Jordanians protest hanging of 'great' Saddam

[Barrett808]

AMMAN (AFP) - Around 3,000 people have demonstrated in central Amman over the hanging Saturday of Iraqi ex-president Saddam Hussein, who was convicted of crimes against humanity.

"Saddam Hussein: Great in his life and in his death," read banners held by protesters, who also lifted portraits of Saddam into the air, an AFP correspondent said Friday.

"We denounce the execution of Saddam and we demand the execution of (Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-) Maliki and his followers," signs read.

The demonstration, organized by opposition parties which include Baathists, nationalists and Islamists, also criticized the Shiite leadership in Iraq and Iran and urged revenge for Saddam's death.

"Revenge, revenge against America and Iran," the crowd chanted, and "Death to Moqtada," a reference to radical Iraqi Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr whose name Saddam's executioners cried out in the moments before he was hanged.

(more)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20070105/wl_mideast_afp/iraqjusticeexecute

[On the Road]

1. After Saddam Invaded Kuwait

I watched in horror as the late King Hussein, who is always portrayed as a peaceful moderate, publicly defended Saddam on cable news.

The reason I guess is that Jordan and Iraq are sister countries. They were created less than a century ago by the British, and were originally ruled by, I believe, two brothers from the traditional ruling family.

At the end of World War I, the territory now comprising Israel, Jordan, the West Bank, the Gaza Strip, and Jerusalem was awarded to the United Kingdom.... In 1922, the British...established the semi-autonomous Emirate of Trans-Jordan in those territories to the east. The British installed the Hashemite Prince Abdullah....
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_Jordan

Iraq had a Hashemite ruler until 1958, when it became a Republic. But there's still a close bond between the countries.

http://www.kessler-web.co.uk/History/KingListsMiddEast/ArabicHashemites.htm

[damntexdem]

2. How to create a civil war in one country and then regionalize it.

Yeah, Dubya is indeed a war president: he can't win a war, but he can sure bring them about and make them worse.

[madeline_con]

3. Hence Al Malaki's sudden disenchantment with his job. n/t