Wizdom
24-03-03, 15:25
Capture of American Soldiers Enough to ‘Shock and Awe’
RIYADH, 24 March 2003 — A cross-section of Saudis and Arab expatriates who watched the Al-Jazeera video clip of the massacre of US soldiers in Iraq and interrogation of others said such footage could have a “shock and awe” effect on public opinion, especially in the US and Britain.
“It could prove costly for President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair in their next elections. The electorate will remember the terrified faces of those soldiers as the unfortunate victims of an illegal war launched by the two countries,” Adil Shalash, an Egyptian PR executive told Arab News.
Moreover, the scene of massacre will have the same impact on them as it had in Somalia during the Clinton presidency when American soldiers executed by Somali militiamen were dragged along the streets of Mogadishu,” said Adil.
He pointed out that though he dislikes Saddam Hussein for being a despot, he supports him in the current war simply out of opposition to President Bush.
However, Moosa Al-Mutairy, 26, a student of political science at King Saud University, felt that this was the time for Iraq to show compassion to the victims of war. He would not agree with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the captured soldiers should be treated under the Geneva Convention. Since the war did not have the sanction of the UN, it was illegal. Yet, he believed, the soldiers should be treated humanely, as Islam is a religion of compassion. “It is the right time to project the true face of Islam and change the wrong perception about our religion,” he observed.
Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, 23, a student of the technical institute in Riyadh, justified the execution of the US soldiers on the ground that the Americans and the British were destroying Baghdad as part of an illegal war. He said President Bush should place himself in the position of his soldiers facing the agony of war, so that he and the cabal around him would think twice before deciding to invade another country.
Talal Adnan, 16, a Lebanese student, said he felt sorry for the plight of the Americans who are suffering through no fault of theirs. “It is their stupid president who is responsible for all this. No wonder, one of the detainees told Al-Jazeera that he did not have any quarrel with the Iraqis and that he was told to go to Iraq by his superiors.” He said he did not see any difference between Presidents Bush and Saddam, both of whom were behaving like dictators.
Two Kuwaiti nationals interviewed by Arab News said they did not have any quarrel with the Iraqi people, but would like to see the back of Saddam Hussein. Saleh Al-Alban and Salah Al-Anzi, both from the Ministry of Defense in Kuwait, believed that a regime change in Baghdad would do the Iraqis a lot of good.
“I was tied upside down by Saddam’s men during the 1991 occupation of Kuwait. You can’t imagine the pain and torture I had to endure,” he said. “We have no quarrel with our Iraqi brothers. But Saddam, the sooner he leaves the better.”
RIYADH, 24 March 2003 — A cross-section of Saudis and Arab expatriates who watched the Al-Jazeera video clip of the massacre of US soldiers in Iraq and interrogation of others said such footage could have a “shock and awe” effect on public opinion, especially in the US and Britain.
“It could prove costly for President George W. Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair in their next elections. The electorate will remember the terrified faces of those soldiers as the unfortunate victims of an illegal war launched by the two countries,” Adil Shalash, an Egyptian PR executive told Arab News.
Moreover, the scene of massacre will have the same impact on them as it had in Somalia during the Clinton presidency when American soldiers executed by Somali militiamen were dragged along the streets of Mogadishu,” said Adil.
He pointed out that though he dislikes Saddam Hussein for being a despot, he supports him in the current war simply out of opposition to President Bush.
However, Moosa Al-Mutairy, 26, a student of political science at King Saud University, felt that this was the time for Iraq to show compassion to the victims of war. He would not agree with US Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld that the captured soldiers should be treated under the Geneva Convention. Since the war did not have the sanction of the UN, it was illegal. Yet, he believed, the soldiers should be treated humanely, as Islam is a religion of compassion. “It is the right time to project the true face of Islam and change the wrong perception about our religion,” he observed.
Muhammad Al-Ghamdi, 23, a student of the technical institute in Riyadh, justified the execution of the US soldiers on the ground that the Americans and the British were destroying Baghdad as part of an illegal war. He said President Bush should place himself in the position of his soldiers facing the agony of war, so that he and the cabal around him would think twice before deciding to invade another country.
Talal Adnan, 16, a Lebanese student, said he felt sorry for the plight of the Americans who are suffering through no fault of theirs. “It is their stupid president who is responsible for all this. No wonder, one of the detainees told Al-Jazeera that he did not have any quarrel with the Iraqis and that he was told to go to Iraq by his superiors.” He said he did not see any difference between Presidents Bush and Saddam, both of whom were behaving like dictators.
Two Kuwaiti nationals interviewed by Arab News said they did not have any quarrel with the Iraqi people, but would like to see the back of Saddam Hussein. Saleh Al-Alban and Salah Al-Anzi, both from the Ministry of Defense in Kuwait, believed that a regime change in Baghdad would do the Iraqis a lot of good.
“I was tied upside down by Saddam’s men during the 1991 occupation of Kuwait. You can’t imagine the pain and torture I had to endure,” he said. “We have no quarrel with our Iraqi brothers. But Saddam, the sooner he leaves the better.”