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Mon 1 Jan -

TWO EIDES: Sooo Wrong! -

The Mental Pretzel Problem -

Zeyad has compiled some illuminating reactions to the Saddam hanging from some Iraqi bloggers. Rather than uniting the Iraqis, Saddam warped and twisted their minds to the degree that many of them right now just can't think clearly. This is a result of a totalitarian system in which the government has total control of the information environment.

Every year, we mark two Christmases in the US and two Easters. The vast majority of folks in the US are Christians. But a small group of Christians follow a different calendar than most, so they celebrate Christmas and Easter at a later date. Nobody here gets upset about it.

Not so in Iraq! The vast majority of the population there is Shiite; a minority is Sunni. Each group commemorates Eide on a different date. So what?! Why should that be a big deal? Well, it shouldn't be. And if they could think clearly, it wouldn't be a big deal. Let's hope they recover sooner rather than later from this cruel hoax that the tyrant has imposed on them.

"You see, when asked why the execution was done on the first day of Eid, a member of the court said that Eid starts on Sunday in Iraq, as I read on Al-Jazeera. This made me even angrier. Thanks to the new freedom, Eid starts on Saturday for Sunnis, and on Sunday for some of the Shiites, Monday for the others."

--Najma from Mosul

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"On the subject of Saddam Hussein, I still can't believe that they hung him on the first day of Eid... Making Eid a double Eid for some, and a bloody Eid for the others. So wrong."

--Fatima from Baghdad

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