Local News

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Friday, December 29, 2006 Local Iraqis ready to celebrate Hussein hanging By Krista Kapralos / Herald Writer EVERETT Amir al Rikabi, 11, leaned against the wall in his familys living room in north Everett on Friday. His eyes slid toward a television screen, where a sobbing Iraqi woman pointed to dozens of photographs. They were all her family members, she said, and they all died under the regime of former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein. Suddenly, Amirs father, Adil al Rikabi, turned toward his son. "Do you like Saddam Hussein?" Adil al Rikabi asked. "No," Amir said quietly. "Why?" "Because he killed our family and our cousins." "And?" "Because he messed up the whole of Iraq." "And?" "Because he made the ground all dirty." "And?" "Because I hear from my family that Saddam is bad and thats why I hate him," Amir said. "He cuts peoples tongues out." The answer satisfied Adil al Rikabi. He is rejoicing at the news that the man who drove hundreds of Iraqis to become refugees in Everett likely will soon be dead. Hussein was convicted in November of the 1982 killings of 148 people in a Shiite town. Confusion reigned through Thursday evening and into today as Iraqi refugees tried to determine when Hussein would be hanged. Some said the Iraqi government would wait until after Saturdays Eid al Adhaon, a Muslim holiday that marks the end of the annual pilgrimage to Mecca. Others on Friday insisted that Hussein was already dead, but that it wouldnt be announced until morning in Iraq. Either way, large cuts of lamb were waiting for a celebration planned for Saturday morning. To express their joy at Husseins death, Everett Iraqis said they would barbecue shish kebabs in the back parking lot at the Colby Halal Market on Broadway. "Well dance in the street," said Lafta al Ali, owner of the store. "Weve waited for this for a long time." Husseins death will send a message to Osama bin Laden and other terrorists, said Rabab al Ali, Lafta al Alis 19-year-old daughter. "They will end up like Saddam," she said. With Hussein dead, there is a greater chance for peace in Iraq, said Hussein al Rubaye, an Iraqi refugee who became a U.S. citizen in 1999. Al Rubaye worked under a contractor as a military interpreter in Iraq in 2005. "When Saddam was in power, there were more killings than there are now," he said. "But under Saddam, no one talked about it. It was all done in secret." Iraqis, even violent insurgents, are still learning how to express their own freedom after decades of life under a dictator, when "you could be executed just for saying that a tomato is too expensive," al Rubaye said. "Overnight, they had everything," he said. "Suddenly they were able to express themselves. " Reporter Krista J. Kapralos: 425-339-3422 or kkapralos@heraldnet.com.

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