http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/meast/07/07/iraq.saddam.hussein.grave/index.html
The Iraqi government has banned all organized visits to Saddam Hussein’s grave.
On Monday, a Cabinet statement said it had directed authorities in the Salaheddin province to “take all necessary measures” to prevent such outings.
Hussein supporters and schoolchildren have made visits to the former dictator’s grave and his two sons.
Some people have posted video on sites such as YouTube that shows schoolchildren at the grave in December. They carried banners that said “We won’t forget you father” and read pro-Hussein poetry.
The ban would apply to organized group visits, but not stop individual visits.
A resident of al-Ouja told CNN the government had no right to stop visitors from going to their former president's tomb.
"Even if they put police and army outside the door, they will not stop us from visiting our president, our leader and our father," said Mohammed al- Nasiri.
Hussein was executed in 2006 after an Iraqi court sentenced him to death.
Even though I object to the teachings and actions of Hussein I am troubled to agree with the current governments ban to organized groups visiting. Maybe we should ban all visits to former Nazi leader graves. Let the people who loved him pay their respects.
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I agree with Shawn. Unless the people who are paying their respects break out into some sort of violence, I see no reason why they cannot visit Hussein's grave. I completely understand why the current government would be against it, but if they did not want people to go to his grave, why give him a proper burial or have any sort of memorial-like structure for him?
ReplyDeleteIn fact, the Federal Republic of Germany had (and still has) very strong anti-Nazi laws. Once a year, German military members have a day's special training, in which they remind themselves of what happens when the armed forces pledge allegiance to a person, and not to the nation's guiding principles. You will _not_ see public monuments or sanctioned visits to the graves of the architects of Nazi rule.
ReplyDeleteIraq's post-Saddam government can't do anything else for at least a generation.
Regarding Katie's question: the government didn't bury Saddam or raise the memorial. His family did .. and likely without the knowledge or consent of the government. It's probably indicative of the fragility of the current elected government that Saddam's family and supporters were able to create the monuments.
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