08-04-2004, 08:19
http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,9219605%255E7583,00.html
A pro-US liberal Iraqi blogger, HealingIraq, longs for the days of the dictator.
A COUP d'etat is taking place in Iraq. Al-Shula, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr City) and Kadhimiya (all Shi'ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad) have been declared liberated from occupation. Looting has started at some places downtown. News from other cities in the south indicates that [Shi'ite radical Moqtada al-Sadr's] followers have taken over [police] stations and [government] buildings in Kufa, Nasiriyah, Ammara, Kut and Basra.
No one knows what is happening in the capital right now. Power has been cut off in my neighbourhood since the afternoon, and I can only hear helicopters, massive explosions and continuous shooting nearby. The streets are empty, someone told us a half-hour ago that al-Mahdi [al-Sadr's militia] are trying to take over our neighbourhood and are being met by resistance from Sunni hardliners. Doors are locked and AK47s are being loaded and put close by in case they are needed. The phone keeps ringing. Baghdadis are horrified and everyone seems to have made up their mind to stay home tomorrow until the situation is clear.
I have to admit that until now I have never longed for the days of Saddam, but now I'm not so sure. If we need a person like Saddam to keep those rabid dogs [Shi'ite militias] at bay, then so be it. Put Saddam back in power and after he fills a couple of hundred more mass graves with those criminals they can start wailing and crying again for liberation.
What a laugh we will have then. Then they can shove their filthy Hawza [al-Hawza newspaper] and marji'iya [religious authority] up somewhere else. I am so disappointed in Iraqis and I hate myself for thinking this way. We are not worth your [America's] trouble. Take back your billions of dollars and give us Saddam again. We truly "deserve" leaders like Saddam.
A pro-US liberal Iraqi blogger, HealingIraq, longs for the days of the dictator.
A COUP d'etat is taking place in Iraq. Al-Shula, Al-Hurria, Thawra (Sadr City) and Kadhimiya (all Shi'ite neighbourhoods in Baghdad) have been declared liberated from occupation. Looting has started at some places downtown. News from other cities in the south indicates that [Shi'ite radical Moqtada al-Sadr's] followers have taken over [police] stations and [government] buildings in Kufa, Nasiriyah, Ammara, Kut and Basra.
No one knows what is happening in the capital right now. Power has been cut off in my neighbourhood since the afternoon, and I can only hear helicopters, massive explosions and continuous shooting nearby. The streets are empty, someone told us a half-hour ago that al-Mahdi [al-Sadr's militia] are trying to take over our neighbourhood and are being met by resistance from Sunni hardliners. Doors are locked and AK47s are being loaded and put close by in case they are needed. The phone keeps ringing. Baghdadis are horrified and everyone seems to have made up their mind to stay home tomorrow until the situation is clear.
I have to admit that until now I have never longed for the days of Saddam, but now I'm not so sure. If we need a person like Saddam to keep those rabid dogs [Shi'ite militias] at bay, then so be it. Put Saddam back in power and after he fills a couple of hundred more mass graves with those criminals they can start wailing and crying again for liberation.
What a laugh we will have then. Then they can shove their filthy Hawza [al-Hawza newspaper] and marji'iya [religious authority] up somewhere else. I am so disappointed in Iraqis and I hate myself for thinking this way. We are not worth your [America's] trouble. Take back your billions of dollars and give us Saddam again. We truly "deserve" leaders like Saddam.