Reply #18: Wielding Pens as Swords, Arabs Finish Off Hussein...

[cantwealljustgetalong]

If U.S. soldiers did not kill Saddam Hussein last weekend, Arab columnists finished him off with vengeance, felling the myth of the former Iraqi president as a brave hero and savior and savaging him as a cowardly capitulator.

The poetry once used to lionize Hussein turned poisonous. In one of the most remarkable transformations in Arab commentary, the torrent of venom this week did not single out the United States or U.S. troops, but focused on the deceptive legends Hussein had spun to fuel false pride among sympathizers.

"He is the man who killed his nation twice, once in his ruling days and again the day his recklessness facilitated the occupation of his country," wrote Ghassan Charbel, a columnist for the Arabic-language Al Hayat newspaper, based in London. "The lord of bullets could not spare one for his temple, while he was extravagant with those targeting others . . . foes and friends."

...

The London-based Al-Sharq al-Awsat newspaper published an interview with the son of Tariq Aziz, the former Iraqi deputy prime minister. ZeiyadAziz told the newspaper that his father, who has been sending letters to his family via the Red Cross, asked that his youngest son, named Saddam after the deposed leader, change his name to Zuheir.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A13706-2003Dec18.html