While some celebrated in Iraq, initial reactions to Saddam Hussein’s arrest in other parts of the Arab world were more subdued, with many reluctant to believe the news.
”Impossible!” said a Syrian shopkeeper, Rami Makhoul, echoing the first thought of millions of Arabs.
Others in Damascus got on the phone to friends and relatives to ask whether it was true. By the time the first pictures of the bearded man with tousled hair appeared on television, many were hastily revising their doubts. But then there was the troubling question of why, if Saddam had really been taken alive, he had not put up the slightest resistance. Surely this could not be the man who had so often urged Iraqis to fight to the death?
As often, when faced with inexplicable situations in the Middle East, some resorted to conspiracy theories. One idea gaining popularity in Jordan was that Saddam must have been secretly ”medicated not to resist” before the American forces closed in on him.
Others saw no need for such fantasies. ”It’s obvious that Saddam was not the type to resist by himself rather than by giving orders,” said a Jordanian journalist, Samer abu-Libdeh. ”You could tell that by the way he drove his cars and smoked his cigars.”
As the news began to sink in, many expressed satisfaction — if not the outright joy shown by some Iraqis. But many had mixed feelings verging, in some cases, on disappointment.
”Saddam is a dictator and the Iraqi people suffered under him, but on the other hand, it was the [American] occupation that caught him,” Mohammed Horani, a member of the Palestinian parliament, told Associated Press.
”It is happy news, but we wish it were the Iraqi people who had captured him, not US troops, because this will give Bush a boost in the upcoming election,” said a Bahraini salesman, Hussein Jafar.
The shock, for some, was not Saddam’s arrest, but the manner of it: the pathetic, passive figure shown on television revealed the king finally stripped of his clothes.
That has never happened to an Arab leader before in living memory, as several pointed out. The tradition in the Middle East is that leaders stay in office until they die, even if they have become unfit to rule.
People in several Arab countries wondered privately what would be the impact of Saddam’s humiliation on their own king or president. From now on, they suggested, he would not sleep easily at night for fear that one day he might be paraded on television in the same bedraggled state.
Beyond sending a shudder through the palaces of Arab capitals, many were doubtful that Saddam’s capture would have much effect outside Iraq.
”I don’t think there will be a marked response inside the kingdom,” said a Saudi businessman, Osama al-Kurdi, reflecting a widespread view in the region. ”Saddam had already gone [from power] and his regime was finished.”
In Jordan too, where sympathies for Saddam once ran strong, the picture was described as generally quiet.
”Of course it’s bad news. To us, Saddam was a symbol of defiance to the US plans in the region,” Azzam Hneidi, an Islamist member of Jordan’s parliament, told Associated Press.
Syrian media reported the arrest neutrally, a resident of Damascus said, pointing out that the government, which had once been friendly with Baghdad but not unequivocally so, has distanced itself recently. ”The Syrian officials in the last few weeks have begun to say Saddam was a dictator,” he said.
Only in Kuwait, invaded by Saddam Hussein’s forces in 1990, was there elation. In the first official reaction, the prime minister, Sheikh Sabah al-Ahmad al-Sabah, welcomed Saddam’s capture as godly justice, saying his country had now been vindicated.
The foreign minister, Sheikh Mohammed Al-Sabah, said Saddam’s downfall was a good omen for the region. ”The Iraqi people are now rid of history’s biggest tyrant, and no doubt his downfall will have positive effects on Iraq and its stability and on security and stability in the region.”
But a Yemeni political analyst, Saeed Shabet, told Reuters: ”The situation in Iraq will not change much. I don’t think the resistance was linked to Saddam and it will increase, as was the case after the death of Uday and Qusay [Saddam’s sons].” – Guardian Unlimited Â