No lament for ‘irrelevant’ sons

THERE were no regrets in yesterday’s Arab press over the deaths of Saddam Hussein’s notorious sons, but newspapers doubted that the killing of Uday and Qusay by US forces would ease anti-US resistance in Iraq.

“Those defending Iraq are unknown people whose statues are not erected on the streets and whose activities do not hinge on the presence or otherwise of Saddam, Uday, Qusay and all the clique that ruled the country with iron and fire,” wrote Saudi Arabia’s Al-Watan.

Resistance “will continue in various forms so long as the Tigris and Euphrates rivers flow”, the daily newspaper predicted.

Like their father, Uday and Qusay had become irrelevant to Iraqis the moment Baghdad fell to US forces on April 9, “because the capital which they abandoned after plundering its riches can defend itself without them”, Al-Watan added.

Al-Yaum, another Saudi daily, said even Saddam’s capture by the US-led coalition would not stem attacks on coalition forces so long as basic services were not restored.

Al-Jazirah, also Saudi, said Iraqi resistance fighters did “not want to have anything to do with Saddam”, while Al-Nadwa expressed the hope that the killing of his two sons in a US raid in northern Iraq on Tuesday would speed up US moves to hand over power to the Iraqis.

In the United Arab Emirates, the daily Akhbar Al-Arab said resistance to occupation is never a function of a single individual.

In Iraq’s case, “the absence of Saddam and his two sons from the scene might in fact encourage Iraqis who dream of an Iraq free of both Saddam and the Americans to join the ranks of the resistance,” the paper said.

Qatar’s Al-Watan said that if the deaths of Uday and Qusay helped anyone, it was the Americans and their British allies, rather than the Iraqi people.

Washington and London are trying to snatch a PR victory “from something that was bound to happen sooner or later” in a bid to resolve the political problems plaguing them over the legitimacy of their war on Iraq, the paper said.