TASEK PAUH blogspot

Omar Al-Faris - JUS Baghdad Correspondent

Two daily newspapers, the al-Riadh and al-Watan, both Saudi media outlets quote as source some eye witnesses claiming that Shiite Cleric Moqtada al-Sadr was one of the henchman at Saddam Hussein’s very public hanging but be careful of what you read.

The papers quote eye witnesses, in particular one who claims the leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution was also present.

"I saw al-Sadr wearing the black hoods inside the room and there was also Abdulaziz al-Hakim [leader of the Supreme Council for Islamic Revolution in Iraq – SCIRI]. They were among the six men wearing hoods that one can see in the images aired by the TV", the eyewitness said.

To see personally the killing of Saddam Hussein before the end of the year would have been, according to Riyadh’s newspaper, al-Sadr’s condition to the Iraqi PM Nuri al-Maliki to keep staying inside the government. Other testimonies claim that the men wearing hoods were praising Moqtada al-Sadr that also appears in some mobile phone’s images. These men would have arrived on the place of the execution accompanied by a high political figure. According to al-Watan that quotes as sources some internet websites close to the Iraqi resistance, al-Sadr would be the man in the video wearing the hood right behind Saddam Hussein just before he was put the hangman’s noose. Asked by the same newspapers about these testimonies, the al-Sadr movement’s leaders deny any involvement in Saddam Hussein’s execution and say that the Moqtada chants were the personal initiative of the prison’s guards.

While Saddam’s fate was entirely his own doing and a fitting end to those rulers who collaborate at the expense of their own citizens with the US, the Sadr hand ads a nice twist. Arab rulers, and the public at large for that matter, should know by now that America giveth and America taketh away entirely on its own whim and agenda. Before we go jumping to conclusions, it should be noted that Sadr’s alleged involvement by the two Saudi newspapers could be yet another effort to stir up sectarian violence in Iraq. The Saud regime needs the US to stay inside the Kingdom to protect it from its won people and will stop at nothing to convince their US masters to stay on in Iraq.

So before we take all we read to seriously, let us remember that it is not only the US that has an agenda, but also the House of Saud. Furthermore, the matter of Hussein has been laid to rest and it has no bearing on the jihad and the Great Battle of Baghdad that lies ahead. (JUS)

Labels: Berita, Iraq, Luar Negeri, Saddam