Re: The name Saddam

[phoglund@xxxxxx]

Richard Fangnail wrote:
> Why did people usually say "Saddam" instead of "Hussein"- was it just
> so people wouldn't confuse him with King Hussein - and yet it seems
> funny.

I have heard that it is because the name "Hussein" holds strong
religious connotations for his victims the Shi'ite Muslims. The
Shi'ites celebrate the Ashura festival in the remembrance of the death
of their greatest martyr, Imam Hussein, who was killed in the Battle of
Karbala and who is a major symbol of the victims of religious
persecution for the Shi'ites. Saddam was someone who persecuted and
murdered Shi'ites, and it would have felt blasphemous to honor Saddam
with the name of Hussein. For them the fact that the
persecutor-in-chief of their co-religionists would have the same name
as the very symbol of victimhood and righteous martyrdom probably was
the ultimate insult.