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I feel it only fitting to commemorate the man's day of birth in a region where his popularity is still going strong.





It will be interesting to see if any countries in the region will issue a statement on the anniversary of his birth.

I certainly won't be celebrating.

Schonen Gebortstag Saddam. It would be churlish not to send best wishes.

how did u remember it EH? is he in ur FB friends?

Mahmoud04 wrote:how did u remember it EH? is he in ur FB friends?

Right next to Mummar and Mubarak............

I think people are more likely to celebrate the day he took a short drop!

Chocoholic wrote:I think people are more likely to celebrate the day he took a short drop!

Not in the Arab world, Arabs love(d) him.

Please show some stats or evidence that Arabs love Saddam Hussein.

event horizon wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:I think people are more likely to celebrate the day he took a short drop!

Not in the Arab world, Arabs love(d) him.

er no they don't! As K says, please back up your statement that all arabs loved him?

Chocoholic wrote:

event horizon wrote:

Chocoholic wrote:I think people are more likely to celebrate the day he took a short drop!

Not in the Arab world, Arabs love(d) him.

er no they don't! As K says, please back up your statement that all arabs loved him?

Right back at you. You claimed just the opposite in a post before mine. Let's see the evidence.

I thought it was common knowledge many, if not most, Arabs hold a favorable view of Saddam Hussein.

I think there's a strong social equilibrium in favor of Saddam when thousands rallied to sermons comparing Saddam to Saladin across the Arab world independent from any government prompting.

event horizon wrote:I thought it was common knowledge many, if not most, Arabs hold a favorable view of Saddam Hussein.

Don't mix up a loathing to George, the poodle and their troops, which IS common, to the support to Saddam Hussein. Even people from Iraq, whom I had convesations to, did not supported him. Frankly speaking they all were rather educated people. So I don't know about "vox populi".

The shoo was thrown against Bush not in favour of Hussein. By the way, the execution of the latter was completely ing. It looked like the personal revenge.

Well actually, the demonstrations I had in mind were slightly before or just at the beginning of the Iraq War.

But that's ignoring that reasons (excuses) for supporting Saddam Hussein are irrelevant. Just that Saddam has broad support in the Arab world.

I might also add the ridiculousness of your logic; I might oppose certain policies of the Federal government, but I'm not going to support Timothy McVeigh.

Really, these winky excuses are getting tiresome.

event horizon wrote:I thought it was common knowledge many, if not most, Arabs hold a favorable view of Saddam Hussein.

I think there's a strong social equilibrium in favor of Saddam when thousands rallied to sermons comparing Saddam to Saladin across the Arab world independent from any government prompting.

First of all, if you are going to make the assertion in the first place you should back it up. If others want to claim the opposite they should back it up too.

From what I can see though, it is your opinion only.

From an old Washington Post article we can see that Saddam's popularity varied depending on the ethnic or religious groups. http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 02363.html

Here is a more recent article about the rise of Saddam nostalgia in Anbar provice, which produced many of the officers in Saddam's army and senior members of his toppled regime. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... =123533923

Saddam stood for many things that people admired, like standing up to the West, despite the atrocities he committed, so clearly there will be some people attracted to aspects of Saddam and the old days. If you ask the people who bore the brunt of Saddam's atrocities, they will say they are glad he is dead.

As of yet I have not found any popularity poll data that would prove that the majority of Arabs either love or hate Saddam Hussein.

I've provided my evidence, that's what you asked for, that Saddam is popular in the Arab world.

Thinking of this logically, where the only rule in the Arab world is mob rule - any person carrying a poster of a Muhammad cartoon would be beaten to death by an unruly mob in the Arab street - an individual holding a Saddam poster in a crowd of thousands must have the tacit support of many in that crowd.

The obvious does not need to be stated when a Jordanian imam compares Saddam to Saladin to thousands of cheering supporters.

And from the 'other' end of the spectrum, we saw Arab human 'rights' (perhaps we should just term these people Arab rights) supporters - you know, the people who should maintain their sense and sensibility - dish out their support for Saddam and generously excuse him for his past excesses.

No where in the Arab world did I see a collective treatment of Saddam as anywhere on par as we saw the treatment of him in the non-Arab/Muslim world. And please, spare me the excuses. Perform your own thought experiments to determine if your analysis holds water or not. It becomes tiring to ceaselessly point out the stupidity in someone's talking points. I ask people to test their own logic rather than having others who are rational do it for them. Otherwise, how else do they hope of becoming rational?

EH, do u mean that Arabs loved Saddam? was that before 1991 or after?
and was that while the states were supporting him or after? War with Iran?
or was that while US & British troops were in Iraq (for a picnic I guess) or before or after or here or there..........
do u know whats politics? in other words lie to look good...
BTW, its funny to hear that Saddam was like Saladin, this is "Salah El Din", right!

Make me a favor, don't make conclusions, just share what u have....

I thought it was pretty obvious that Saddam is popular in the Arab world. I've presented my evidence, now I'll like to see anyone address it.

Was your evidence a picture of Saddam and his family, and a woman holding his picture?

You've got to be kidding.

kanelli wrote:Was your evidence a picture of Saddam and his family, and a woman holding his picture?

You've got to be kidding.

Nope, I've already explained the rallies in the thousands across the Arab world for Saddam.

Where did you explain that?

I already explained that there have been demonstrations with thousands in attendance supporting Saddam in the Arab world.

For comparison's sake, we should be able to compare any demonstrations throughout the Western world for Slobodan Milosevic to make any kind of determination for how popular Saddam is with the general Arab public.

As it stands, I would say venture to say Slobodan holds no popularity with the general Western public (outside Serbia) and I would also say there has never been a mass demonstration showing support for him.

On the other hand, we have seen mass outpouring for Saddam in the Arab world in the lead up to the Iraq War as well as sympathy for Saddam Hussein by Arab 'human rights' activists and various leaders.

I'll acknowledge the deaths of Saddam and Slobodan were qualitatively different, so we can substitute any other dictator for Slobdodan who passed a way in a manner similar to Saddam for comparison's sake.

u r right EH, Saddam was so popular in the Arab world, I miss him so much
so is Mubarak, Qaddafi, Bin Ali... its a fact i can't argue in that

I give up.

Palestinians mourn execution of Saddam

Former Iraqi dictator mourned in West Bank, Gaza: Seen as steadfast ally, mourned as martyr

The execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein sent many Palestinians into deep mourning Saturday as they struggled to come to terms with the demise of perhaps their most steadfast ally.

Unlike much of the rest of the world, where Saddam was viewed as a brutal dictator who oppressed his people and started regional wars, in the West Bank and Gaza he was seen as a generous benefactor unafraid to fight for the Palestinian cause - even to the end.

Purportedly, Saddam's final words were, "Palestine is Arab."

"We heard of his martyrdom, and I swear to God we were deeply shaken from within," said Khadejeh Ahmad from the Qadora refugee camp in the West Bank. "Nobody was as supportive or stood with the Palestinians as he did."

During the first Gulf War in 1991, the Palestinians cheered Saddam's missile attacks on Israel, chanting "Beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," as the Scud missiles flew overhead.

http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340 ... 38,00.html

And now OBL is dead. Palestinians have had a painful past few years; Saddam, Zarqawi and Osama.

Nearly 1,000 Iraqis and Yemenis gathered together on Wednesday, the 40th day after Saddam Hussein was executed, to mourn him. Hussein’s daughter, Raghad Saddam Hussein, spoke in praise of the relationship between her father and President Ali Abdullah Saleh, expressing thanks and gratitude to Yemen, Libya and Qatar for their positions towards Iraq.

http://www.yobserver.com/front-page/pri ... 11664.html

And of course, we've seen Europeans gather in the hundreds to mourn Slobodan's death .... Right... right?