The Timing
of Saddam’s Hanging
By Perwaiz ahmad
Fullerton, CA
I
don't question if justice was done or not for
as time passes that would be the subject of a
never-ending debate. But I question the timing
of Saddam’s hanging. When thousands of criminals
who have been tried and convicted can appeal and
wait for decades in American prisons at the expense
of the tax payers money, why was this man, Saddam
Hussein, not hanged a week before or after one
of the holiest of Muslim holidays? The timing
was a very deliberate provocation, to say the
least.
Granted, Saddam was a corrupt person. He was the
most ruthless ruler in recent times and murder
his own son-in-law to silence any difference of
opinion, but a few days of delay in his hanging
would not have made so much of a difference. My
premise is that despite all the rhetoric in the
Muslim World, nobody - not one leader - could
rock the boat in his entire tenure, 26 years,
to stop his insane war against Iran, to challenge
him to step down or answer the charges of corruption
and insane behavior. Why? Because their own interest
would be jeopardized in some way or another. No
matter how much we claim to be the most righteous
group of followers on the face of the earth, we
succumb to slight pressures and anticipated hardships
when it comes to voicing our concerns.
It is time the Muslim World looked at the bigger
picture of what Islam is all about rather than
bickering endlessly over trivial issues like moon
sighting, Hijab, etc. More often we take upon
ourselves to be the enforcer of God's commandments
rather than just a messenger, which is the foundation
of the never-ending animosity between Shias and
Sunnis. It is this animosity which furnishes an
opportunity to external forces to exploit the
situation to the hilt and create bloodshed to
further their hidden agenda.
The clergy and the ruling classes continue to
destroy each other rather than minding their own
businesses which accounts for the biggest impediment
to progress in the Muslim World. While the majority
of the population yearns for generations to improve
their life, to get education for their kids, to
have clean drinking water, electricity, and sewer
systems for better hygiene, a few continue to
multiply their wealth exponentially and enjoy
ultra luxuries of the modern world in a Third
World country. People have been living in the
Indo-Pak sub-continent and surprisingly in the
Middle East with stupendous resources and huge
revenues but without basic necessities of life,
not because there are not enough financial resources
but because the clergy and the ruling classes
have exploited the downtrodden to promote their
own interest. It’s time they learnt to mind
their own business and lead by example rather
than hollow rhetoric and superficial rituals.
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