"Jag ångrar att jag högg ner Saddam"

"Jag ångrar att jag högg ner Saddam"

När de amerikanska trupperna tågade in i Bagdad för snart fyra år sedan var Kadhim al-Jubouri en av irakierna som högg ner Saddam-statyn. Tyngdlyftarmästaren i svart linne högg kraftfullt med sin slägga på bilder som kablades ut över världen.

I dag ångrar han sig, berättar The Guardian.

– Jag ångrar verkligen att jag högg ner statyn. Amerikanerna är värre än diktaturen. Det blir värre för varje dag som går, säger al-Jubouri.

Då har ändå al-Jubouri drabbats hårt av Saddam-regimen. Han kastades i Abu Ghraib-fängelset efter att ha klagat när Saddams bror Uday Hussien inte betalat för den motorcykelreparation som al-Jubouri utfört.

Han säger att Saddam var som Stalin men att man i alla visste vem som var ond och vem som var god.

Muslims Forcing Christian Assyrians in Baghdad Neighborhood to Pay Jizya

I trust that all those Islamic apologists who have insisted this was a thing of the past will be lining up with mea culpas fairly soon.

"Muslims Forcing Christian Assyrians in Baghdad Neighborhood to Pay 'Protection Tax,'" from AINA, with thanks to Terrence:

Baghdad (AINA) -- Muslims in the Dora neighborhood of Iraq are forcing Assyrians (also known as Chaldeans and Syriacs) to pay the jizya, the poll tax demanded by the Koran which all Christians and Jews must pay in exchange for being allowed to live and practice their faith as well as being entitled to 'Muslim protection' from outside aggression.

At least two cases have been reported to a government employee -- who wishes to remain anonymous -- in which the Christian Assyrian wives were instructed to go to a certain mosque and pay, which they did out of fear. The stated reason for the payment was "we do the fighting and you pay to support."

The jizya has been collected since the arrival of Islam in 630 A.D. The last systematic collection was by the Ottomans (Turks), which came to an end only in 1918, when the Ottoman empire was defeated and partitioned in World War One.

However, a survey of more than 5,000 Iraqis by Opinion Research Business, a reliable pollster, gives an utterly different view. It shows a country which is far more optimistic than anyone would have expected. By two to one, Iraqis say that life is better under the present system. There is, as might be expected, a clear Sunni-Shi’ite split. But even 29% of Sunnis, who had it pretty easy under Saddam, say things are better now. This result, when you take into account the fear, the bloodshed, the power cuts, the lack of water and the sheer struggle of everyday life, is remarkable. Nor was the poll conducted among people who have been shielded from the worst of the violence. One in four of those questioned has had a member of their family murdered in the conflict and a similar proportion have seen relatives displaced, many of them forced to flee abroad.

There is something else significant in the poll. Only a quarter of Iraqis think their country is in civil war. And they also believe, by two to one, that security will improve once American and British troops withdraw. This is a rejoinder to those who believe withdrawal would unleash an all-out struggle between Shi’ites and Sunnis. The current American troop surge appears to have been a considerable success in reducing levels of violence, again contrary to conventional wisdom. True, it may be temporary, but it is working.