When the Israelis dispatched Sheikh Yassin last March, opinion was divided among the Iraqi bloggers, as it was in the West. I am posting excerpts here.
Alaa:
I am beside myself with rage. Perhaps I should not post today and wait a bit until I can think in a more dispassionate way. But I cannot wait really. Mr. Sharon: Usama Bin Laden and his friends are delighted and send you their best regards. This stupid and senseless killing of an old invalid is a Godsend to all the terrorists in the region and has been timed at exactly the right moment. It is a stab in the back aimed at the U.S. and allied efforts and a direct attack on all their friends in the region. ...
Zeyad:
We woke up early in the morning yesterday to the shocking news of the assasination of Hamas leader Sheikh Ahmed Yassin. One of the doctors at the residence was in hysterics about it and the noise woke me up. The first thought that came to my mind was good riddance, but then the gravity of the whole thing slowly creeped upon me. While I was distastefully brushing my teeth, I heard the doctor roaring into the bedroom ernestly trying to wake up my colleague, the Christian dentist, "WAAAAAKE UUUUUUPPP! They killed the Pope!!". My friend sprang out from
bed and rushed over to the tv, after which I heard him swearing at the doctor who was rolling with laughter at the situation.
Our cook had the most interesting reaction. "How many young men did this @#%$ send to death by brainwashing and fooling them into carrying out suicide attacks? How many innocent people had he killed?" he shouted to the doctor, "And how many thousands of dollars did he get in his Swiss bank accounts by pimping on the Palestinian cause?". "If he was truly such a hero and a believer in Jihad how come he didn't rig his wheelchair with explosives and blow himself up at some Israeli checkpoint? I say f* him". We advised the cook to stay out of politics, at least for the moment, and stick to his task of scrambling eggs for us. ...
AYS:
I think what Israel did is wrong, wrong time, wrong way, this isn’t a way to perish the terrorists, Israel will make the region unstable in such operations.. I’m sure Hamas won’t keep silent.. Also, this operation will change the Iraqi people’ feelings, yes .. the people here will link between Israel and USA, I don’t know why always they consider USA is in charge of that ! you know, this is a great chance for some clerics to incite!
Poor USA, Israel kills a leader and the Palestinians carry banners saying “ Death to America” ! huh.. silly people..
Ali:
I couldn’t mourn you and I couldn’t feel sorry for you. You’re an old crippled man, you’re an Arab like me, a ‘Muslim’ like me, and you fought most of your life for what you believed in. You were imprisoned for a long time and you were murdered; yet I couldn’t mourn you!
You know why? I’ll tell you why:
I’ve always took the side of the weak, poor and oppressed people if for no other reason, then simply because I’ve lived most of my life like them and I can’t argue that the Palestinian people have rights that are still missing. Some people will say that it’s because of their doing, but I don’t want to get into the huge complications of this conflict. I just want to point why and when did I loose sympathy with people like Ahmad Yassin.
Whatever we think about this conflict and whatever side we take, none of us can deny that there is a problem and it’s far from easy to determine how to solve it and who has the right in this or that. People have different opinions that spread through a spectrum where you can find millions who consider a man like Scheckh Yassin a saint and you can find millions who consider him a Satan as well as a small portion with less extreme opinions.
Palestinians had chosen different ways of pursuing what they considered their legitimate rights before the birth of Israel. Some of them chose to fight, others chose political struggle and the negotiation table and some joined the new state and pursued their rights taking advantage of the democratic nature of Israel and made it as high as can be expected, still supporting the rights of their people as well as the rights of their ‘new’ country.
I don’t want to go into the details of this intricate conflict, but I want to say that those- who chose to fight by convincing people (mostly teenagers and young men) in suicide, in the hope that during this they can murder the largest possible number of civilians; men, women elderly and children- deserve no mourning and no sympathy.
These people (Yassin alike) argue that civilians-usually Israeli and Americans- are partners in what they consider crimes against their people (Arab or Muslims), because they elected their governments and they support their actions. I say; I’ll go with you this far and suppose that you are victims to Israel and America and thus you have the right to fight and kill the American and Israeli men and women. But, what about their CHILDREN?? What about YOUR children who you send to death while they kill Israeli children? What about that 15 year old girl you convinced her of committing suicide in order to kill other people, including children?
You claim that all children are born Muslims and that their parents raise them to be Christians or Jews. If we follow your rules and believe your words, you’ll be killing Muslim children!! How can you explain that to yourself before trying to explain it to the others? I’ve asked this question to all those who support the suicidal attacks and NONE could have an answer. The best they could come up with is that these suicidal bombers do not intend to kill children and that it happens accidentally!! Don’t they have eyes that can recognize a child? And why do they pick buses when they know that it’s very likely that some children will be there?
You have not only disgraced yourselves and betrayed Gods words; you have hurt your people, the Muslims, more than anyone else. You made every Muslim a suspect in the eyes of the world and I will never feel sorry for you. ...
