Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri: I Felt As If My Own Neck Were in the Noose When Saddam Hussein Was Executed

Following are excerpts from an interview with Egyptian MP Mustafa Bakri, which aired on Dream2 TV on March 10, 2008:

Mustafa Bakri: Iraq is being torn to shreds, yet there are still people here who say that Saddam Hussein is the reason for all this. Saddam Hussein was more noble than all these collaborators who rule Iraq. I was in China when he was sentenced to death, and I felt it was my own head being placed in the noose, because Saddam Hussein was a real man, and we need real men these days. He was a man who said "no" to the Americans. He could have sold out Iraq while he was in jail. He could have revealed secrets and leveled accusations against Syria. But this is a man who did not flee from the battlefield. This is a man that the entire world... They talk about "secret bank accounts" of Saddam Hussein. His sons and daughters live on the charity of Arab countries. He did not have a single cent abroad. All the banks in the world are under their control. So Saddam Hussein is more noble than all of them. They say he was a dictator? Who isn't a dictator in the Arab world?

Interviewer: What could be the effect of Saddam Hussein's execution on the Arab leaders?

Mustafa Bakri: To this day, no Arab ruler has denounced Saddam Hussein's sentence. This is a disaster. The Italian foreign minister denounced it, and people in Spain and elsewhere said it was wrong, and so did the EU and Amnesty International, but in the Arab world, nobody has had the courage to say to the Americans: "Shame on you." It was the Americans who made this decision, and the court was a farce. It was ridiculous. Saddam Hussein was not tried by these collaborators.

Interviewer: What will be the future of Iraq, following the execution of Saddam Hussein?

Mustafa Bakri: First of all, I thank Allah that the U.S. Republican Party has suffered a resounding blow in recent years. A resounding blow! This was a disgrace for George Bush. Now they are saying: "Our operations in Iraq were not sufficiently successful, and the defeat of the Republicans is caused by the situation in Iraq." That's what the criminal Donald Rumsfeld said, and they brought the former head of the CIA to be Secretary of Defense. What did they do after the defeat, after the American public said to the Republicans: "You are liars, you misled public opinion, you presented fabricated evidence that Saddam Hussein had WMDs, and that he maintained contacts with Al-Qaeda, and you said that you would bring security, democracy, and stability"? Would you believe that George Bush said one day that the execution of Saddam Hussein proves there is law and order in Iraq? Shame on him. He is shameless. He used to strut about like a peacock, and then he was defeated like a miserable chicken. That's it, he was defeated, and we will see this next year. I swear by Allah that Donald Rumsfeld and George Bush will be tried as war criminals. History is a cycle. Even though they executed Saddam Hussein, the Arabs will continue to view him as a hero, because he said "no" to America.