February 11, 2007

In difficult circumstances, we gathered today.
There was around twenty of us. Men and women. From different nationalities and different religions and denominations.
We were muslims and christians. Sunnis and shias. "Middle easterners" and "North Africans."...
(can't say more-the walls have ears)

Middle Easterners may mean: Iraqis, Jordanians, Palestinians,Lebanese,Syrians and North Africans may mean Sudanese, Egyptians, Tunisians,Lybians,Morrocans,Algerians...
(Just a small lesson in basic geography 101.)

What brought us together on this dark cold evening? Just a memory of our Hero Saddam Hussein.
Some of us loved him, some of us liked him, some of us disliked him and some of us were critical of him and some of us used to hate him... But we gathered nonetheless in his memory.
How come? I asked myself.

Here we were: "Mesopotamians, canaanites,pheonicians, carthagians,pharaonic..." yet we still managed to assemble. No questions asked.
The meeting was nothing grandiose in view of the current situation. Just a simple, sober gathering around a cup of coffee.
The conversation was equally simple and down to earth. And it went like this:
"I am no baathist, but...." I am no Saddam supporter, but...",I am no Iraqi, but..." I am a palestinian and ...", I am a shia and I have to tell you...", "I am a christian and I must say that...","I am a north african and..."," I love Saddam and will always...."," He made mistakes but ..." and I could go on and on till tomorrow.

Suffice to say, he managed to gather us together in his absence by his presence.
By his thoughts, his vision, his ultimate sacrifice...

We may have not agreed on much, but one thing we agreed upon: There is no leader, or any man in history that accepted to walk to the gallows and refuse a compromise like he did.
He was offered a "way out" on more than one occasion.
An International tribunal, which meant he would have to leave Iraqi soil and another compromise, his liberation and "safety" in exchange for a halt to anti-occupation resistance.
He refused both.
He knew that both options would mean the end of Iraq.
He refused both options knowing fully well that his end is nearing.
He prepared himself arduously for his assassination refusing to eat, so he can be as light as a bird...as light as a feather...

He sacrificed his life to save Iraq and its people. His personal life.
If that does not make him a hero, a martyr and a saint, I don't know what does.
He had prepared his end, whilst they were preparing his.
They, the americans and the iranians (and the israelis- ask Pilatus, Jalal Talabani, the kurd, for those who don't know history, Pilatus refused to sign the death sentence of Jesus and asked the jews to do it instead...after all they were the instigators and he was the accomplice)

He outwitted them... till the last second, the last breath....

How can anyone not see this? How can anyone deliberately obliterate that simple simple truth?
Saddam Hussein was not only a great man, a hero and a martyr, he was also a true visionary.

That ARAB man from the simple village of Tikrit, understood it all.
He understood his neighbors and understood the importance of Iraq.
He understood (again for geography students 101) that Iraq had 4 important elements that your media does not tell you about and for the most part you do not bother to reflect on, namely :
1) oil
2) water
3) fertile land
4) brains

No other Arab country has this combination. I defy you to give me one example.
Except if you think that Iran is an Arab country.

Which brings me back to our gathering.
What did we have in common, despite the different nationalities and religious backgrounds?
Apart from his living memory, we had the Arabic language as a common denominator.

It is a pity that your "respectable linguist" Noam Chomsky and his blind sheep have not bothered to dwell on this fact. Or maybe they have,in between their kibbutz activities.

Saddam Hussein gathered us here tonight in his memory only to show us that we spoke a common language...Arabic.

More will be taught on the Arabs and the Arabic language,the language of Islam, the language of the Koran...for later...and despite the death threats (iranian, american and others...that I have been receiving.)

You know me by now. I don't leave a stone unturned...till the very bitter end.

Rest in total peace ya Saddam ya ibn Al Arab. The message is well received.
And the Palestinians at al Aqsa Mosque received it as well despite the slumbering of their "revolutionaries", their "leaders" and the arab "Ummah".

Painting: Iraqi female artist, Suhair Salman.