Posted on 12/19/2003 2:48:03 AM PST by Prodigal Son
BANGKOK, (AFP) - Muslims in southern Thailand are naming their new-born babies Saddam in protest over the United States' invasion of Iraq (news - web sites) and in support of its ousted president, according to a community leader.
"We admired Saddam because he was brave enough to fight the world's only superpower and we believe that the war was unjustified," said Rawsedee Lertariyapongkul, chairman of the Muslim Youth Association of Thailand.
Newspaper reports from the Muslim-majority southern provinces bordering Malaysia said many babies were being given the name of the captured former leader, but exact figures were still being prepared.
Rawsedee said he expected many more parents would honour Saddam by bestowing his name on their sons, even though they often knew little about his history or even that he had now been captured by US soldiers.
"We don't care about his past. At least in the last decade we have not heard of him doing anything really bad. And all the serious allegations against him only came from the United States side," he told AFP.
The Bangkok Post quoted 36-year-old Navi Tohyor of Narathiwat province as saying that he and his wife had called their baby son Saddam out of admiration for the former Iraq leader.
"What Mr. Saddam did is right and legitimate. He stood up against the US, the foreign invader," Navi told the daily.
"He's a fighter, not a bandit. I'm proud to name my son after him."
Thailand is a predominantly Buddhist nation but five percent of its population is Muslim, and most live in the five southernmost provinces.
Thai Muslims also seized on the name "Osama" after the September 2001 attacks on Washington and New York allegedly carried out by Osama bin Laden (news - web sites)'s al-Qaeda terrorist network.
Despite the phenomenon, Thai Muslims are relatively well integrated into the general population and while sectarian violence flares occasionally, relations with Buddhists are generally peaceful.
In Iraq meanwhile, public records show that while in past years many new-borns were named after the former Iraqi dictator, since the fall of Baghdad parents were opting instead for the names of religious leaders.
I guess at least Saddam is pronounceable...
Kind of like, "What have you done to me lately?"
I wonder why it doesn't bother these idiot Muslims that most of Saddam's hundreds of thousands and torture and murder victimes WERE their fellow Muslims?
Unless you consider killing school teachers who are not Muslim. killing policemen, bombing temples, trains, military quarters, etc. to be violent. The saudis have funded schools throughout the country in Muslim areas. Finally the government is responding but the situation in Muslim areas is not good. Remember, Hambali was caught there. I live in the North much of the year and there is an extreme contrast between Bhuddist and Muslim areas. There are many "moderate" Muslims only because there are many Muslims who are lax in their religion.
Let that be a lesson to us.
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