.
They say and am quoting from the various sources I read and from people I have been listening to (rather impatiently,I must admit) :

• Well, he was a dictator, but I sort of miss him.
• This is no way to execute a President and on the day of the Eid !
• He was ruthless but I must admit he did a lot for Iraq
• In the end he handed it all to his tribe. But to be honest we did not know sectarianism during his reign.
• I think he was right about Iran. I did not believe him then.
• True, compared to other places,the Kurds had it better.
• At least I had a job, running water and electricity
• He was no human right activist and never claimed to be a democrat. Do you remember the number of Phd holders in Iraq ?
• Yeah , all my tuition was paid for and I got a scholarship to study abroad.
• I was never a Baathi but I was never bothered by them.
• Remember when Arabs used to come and seek medical treatment in our hospitals?
• My brother was sent to North Africa to teach for free. The Iraqi government paid his salary.
• Even during the sanction years we had more to eat than now.
• Can you imagine that? We actually had an infrastructure.
• Ok I did not like him, but hell , anything is better than now.
• May God bless you Saddam Hussein a thousand times, you had vision.
• He is our Martyr. At least he died with dignity. Wait and see what will happen to the thugs of today. They will not be spared.
• No one dared taking drugs during his time.
• It is true some members of his family committed excesses , but for God sake we women could walk the streets. Who dared raise his voice towards us. We were safe.
• I was respected and had my place. Now I have to veil even when looking out of the window.
• His Death confirms to me that Arab Socialism is still alive.
• Our oil was for us. We had roads, schools, libraries,hospitals,restaurants,hotels...No,no,this cannot go on...
• I would rather be ruled by the Devil himself than by a Cleric. They are crazy.
• As a Christian I always felt protected in Iraq and my rights were safeguarded.
• Oh where are you ya Saddam , where are you ?
  

And last but not least, this is from my late Grandma who passed away a few years ago but her quote is still very valid today :
" Even prostitutes had more dignity then.. "

I have many more but I will let the coming days, weeks and months fill in the gaps...

Too little, too late Iraqis .

Yalla enjoy your New Year and your "New Iraq".

Painting: Iraqi Artist, Sumer Al Hindawi.