October 29, 2009

This is going to be very hard for me to translate, too many pages from Arabic to English...but not only...the subject matter is very dear to my heart and knowing me, I will probably have to take several breaks in between the pages...

The following are extracts from a series of articles that are appearing regularly in a Jordanian daily paper called Al-Ghad, and extracts of which were taken up by the Palestinian news agency Maan News.

They are based on the latest publication of a book by Saddam Hussein's lawyer, Khalil Al-Dulaimi, and the book was put in circulation a few days ago, and was published in Khartoum, Sudan. The book's title is : "Saddam Hussein: The American Cell. This is what happened. "

This is a VERY long article, and deals with several issues : the invasion, the battle against the occupier, military tactics, and what happened to Saddam Hussein before and after his "capture".

In this post I will concentrate on the events around his arrest and what happened from thereafter until his physical death. The other points such as the invasion, the resistance in Umm Qasr, the military planning and the rest, I will leave for another post.

This is a DIRECT SPONTANEOUS translation, meaning that I am reading the text and translating onto the page. Hence I ask you to be indulgent if sentences don't come out in "proper English"...

The article starts with a series of important questions that the lawyer Al-Dulaimi answers in an interview with Al-Ghad newspaper.

Before I start with the questions, bear in mind that every time I mention the name of Saddam Hussein, I will refrain from using the word "late president" or "former president." as in the text. I will also not use the word Hero and Martyr because this is a given.

The questions : Was Saddam Hussein hanged or murdered ? Why was the rope deliberately extended beyond the agreed upon measures for death by hanging ? Why was the death sentence carried out on the premises of the Istikhbarat building i.e State Intelligence/Security building ? And why was there an after plan of kidnapping the corpse of the deceased to Iran ?

Al-Dulaimi says that he has lots of detailed information, both verbal and written given to him by President Saddam Hussein, including his poems and his personal notes. And all of the above will he reveal at a later stage, and these are not even included in his book.

Al-Dulaimi says that President Saddam Hussein insisted that everything he relates be noted down with meticulous precision, as he was expecting the Americans to liquidate him at any moment.

And this is how it starts as per the words of Saddam Hussein.

" I use to visit regularly a home belonging to a friend of mine, a friend since 1959, in the Dour area, in Salah El-Deen province...this friend was a very old friend of mine in whom I had full trust . His name is QAIS AL-NAMAQ. I didn't want to impose on him, however I was told that this would be the safest place for me to be in, since its whereabouts were unknown to the U.S occupying forces. Furthermore we devised ways to move about during the day without being caught...and to make sure, we constructed an underground shelter, akin to those we build during the Iraq-Iran war, for emergency use, thus taking all our precautions.

This house, is where I spent the most time, at other times I would travel to far away places, checking here and there on the various factions of the Resistance, and visiting some Iraqi homes. On that particular day, I returned to that house, exhausted after one of my tours, it was afternoon time, so I took the Holy Koran and read a few chapters till evening prayer. My friend's wife was preparing us dinner. When the time for evening prayer came, I closed the holy Book and got ready for the evening prayer, when I saw my friend running inside the house towards me, all flustered saying "they've arrived, they've arrived..." So I asked him " who arrived"? and he said "the Americans."

So I immediately went down to the shelter. After a few minutes only, the Americans discovered the shelter and arrested me with no resistance on my part. The reason why I did not put up a resistance is because I am a QAID, ie a LEADER and those below me where ordinary soldiers. It was inconceivable for me to battle with ordinary soldiers. Had I killed one or more of them, they would have killed me in return. Which means I would have abandoned both leadership and my people. However had Bush been with them, I would have battled them until victory or death.

A week before they found and arrested me, I noticed strange things about my friend, owner of the house. He looked absent minded, his facial expressions changed, his behavior was no longer habitual/normal. But since I trusted him so much, the thought that he might betray me did not even cross my mind. At times he looked to me frightened and anxious...unfortunately, he followed the devil's footstep, he must have been lured by the bounty (for my capture) promised by the Americans. As for me, I didn't have a big sum of money on me so to avoid his betrayal. All I had was one million and two hundred and eighty DINARS, used for some of the Resistance operations. You are to tell the Iraqis, that it is QAIS AL NAMAQ and his brothers who informed the Americans about my whereabouts and who betrayed me. "



To be continued...