[WCUSP] Fwd: [list331] Baghdad "Girl Blogger" on Saddam verdict

[yvonne simmons]

> Girl Blog from Iraq... let's talk war, politics and
> occupation.
> 
> 
> http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/
> 
> ... I'll meet you 'round the bend my friend, where
> hearts can heal and souls
> can mend...
> 
> Sunday, November 05, 2006
> 
> When All Else Fails...
> 
> . Execute the dictator. It's that simple. When
> American troops are being
> killed by the dozen, when the country you are
> occupying is threatening to
> break up into smaller countries, when you have
> militias and death squads
> roaming the streets and you've put a group of
> Mullahs in power- execute the
> dictator.
> 
> Everyone expected this verdict from the very first
> day of the trial. There
> was a brief interlude when, with the first judge, it
> was thought that it
> might actually be a coherent trial where Iraqis
> could hear explanations and
> see what happened. That was soon over with the
> prosecution's first false
> witness. Events that followed were so ridiculous;
> it's difficult to believe
> them even now.
> 
> The sound would suddenly disappear when the defense
> or one of the defendants
> got up to speak. We would hear the witnesses but no
> one could see them-
> hidden behind a curtain, their voices were changed.
> People who were supposed
> to have been dead in the Dujail incident were found
> to be very alive.
> 
> Judge after judge was brought in because the ones in
> court were seen as too
> fair. They didn't instantly condemn the defendants
> (even if only for the
> sake of the media). The piece de resistance was the
> final judge they brought
> in. His reputation vies only that of Chalabi- a
> well-known thief and
> murderer who ran away to Iran to escape not
> political condemnation, but his
> father's wrath after he stole from the restaurant
> his father ran.
> 
> So we all knew the outcome upfront (Maliki was on
> television 24 hours before
> the verdict telling people not to 'rejoice too
> much'). I think what
> surprises me right now is the utter stupidity of the
> current Iraqi
> government. The timing is ridiculous- immediately
> before the congressional
> elections? How very convenient for Bush. Iraq,
> today, is at its very worst
> since the invasion and the beginning occupation.
> April 2003 is looking like
> a honeymoon month today. Is it really the time to
> execute Saddam?
> 
> I'm more than a little worried. This is Bush's final
> card. The elections
> came and went and a group of extremists and thieves
> were put into power (no,
> no- I meant in Baghdad, not Washington). The
> constitution which seems to
> have drowned in the river of Iraqi blood since its
> elections has been
> forgotten. It is only dug up when one of the Puppets
> wants to break apart
> the country. Reconstruction is an aspiration from
> another lifetime: I swear
> we no longer want buildings and bridges, security
> and an undivided Iraq are
> more than enough. Things must be deteriorating
> beyond imagination if Bush
> needs to use the 'Execute the Dictator' card.
> 
> Iraq has not been this bad in decades. The
> occupation is a failure. The
> various pro-American, pro-Iranian Iraqi governments
> are failures. The new
> Iraqi army is a deadly joke. Is it really time to
> turn Saddam into a martyr?
> Things are so bad that even pro-occupation Iraqis
> are going back on their
> initial 'WE LOVE AMERICA' frenzy. Laith Kubba
> (a.k.a. Mr. Catfish for his
> big mouth and constant look of stupidity) was
> recently on the BBC saying
> that this was just the beginning of justice, that
> people responsible for the
> taking of lives today should also be brought to
> justice. He seems to have
> forgotten he was one of the supporters of the war
> and occupation, and an
> important member of one of the murderous
> pro-American governments. But
> history shall not forget Mr. Kubba.
> 
> Iraq saw demonstrations against and for the verdict.
> The pro-Saddam
> demonstrators were attacked by the Iraqi army. This
> is how free our media is
> today: the channels that were showing the pro-Saddam
> demonstrations have
> been shut down. Iraqi security forces promptly
> raided them.Welcome to the
> new Iraq. Here are some images [NOT COPIED BUT
> AVAILABLE FROM HER SITE
> ABOVE] from the Salahiddin and Zawra channels:
> Zawra channel. The subtitle says: Baghdad: Zawra
> satellite channel has
> stopped broadcasting by order of the government.
> 
> Salahiddin's green screen which appeared suddenly
> says: Salahiddin Satellite
> Channel
> 
> Sharqiya channel announcing breaking news: Two
> channels, Salahiddin and
> Zawra, shut down. Security forces raid the offices
> of the channels.
> 
> It's not about the man- presidents come and go,
> governments come and go. 
> It's
> the frustration of feeling like the whole country
> and every single Iraqi
> inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of
> American politics. It is the
> rage of feeling like a mere chess piece to be moved
> back and forth at will.
> It is the aggravation of having a government so
> blind and uncaring about
> their peoples needs that they don't even feel like
> it's necessary to go
> through the motions or put up an act. And it's the
> deaths. The thousands of
> dead and dying, with Bush sitting there smirking and
> lying about progress
> and winning in a country where every single Iraqi
> outside of the Green Zone
> is losing.
> 
> Once again. The timing of all of this is impeccable-
> two days before
> congressional elections. And if you don't see it,
> then I'm sorry, you're
> stupid. Let's see how many times Bush milks this as
> a 'success' in his
> coming speeches.
> 
> A final note. I just read somewhere that some of the
> families of dead
> American soldiers are visiting the Iraqi north to
> see 'what their sons and
> daughters died for'. If that's the goal of the
> visit, then, "Ladies and
> gentlemen- to your right is the Iraqi Ministry of
> Oil, to your left is the
> Dawry refinery. Each of you get this, a gift bag
> containing a 3 by 3 color
> poster of Al Sayid Muqtada Al Sadr (Long May He Live
> And Prosper), an
> Ayatollah Sistani t-shirt and a map of Iran, to
> scale, redrawn with the
> Islamic Republic of South Iraq. Also. Hey you! You-
> the female in the back-
> is that a lock of hair I see? Cover it up or stay
> home."
> 
> And that is what they died for.
> 
> 
> 
> 


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