Weeping schoolgirls wish happy birthday Saddam ("An Iraqi woman could hold her head high.")

[Barrett808]

Source: Reuters

Weeping schoolgirls wish happy birthday Saddam
28 Apr 2008 15:08:25 GMT
By Yasser Faisal

AWJA, Iraq, April 28 (Reuters) - Hundreds of Iraqi schoolchildren were brought to the modest mausoleum of Saddam Hussein on Monday to celebrate the birthday of the executed dictator in the village where he was born.

Saddam, who was hanged in late 2006 for crimes against humanity, is hated in much of Iraq. But in parts of his native Salahuddin Province, especially among his fellow Sunni Arabs, he is still revered.

"Bush, Bush you low-life! Saddam's blood is not cheap!" a crowd of pupils in white uniforms from a nearby girls' school chanted while standing around Saddam's grave in the mausoleum where he is buried among displays and photos of his reign.

"There are two things we will never give up: Saddam and Iraq!" the girls chanted. Several of them wept.

They entered the building carrying a banner which read: "We will not forget you, Papa Saddam," and kissed the dictator's grave.

"There is no martyr like Saddam. We are here to celebrate his birthday. Happy birthday, and God willing he will go to paradise," a girl named Tiba, 11, told Reuters.

Read more: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L28768675.htm

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It took Bush to make Saddam a martyr.

[ck4829]

1. Turning Saddam into a martyr - Only a Bush could do that.

[AlphaCentauri]

2. Some in Iraq may thanks Saddam for keeping religion out of the government n/t

[Hulk]

3. Hey, I would guess the same would happen here with w's birthday.

There will always be that 20%+ that believe he did no wrong...same as in this country. The approval rating for the chimp is living proof.

[dflprincess]

14. Look at the nut cases still carrying on about Reagan

n/t

[Xenotime]

4. I feel for these people.

It's really sad what has happened to their country.

[marshall]

5. They never had a chance

We should just leave them alone and let them live their lives the way they want to, whether they want to be lead by someone like Saddam or not.

[arikara]

6. Like many leaders

Saddam was a brutal asshole. But I can see them looking back to him with nostalgia after what's been done to them by other brutal assholes. Pre-sanctions, the women in Iraq were free to be educated and have a good job, people had food, water and good medical care. Now their country is in shambles, their children are sick and hungry and women are forced back into burkas.

[lumpy]

7. It appears Saddam had his finger on the pulse of his people;

certainly moreso than the leaders of this sick ntion.

[madrchsod]

8. iraq was a first world country

since george the first started the war clinton and george the second has continued to turn the country into a third world disaster...

lot's of blood on their hands

[proust78]

9. This explains the total lack of flowers and sweets

Good thing Cheney can buy his own with the Haliburton profits.

[crimsonblue]

10. silly proust, evil robots don't need candy. They only need blood.

[samsingh]

11. well the ultimate insult and irony to bush

only hearts and minds lost

[ohio2007]

12. I have the feeling that AWJA, Iraq isn't in the Kurdish north or Shia dominated provinces

Could it be a dusty village outside of Tikrit ?

[ohio2007]

13. Ex-Saddam aide Aziz on trial over executions .......hmmmmm

Meanwhile, the trial of Tariq Aziz, one of Saddam Hussein’s best-known lieutenants, opened Tuesday in Baghdad.

Aziz is one of eight defendants facing charges in a case dating back to 1992 when the government executed 42 merchants for war-profiteering. Others include Saddam’s half brother and the dictator’s cousin known as “Chemical Ali,” who faces a pending death sentence in another case.

Aziz has denied the accusations, his Italian lawyer said in a statement Tuesday.



http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24366282/

snip
The merchants were rounded up over two days in July 1992 from Baghdad's wholesale markets and charged with manipulating food supplies to drive up prices at a time when many Iraqis were suffering economically. All 42 were executed hours later following a quick trial.

snip
the traders were executed at Abu Ghraib prison and the Interior Ministry compound.

snip
A third trial is under way for officials accused of crushing a Shiite uprising that followed the 1991 Gulf War.

Chemical Ali, who also is on trial for the Shiite uprising trial, was sentenced to hang along with two others for their roles in a brutal crackdown against ethnic Kurds in the late 1980s but the executions have been stalled due to disputes over details.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24363219/

Maybe this is all an al Tikriti last hurrah before fellow Sunni tribe leaders sit in their government seats next to Kurd and Shia ?
They did remove the three stars from the Iraqi flag that represented the cornerstones of the iron fist ruling minority of Iraq, the B'aath party.