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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Jan-07
Sunnis riot and demonstrate over mocking taunts during Saddam's execution

Web Log - January, 2007

Sunnis riot and demonstrate over mocking taunts during Saddam's execution

This is probably not as bad as it sounds.

As remarkable as any execution of Saddam Hussein would be, a series of even more remarkable ancillary events have caused puzzlement and outrage:

Thousands of people riot and demonstrate in Tikrit, protesting the execution of Saddam Hussein. <font size=-2>(Source: AP/New York Times)</font>

Thousands of people riot and demonstrate in Tikrit, protesting the execution of Saddam Hussein. (Source: AP/New York Times)

The was rushed to be completed before sunrise Saturday, so that it wouldn't occur on the Eid Al-Adha (Feast of Sacrifice) holiday, the most important feast on the Muslim calendar.

The Iraqi government released a silent video of Saddam's trip to the gallows. The video stopped just after the noose was put around his neck, but before the lever was pushed to open the trap door beneath Saddam's feet.

However, one of the people watching the execution had a cell phone with him, and was able to take a separate video. This was a poor quality video, but it has sound and shows the entire execution. It was put onto an Iraqi internet site.

The unauthorized video revealed that Saddam was taunted and verbally abused by his guards during the entire process.

The abusive remarks outraged Saddam's supporters, and the unauthorized video is available now on many internet sites, including YouTube and Google Videos. (Warning: The video contains violent, explicit images.)

Nobody could have made this stuff up.

Anyway, is this the fuse that's going to going to light up Iraq into full-scale civil war? That's how the media's playing it. According to an AP/New York Times story,

"Angry Protests in Iraq Suggest Sunni Arab Shift to Militants

Enraged crowds protested the hanging of Saddam Hussein across Iraq’s Sunni heartland on Monday, as a mob in Samarra broke the locks off a bomb-damaged Shiite shrine and marched through carrying a mock coffin and a photo of the executed dictator. ...

The Sunni protests, which appeared to be building, could signal a spreading militancy."

As is so common with the mainstream media stories, this is pure unadulterated guesswork. They say that the protests "suggest" a shift to "a spreading militancy." Well, what if the protests die down in a few days. Will that "suggest a shift AWAY from militancy?"

Now, I have no way of knowing of whether the unauthorized video is going to spur further violence of cause a shift to "a spreading militancy." The point is that neither do the journalists.

This is the pathetic ideological state that the mainstream media has come to. At least in the past, they would have gone to the trouble to dig up an "expert" they could quote to make the ideological statement; "'This will call a shift to a spreading militancy,' says Imanut Case, an Iraq expert." But now they don't even bother with that. The "journalist" writing the article simply states his own ideological beliefs as news.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, these kinds of riots and protests are exactly what you would expect of a country in a "generational Awakening" era.

I discussed this point a month ago in connection with the Hizbollah's massive protests in Lebanon, which mainstream journalists were calling a sign of impending civil war. (In case you've wondered, there's no civil war in Lebanon, and the protests seem to be petering out.)

Remember what happened during the 1960s, America's last generational Awakening era. It began in August 1963, when Martin Luther King led a march on Washington in which over 200,000 people participated. Later, President Kennedy was assassinated, and so was King. There were numerous demonstrations and riots throughout the country. There were "long, hot summers," led by the Black Panthers, and there were bombings and declarations of war against the government, led by the Weather Underground. President Lyndon Johnson was driven from office, and the climax was when President Richard Nixon was forced to resign.

These kinds of massive protests have happened in every society and country throughout history during "generational Awakening" eras. What these eras all have in common is a "generation gap," a big political struggle between the college-age generation and their parents' generation. In this case, the execution of Saddam Hussein has provided a perfect excuse: the rioters are young, and they're rioting against the government that executed Saddam, as well as the government's American allies. It's a perfect combination.

There is no civil war between Sunnis and Shiites in Iraq. What we're seeing more and more is increasing use of death squads and foreign suicide bombers on both sides, with Sunni money, training and weapons from al-Qaeda and Shiite money, training and weapons from Iran.

From the point of view of Generational Dynamics, the real source of conflict in the Mideast has been the same for decades: The Israeli/Palestinian conflict, which is serving as a driving force for both sides (Iran and al-Qaeda). As the Israeli/Palestinian conflict heads inevitably for a major war, Iraq is increasingly becoming a theatre of that war, on the road to a "clash of civilizations" world war. (3-Jan-07) Permanent Link
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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Jan-07 Sunnis riot and demonstrate over mocking taunts during Saddam's execution

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Generational Dynamics Web Log for 3-Jan-07
Sunnis riot and demonstrate over mocking taunts during Saddam's execution