Muhammad Al-Shibani

It seems the American Administration is either insisting on further fanning Arab feelings of hatred and anger over its foreign policy or its advisors are working intentionally or out of ignorance and on their own to put more fuel to a raging fire. The desecration of the dead bodies of Uday and Qusay, the two sons of Saddam Hussein killed by the American forces last week, and the way they have been shown on television is an outrageous, disgusting and unjustified act. The Americans seemed keen on showing every part of the bullet-riddled and mutilated bodies. Even if this action is viewed as lawful under man’s law it is completely against all divine laws.

The American administration may use the incident politically, as it always does, but there could have been more than a thousand ways to convince the Iraqi people of the death of the two sons. The Americans could have shown their faces and corroborated this with testimonies from their relatives or selected and reliable individuals who know them. The disappearance of Uday and Qusay from the scene by death represents the most convincing proof that they were gone forever. The last thing we expected was this kind of mutilation and distortion of the two bodies, including the shaving and restructuring of the faces and severed parts. In short, every distorted part of their bodies was shown except the genitals.

The Americans should have been told that under Islamic law once a Muslim dies his or her body is no longer a personal property and that our religion orders us to expedite the burial of the dead who head straight to be judged on every act, whether good or bad, they committed during their lifetime. They should have been told that human beings should be honored and respected whether dead or alive. They should have been told that the desecration of dead bodies represents a great crime.

These are simple principles, and tampering with them will only lead to more hatred and anger. I would like to ask here: If this is the way the Americans have dealt with the bodies of Uday and Qusay, what are they going to do with the body of Saddam if they happen to kill him?

The man is known to keep many look-alikes as a means of protection. Are the advisors of the American Administration going to recommend to their superiors the killing of everyone who looks like Saddam and then display their mutilated bodies before television cameras to make sure they did kill the right man? It seems the Americans continue to lack good and honest advisors who are keen to serve and protect their interests. The United States has at last realized that maintaining the security of its forces in Iraq has proved more difficult than occupying the country. For this reason, it is seeking help from allies and friends as well as the United Nations.

These are the same allies and friends who have been begging the US to give them a tiny share in the post-Saddam Iraq, but all they got was neglect. America turned its back on its allies and friends in the Arab region and in other places both during and after the war on Iraq. Now with soldiers being killed daily — so far 50 have died since it declared the end of military operations — it started looking for friends to share with them the heavy burden. In short, America wants to save the lives of its soldiers by making others pay the price and thus be able to spare President George W. Bush a possible defeat in the coming election, amid growing discontent over the presence of 200,000 American soldiers in a hostile territory where they risk being killed any moment.

I hope Saudi Arabia will never find itself forced to join those forces to avoid the spilling of Saudi and Iraqi blood. Our country acted wisely by not entering into a confrontation with the Iraqi people during both the war for the liberation of Kuwait and the recent war on Iraq. If it was able to do that in wartime it won’t find it difficult to do in peacetime.

— Muhammad Al-Shibani is a Saudi Writer based in Jeddah