Saddam- Lighter Shades of Gray

Morning of dec 30 I was awakened by an SMS with the message that Saddam Hussain would be executed that morning at about 8.30 IST.I dragged myself out of bed and switched on the TV to find all the news channels flashing the news. At about 8.40 NDTV reported the execution done.

Ever since the judgment was announced on Nov 5, I have been searching over the net for something ‘positive’ about this person( Always ‘Bad about the Good’ and ‘Good about the Bad’ is interesting). But as expected, he found place next to the devil, in most of the articles. Every page was filled with the data of the number of people killed and the information on his attacks on Iran & Kuwait.

There is no denying of his criminal doings. But, as the person is now dead and gone, there should be something written about the other side of the ‘Butcher of Baghdad’- even the butcher has a human side.

None has a digitized character of black or white, but shades of gray, some darker some lighter.And here are the lighter one (by lighter I surely don’t mean the funny one).

Like all the Villains in history & anti-heroes in movies even he had a unhappy childhood. He never knew his father, Hussein ‘Abd al-Majid, who disappeared six months before Saddam was born. He was the son of Musa Al-Kazim, one of the Sunni Imams of the Ahlul Bait. Shortly afterward, Saddam’s 13-year-old brother died of cancer, leaving his mother severely depressed in the final months of the pregnancy. The infant Saddam was sent to the family of his maternal uncle, Khairallah Talfah, until he was three. His mother remarried and his step was very harsh to him.

Those cannot justify the killing for sure but can help lighten the grays.

Iraq was no paradise before Saddam came into power. it was spilt faction based on social, ethnic, religious differences.

During the years before the war with Iran, he was seen as the most secular and modern leader in the Arab world. He ended the foreign control on the oil in Iraq and thus stopped the outflow of money from Iraq. He established national campaign to eradicate illiteracy, provided free schooling upto the highest education levels and created the most modern healthcare system in the entire Arab world. And very few may know that the UNESCO had even awarded Saddam for his efforts.

Saddam implemented a national infrastructure campaign that made great progress in building roads, promoting mining, and developing other industries. The campaign revolutionized Iraq’s energy industries. Electricity was brought to nearly every city in Iraq, and many outlying areas.

During his rule women were given freedom to work at par with men. Saddam also created a Western-style legal system, making Iraq the only country in the Persian Gulf region not ruled according to traditional Islamic law (Sharia).

Being a minority sunni Muslim he had stiff opposition from the majority Shia and Kurds. To maintain his regime Saddam tended either to provide them with benefits so as to co-opt them into the regime, or to take repressive measures against them.

With the Iranian Revolution in Iran, there was greater support for the Shia rebellion in Iraq. Now with all his appeasing methods failing Saddam did what he knew best – use ruthless means to suppress a could-be-coup.

Even the killing at Dujail, for which he was convicted was such an act out delirium. Saddam Hussein was visiting the town to make a speech praising those who had served Iraq in the fight against Iran. While driving through the village center, his motorcade was attacked by one or more members of the Dawa Party. The president was unharmed in the three-hour firefight, which ensued. And Saddam ordered the killing.

 

His decision of attacking Iran, which lasted for 8 years, back fired at him. He was supported greatly by the US and other allies during the war with Weapons & ammunitions. But after the war economy of Iraq was in shambles. Saddam wanted to rebuild it to the state it was before the war, and expected help from his western friends. But he found none. Then to add fuel to his fury Kuwait started reducing the oil prices at the behest of the western forces. The price reduction did not effect Kuwait much but for Iraq it was loss of millions of dollars everyday. Saddam was now feeling cheated. And again out of fury decided to attack Kuwait. This distanced him from the US and rest…the gulf wars…US Sanctions…George Bush Jr to Power…9/11…WMD…capture…trail…conviction…

Saddam was a very ambitious individual who had great ambitions for both himself and his nation. He wanted to see himself as a great leader of a great nation. It’s true that he built mansions for himself but it would be unfair to say he didn’t do anything for his nation.

And it’s a FACT that people who were behind him for most of the killing he accused of are now acting protectors of world peace.

I wonder what would have been the situation if Saddam was ousted earlier, may be the present situation would have been proponed. Now even with no butcher to order the killing, thousand are dying in installments of hundreds daily, in the civil that has engulfed the entire of Iraq. Even the most powerful US doesn’t have any other solution out of this mess, other than dividing the nation into three. This was the same nation which Saddam ruled –UNITED- for more than 24 years.

I DARENOT justify the crimes he had done against humanity and people who suffered it all surely wouldn’t agree with me. And Its easier for me write all this at safety of being in an different nation and in a different era.I mean no offence .This was an attempt to write something abt what ever positive this man had done, now that he is DEAD & GONE.

Some of the lines have been quoted from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saddam_Hussein