03/01/2007
Saddam Hussein's death came as shocking news to most Maghreb bloggers. The majority felt that his execution on the day of a Muslim holiday was ill-timed.
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was executed on Saturday (December 30th) after "he and his collaborators [were] found guilty in the Dujail Affaire, in which 148 Shi'ites [were] killed in 1982, after a failed assassination attempt [against Saddam]," reported Kaiser, a Tunisian blogger.
While "he only got what he deserved," thought To blog or not to blog, the execution "could have waited until the end of the holiday. The world did not need to witness … an execution while millions of people were celebrating Eid [al-Adha]," regretted the Tunisian blogger.
Many have "joined the chorus of condemnation around the world at the execution of Sadam Hussein," reported The View From Fez.
"In Casablanca, the demonstrators gathered before the American Consulate brandishing Saddam Hussein photos and chanting slogans denouncing Saddam's execution… Representatives of Political parties, trade unions, human rights organizations and artists chanted together slogans hostile to the American administration," noted the Moroccan blog.
For the Moor Next Door, the news was not sad or depressing. "I have been waiting for that moment for quite a while now. He was a thug, a tyrant, among the worst of the secular dictators in the Arab world. Let him rot," the Algerian blogger said.
"But did his death mean anything? Not really, as I see it. He is now out of this world, but his legacy is proving to be [more] sinister than his life. The fissures that formed during Iraq's early history were reinforced by the bigotry and violence of the Baath [party], and have come to a head today… The 'sectarian violence' and 'cleansing' that characterizes post-invasion Iraq is did not come out of some kind of a vacuum: it was built into Iraq early on and was upheld by successive Iraqi leaders, most recently and most brutally by Saddam Hussein," noted the blogger, who added that unfortunately his death won't stop the sectarian violence.
Saddam's execution made the Adha a "bitter holiday," said Algerie Nouvelle, who continued to say that Algerians will only be able to wish each other "a happy new year the day when [Algeria] gets back on track, as well as all free nations".