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Lao Tzu
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Interesting how he compares the backlash against Saddam being brought to trial vs. a Palestinian human rights supporter being brought to trial.
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/29_12_03_i.asp
Asharq al-Awsat (London)
Several Arab organizations came under attack Sunday for supporting former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and expressing their willingness to defend him in his upcoming trial, wherever it takes place.
Columnist Ahmad Rabhi said a Jordanian city, which he did not name,staged a pro-Saddam street demonstration. He also slammed a statement, issued by “some Jordanian parties” referring to Saddam as Iraq’s “legitimate ruler.”
Rabhi condemned the “hundreds of Arab lawyers, headed by the Arab Lawyers Association” who are “forming committees to defend Saddam” during his upcoming trial, the date and venue of which are yet to be determined.
The columnist said it was bizarre that an Arab writers association recently denied a delegation of Iraqi writers entrance to a conference they were holding, on the pretext that they had come to the conference “on board a military tank” _ in other words, with the help of the occupying powers in Iraq.
“Do such (pro-Saddam) Arabs belong to a nation that loves executioners? Is there a light at the end of this dark tunnel and any chance that these people will return to their senses, respect human rights and fight oppression and dictatorship?” the columnist asked.
He called on the Arabs to speak up against Saddam’s former regime, which was “based on concentration camps, mass graves and forced self-exile to millions of Iraqis.”
Rabhi recalled that when Palestinian human rights activist Marwan Barghouti was arrested in 2001 and tried by the Israelis, there were not nearly as many voices of Arab dissent raised as in the case of Saddam, a despot who has plundered his country and ruined his people.
“Why didn’t the Arab Lawyers Association call for a fair trial to Barghouti as they have done for Saddam?” the columnist asked.
He called for the fall of Arab idols and for the Arabs to “stop their cult of the individual to turn their attention instead to their own countries and problems.”
http://www.dailystar.com.lb/opinion/29_12_03_i.asp
Asharq al-Awsat (London)
Several Arab organizations came under attack Sunday for supporting former Iraqi ruler Saddam Hussein and expressing their willingness to defend him in his upcoming trial, wherever it takes place.
Columnist Ahmad Rabhi said a Jordanian city, which he did not name,staged a pro-Saddam street demonstration. He also slammed a statement, issued by “some Jordanian parties” referring to Saddam as Iraq’s “legitimate ruler.”
Rabhi condemned the “hundreds of Arab lawyers, headed by the Arab Lawyers Association” who are “forming committees to defend Saddam” during his upcoming trial, the date and venue of which are yet to be determined.
The columnist said it was bizarre that an Arab writers association recently denied a delegation of Iraqi writers entrance to a conference they were holding, on the pretext that they had come to the conference “on board a military tank” _ in other words, with the help of the occupying powers in Iraq.
“Do such (pro-Saddam) Arabs belong to a nation that loves executioners? Is there a light at the end of this dark tunnel and any chance that these people will return to their senses, respect human rights and fight oppression and dictatorship?” the columnist asked.
He called on the Arabs to speak up against Saddam’s former regime, which was “based on concentration camps, mass graves and forced self-exile to millions of Iraqis.”
Rabhi recalled that when Palestinian human rights activist Marwan Barghouti was arrested in 2001 and tried by the Israelis, there were not nearly as many voices of Arab dissent raised as in the case of Saddam, a despot who has plundered his country and ruined his people.
“Why didn’t the Arab Lawyers Association call for a fair trial to Barghouti as they have done for Saddam?” the columnist asked.
He called for the fall of Arab idols and for the Arabs to “stop their cult of the individual to turn their attention instead to their own countries and problems.”
