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Arab world incredulous at Saddam's fall
Some Arabs clustered at shop windows to watch the astounding pictures on television. Others turned off their sets in disgust at scenes from Baghdad of jubilant crowds celebrating the arrival of US troops and the apparent end of Saddam Hussein's regime. The overwhelming emotion for many was one of disbelief, tinged for some with disappointment after weeks of hearing Saddam's government pledge a "great victory" or fight to the death against "infidel invaders." What? No ululation? Tusk. Tusk. "We expected resistance, not what happened," said Ghadah Shebah, a business administration student at the American University in Cairo. "That wasn't the show we wanted to see. Can we change the channel?" Others though called it a spontaneous outburst of joy at the end of an oppressive regime but warned US troops not to misinterpret the relief as an invitation to stay. "Those people under oppression will not have any national feeling, so they will be happy to see someone removing a dictator and liberating them," said lawyer Ali Al-Sayed after an anti-war march in Khartoum, Sudan. "But the moment they feel free and liberated, they will not tolerate a foreign presence." "Nope. Everybody knows there's no word for 'gratitude' in Arabic." His sentiments resonated around a region where Iraq is far from the only place that lacks democracy. Abdel Khaleq Abdulla, a political analyst in the United Arab Emirates, said many Arabs, plagued by a sense of powerlessness, will feel depressed at first, despite Saddam's crimes. "For a while, there will be a sense of resignation, let down, that this is one more (Arab) defeat," he said. "But what was defeated primarily in Baghdad is Arab oppression, the one-party system which was unable to defend its country for more than three weeks, and its capital for more than 48 hours. What was defeated in this battle was not the Arabs but the regime of oppression." That's a better analysis. We don't care that they're Arabs. The Arabs and the wannabe Arabs made more of that than we did, for propaganda purposes. Funny how they didn't dwell on the oppression until Iraqis started dancing in the streets and the fat ladies began to sing... Three men having tea and smoking water pipes in a coffee shop in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, were unsettled as they watched the television even though they said they were against Saddam and felt sorry for the long-suffering Iraqis. "But I can't say that I'm happy about what's going on because these are non-Muslim forces that have gone in and I hope they will not stay," said Mohammed ElSakkaf, a 58-year-old businessman. "No, no. Can't have a bunch of people who don't belong to the Master Religion setting things right. Nope." Posted by: Fred Pruitt 2003-04-09 |
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