Saddam Hussein remembered: the first anniversary of his execution
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saddam Hussein remembered at hometown one year after execution
By Ali Salih, Ahmad Jamal
BAGHDAD, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- A year after former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was executed, his influence is still strongly palpable at his hometown as the country remain polarized in sectarian hatred.
Abdullah Jbara, governor of Salahudin province in northern Iraq, told Xinhua that the role Saddam had played should be viewed in an impartial manner just like any other political figures in the history.
"The man had good acts as well as bad ones. So we need to look at his good deeds and make use of them, and at the same time we need to fix the wrongdoing he had committed," said Jabara, who gained reputation and respect in the province for insisting that Saddam should be buried at his birth place instead of a secret location.
The governor, however, wondered why Saddam was hanged one year ago. "Was it the law or the sectarian and political motives?"
The building, in which Saddam is buried, was constructed during his regime at his birthplace -- Awja village. Its hall is usually used for condolence gatherings.
Its walls are decorated with pictures representing different periods of Saddam's life, as well as with wreaths of roses presented by his supporters. Dozens of families visited his tomb on Dec. 19, the first day of Sunni Muslims' key festival of Eid al-Adha holidays.
Sheik Abdul Hameed al-Dowri, a leading tribe man in Saddam's hometown Tikrit, said the city where Saddam spent his poor childhood before he joined the Baath Party still considers the manas "the best-ever Iraqi leader."
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