No Difference Between Them

Written By : Magdy El-Gallad Translated From Arabic By: Doctor Deen

The author is the editor-in-chief of the Egyptian daily newspaper Al-Masry Al-Youm

I never did Like Saddam Hussein nor did I like Iraq during his reign or after the fall of his regime but I have come to hate the United States even more. Not because of the fact that it deliberately humiliated and insulted us, for the umpteenth time, in our most sacred festivals, not because of the fact that it treated an ex-President of an Arab country with such obnoxiousness that made him appear in front of the world as a "sheep" being led to the "slaughterhouse" but because it sent a very clear message to us, Muslims and Arabs, : " We despise you for you are a nation of cattle."

The message was signed by George W. Bush, the rightist extremist, who revealed the truth, willingly or unwillingly, after 9/11 when he clearly announced that is a "Crusade" . And although he and his henchmen repeatedly tried to dilute its repercussions yet what happened Saturday morning proved that it is indeed a Crusade or else what can justify the choice of the timing of the execution on the first day of Eid-ul-Adha [Muslim Festival of Sacrifice] ?

The Americans did not spoil our festival for our lives have run out of festivals. We celebrate in order not to forget that we are Muslims. But the days of "joy and happiness" have disappeared from the houses and streets. How can we be joyful and happy while we live a sour reality created by our rulers for decades with the help of the obscure silence of the crippled Arab citizens?

I never did like Saddam Hussein for he was a tyrant and a dictator yet I wished that he would receive a fair trial in a free country and not under the dictations of the American invasion. I never did like the Arab rulers because they are all similar in essence yet differ in the mode and method. I will neither be sorrowed nor angered if anyone of them is put on trial in the courts of his people for questioning because if a free independent country judges its ruler, it will never perform it in the comic and hilarious way as was done with Saddam and will never hang him during a festival but might even give him a pardon or a short vacation to visit his family because Islam is the religion of peace and tolerance.

In my opinion, the current debate between the Arabs about Saddam deserving the death penalty or not is not the point. It is more serious than that. If the man has led Iraq to a bloody and mysterious destiny, then there are rulers in the region who have committed sins and crimes and have not been held accountable for. If someone says that the Iraqis did not choose their "hanged" President and that they suffered for many years from his oppression and his reign then allow me to say : "And who did choose his ruler with free will?! Which Arab ruler led his country to democracy, collective participation in ruling and stability?". It is the same version of Saddam but with many faces; the same production line for producing Arab kings and rulers.

Do not curse Saddam for he is a legitimate son of a corrupt Arab system and do not show sympathy for him for he has oppressed, killed and destroyed. Just think about the mysterious future and do not believe the dialogue-of-civilisations-mirage because the Americans, and in front of them and behind them the Israelis, repeat it day and night, over and over again: "You are a nation of cattle and you deserve your rulers." And Saddam Hussein was nothing but an old ally and an obedient member of Washington's men who in a moment of political stupidity tried to revolt and was doomed to be sacrificed on Eid-ul-Adha [the Festival of Sacrifice] and that itself is another message to Washington's other men in the region!