Saddam was in my dream today
“Dec. 30 — Former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein was hanged in the predawn hours of Saturday …”
“Saddam Hussein was hanged for crimes against humanity at dawn on Saturday, a dramatic, violent end for a leader who ruled Iraq …”
“Saddam Hussein, who was accused of killing more than 100,000 civilians during his 23-year rule over oil-rich Iraq, was hanged in …”
“Saddam Hussein was hanged shortly before dawn today after the Iraqi Government rushed through the formalities of his final hours …”
“Many Iraqis reacted with jubilation to Saddam Hussein’s death sentence while others took the streets in protest …”
“The Arab world has lost a “hero” who championed Arab unity and battled the influences of Iran and Israel …”
Like you, I read all these reports on Saddam’s disappearance today. Frankly, I didn’t feel good at hearing such news. To be exact, I felt sad and sorry.
Generally, death does not make people happy; no matter who. I wished there were some other ways. Saddam, at such age and in such a situation, could not be a threat any more.
The Iraqi government and its allies’ rush in getting rid of an old ruined man reminded me of the hasty executions we witnessed shortly after the 1979 revolution in Iran. The major difference was that the latter was accomplished under the flag of democracy and freedom. Not big differences, eh!
Anyway, I took a nap this afternoon and, surprisingly, saw Saddam in my dream. His face was the combination of his childhood, his middle age, his days of victorious rise and the noisy fall.
He called me ‘brother Irani’ and said, ‘I thought all Iranians hated me. I thought my death would make you happy.’
I was still in shock when I told him that I hated nobody.
‘You have killed several of my friends in Iran-Iraq war, but, still I don’t hate you.’ I told him, ‘Although I don’t know the reason’.
He smiled and told me it was part of history and all those people including him were part of a major political act.
Then, he showed me a picture of his childhood. I had already seen it on internet. He looked like a peasant boy in the picture.
‘I grew up in a terrible family,’ he started talking, ‘where everybody treated me terribly bad. I never saw my father. All I remember is my stepfather and those others in my house who treated me like an animal. I could hardly find something to eat or to enjoy. I had no support at home and there was nobody to put his warm hands on my head. In spite of all these, I tried really hard to bring a change to my life and all of you saw that change. I became the president of a country.’
Then, he put several other pictures on my bed where I was still lying and asked me to look at them carefully.
‘Do you see any traces of stupidity in these faces?’ he asked.
I looked at them one by one and all I saw in his eyes was ambition and wisdom.
‘No’, I replied. ‘But you did a very stupid thing that even mentally disabled persons wouldn’t do.’
He smiled again and asked me to be more specific.
‘You had no power after all those sanctions that were imposed on you after the gulf war, and you knew it better than any other person,’ I said, ‘what made you challenge USA then? What made you tease such huge powers with an old sword? What made you replace such an imperial life with gallows?’
He gave me another smile and said, ‘that was also part of a historical act that needed to be fulfilled. Don’t judge hastily my Irani brother.’
He paused for a moment and said, ‘It was my shadow on the gallows. They hanged a useless statue. I am still alive.’
Then, with his hand, he pointed to the wall of my room where, like a movie theater, I saw some green places in a crowded world.
‘I am there,’ he continued, ‘among my neighbors. They call me Asad.’
Before I could find any words to say, he picked his photos and faded away like a shadow as if he was not there at all.
‘Dad, dad,’ somebody called.
I opened my eyes and saw my little child who was sitting on my bed beside me.
‘You talked when you were sleeping’, she said, ‘and I was afraid. Are you ok?’
I took her tightly in my arms and kissed her.
‘Yes sweetie. I am fine. It was just a dream; but a good one .’
She smiled and rested in my arms like a little cat.
Saturday, December 30, 2006
Hassan H.