Seeing pictures of Saddam being beaten with shoes, Yemenis change attitude

Kuwait News Agency ^ | April 11, 2003 | Yahia Al-Haddi

[HAL9000]

SANAA, April 11 (KUNA) -- Some Yemenis who had sentiments of admiration for the deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, now have different feelings toward the man, whose statues were downed and his posters were beaten with shoes in public places in the Iraqi war-stricken capital Baghdad.

Saeed Abdullah, 40, who manages a popular cafe in the heart of the Yemeni capital, said the sudden disappearance of Saddam has become the main topic of daily debates among his customers, and protested that these discussions often heat up and turn into quarrels.

Hamdi Ahmad, a government employee, said, "our sentiments toward him turned into hatred after we saw the Iraqis smashing his posters and statues in Baghdad .. Now we realise that the Iraqis know him better than us."

Tewfic Al-Sabri, 25, a student, said the shift in the public feelings toward Saddam was normal and expected. Saddam, he added, had become popular in Yemen when he had vowed to liberate Palestine and fought Iran. "But it was established that his war on Iran was senselss and pledges were mere empty slogans."

A university professsor, who asked not to mention his name, affirmed that the pictures, broadcast live by television satellite stations worldwide on Wednesday of Iraqis smashing the pictures and statues of Saddam changed the Yemenis' sentiments of admiration toward the man to feelings of hatrede.

[?]urs being glued in front of the television, listening to flat lies of Iraqi Information Minister Mohammed Al-Sahaf, pledging victory and cursing the coalition forces.

"I was not aware of the fact that the Iraqi people were yearning to get rid of the tyrrant," he said.

Ahmad Al-Wasabi, who runs a store for electronic appliances, has just removed a large photo of Saddam that had decorated his shop. "I no longer view such a dictator with admiration ... We have been baffled and I believe that he is the cause of the crises in the region."

Naef Hassan, political editor of the opposition newspaper, Al-Wadawi, said the general sentiments toward the deposed regime was being transformed in the country as a result of the lies made by the leaders of this defunct regime.

"Many people in Yemen changed their attitude toward Saddam's regime after seeing photos of the man being beaten with shoes on streets of Baghdad." Fathi Abul Nasr, a poet, said he was pleased with the downfall of the regime of Saddam. "The educated elite hates Saddam .. no poet in the world loves Saddam .. poets can't stand dictators."

Abul Nasr said he received e-mails from an Iraqi friend, who has been living in London since nine years ago because Saddam executed many members of her family. She recalled hearing groaning voices of inmates at pain while visiting her imprisoned father, brothers and relatives at an Iraqi prison. Nabil Sabaa, a well-known writer, said the fall of Saddam symbolizes end of Arab leaders known of empty rhetoric and slogans. "Any leader like Saddam will evaporate and forgotten." (end)

[tiki]

What a difference freedom of the press makes.

[The Hon. Galahad Threepwood]

I'm just wondering if they came to feel that way about Saddam, what may they begin to think about Arafat and his gangs as well? Or maybe about other totalitarian/communist/fascist leaders?

Which is exactly why those leaders sided with Saddam. Arafat's soiling his drawers right about now. If the "Arab street" turns against him, he's a dead man.

[HAL9000]

Mohammed Alhirez uses his shoe to strike an image of the fall of a 40-foot statue of Saddam Hussein in Baghdad, during an Iraqi celebration in Lincoln, Neb., Thursday, April 10, 2002. About 100 people gathered in front of an Iraqi-owned grocery store. They said they came to show their appreciation for the liberation of Iraq and the overthrow of Saddam Hussein. (AP Photo/Bill Wolf)

[FITZ]

Would that this were the case! If only, if only this was true. American poets are mostly in love with Fidel Castro and his ilk.

And many university professors ---they love Castro and Saddam. Our uneducated elite in Hollywood also do.

[limitedgov]

Excellent compilation of quotes. Thank you, Spruce

[HAL9000]

Iraqis use their shoes to hit the remains of a statue of Saddam Hussein in downtown Bagdhad, Iraq Wednesday April 9, 2003. (AP Photo/Jerome Delay)

[HAL9000]

An Iraqi man uses his shoe to smash a hole in the face of a Saddam Hussein mural in Basra Southern Iraq, April 7 2003. Looting and the destruction of Saddam murals is rife in the city after Iraqi soldiers left the city and Britiash Royal Marines and the 7th Armoured Brigade walked in unopposed Sunday. (AP Photo/Jon Mills, Western Daily Press, Pool)

[HAL9000]

A smiling Iraqi man beats a poster of President Saddam Hussein with his shoe after a U.S. Marine (L) started to take the poster down in Safwan, southern Iraq, March 21, 2003. Safwan, a small border town, was clearly outside Saddam's control on Friday. Kuwaiti television showed Iraqis mingling cautiously with American soldiers, one of whom received a peck on the cheek from a local man. Photo by Reuters Tv/Reuters

[mitchbert]

Thank you for this.

[RipeforTruth]

Thanks for the work you did compiling the great quotes.

[Constitution Day]

Great post!!

[maro]

It is a kind of liberal racism to say that the Iraqis should be left alone with their dictator and his cruel ways. We would never permit that for ourselves or our people, but the peace activists believe that the Iraqis are different. We are discovering that in fact the Iraqis are just like us, human beings who crave freedom and hate the lash of oppression. They are not an alien species who are OK with torture, rape, midnight kidnappings, kleptocracy, and all the other familiar features of totalitarianism. The real racists are the liberals.

[HAL9000]

Iraqis, seen in this image from video, place their feet on the face of a statue of Saddam Hussein on the streets of downtown Baghdad, Iraq, Thursday, April 10, 2003. (AP Photo/APTN)

[DeFault User]

A comment by Fox news reporter in Jordan a few minutes ago indicated that for the first time in a long time there were no anti-war, anti-American protest at the mosques today.

Perhaps there is hope for enlightenment.

[The KG9 Kid]

"... Amazing. A moron, drunk, frat boy who was never elected is changing the world and removing evil. How can that be?"

"Strategery"

[McGavin999]

The people of Kuwait and the people of Qatar should hold their heads up with pride. Of all the people of the middle east, the people of these two countries saw evil and stood up for their fellow Muslims.

[hoyaloya]

I posted this a bit earlier when looking at pics of the GW today, but it happened again. The relief is overwhelming.

I don't know, but I've had some of the strangest emotions in the last few days. I sat and looked and these quotes - listening to "Have You Forgotten" on repeat. I wept tears of joy. (As a grown man, that doesn't happen too much to me. The last time I remember tears was the week of September 11, 2001.)

I want to thank Jim and all of those other Freepers out there. Together, you've (we've) changed the world. For so long, people like us were told the silent majority wasn't there. Well, it is - and FR proves it.

THANK YOU ALL.

[Beck_isright]

"I think we would do well to send a huge batch of shoes to the Middle East."

Slippers for Saudis?
Keds for Kuwaitis?
Pumas for Palestinians?
Tennis shoes for Turkey?
Where should we start? I'm game.

V

[centexan]

Just think, we could have sent Imelda Marcos over there 15 years ago and have been rid of two regimes all at once.

If Rummy or Powell quit, you may be tapped for a new job.

[PeoplesRepublicOfWashington]

Wow! These Yemenis need to start listening to American conservative talk radio or surfin' FreeRepublic if they want to get a dose of the truth.

The shoe hitting thing seems awfully powerful to the Middle Easterners. We need to get a squad of shoe whackers to start thumping the prominent unAmerican leaders of the Saddamocrat Party on camera. Maybe some of the 'Rat voters will see the light.