Hero of the Sunnis

Saddam Hussein was a secular despot who only turned to religion late in his Presidency of Iraq, whenever he wanted to consolidate support against Western infidels. He really had no use for religion whatsoever, and he certainly was not well-liked by fellow Sunnis in the region like Saudi Arabia and Jordan. Militant Palestinians considered him a hero only because he paid suicide bombers. He was a pan-Arabist and a Baathist, not someone who would rouse factional support from Sunni Muslims. Therefore it's fascinating to see him treated as a martyr in this part of the world.

In the week since Saddam Hussein was hanged in an execution steeped in sectarian overtones, his public image in the Arab world, formerly that of a convicted dictator, has undergone a resurgence of admiration and awe.

On the streets, in newspapers and over the Internet, Mr. Hussein has emerged as a Sunni Arab hero who stood calm and composed as his Shiite executioners tormented and abused him.

“No one will ever forget the way in which Saddam was executed,” President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt remarked in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot published Friday and distributed by the official Egyptian news agency. “They turned him into a martyr.”

Indeed, there were parades and paeans to Saddam in Morocco and Lebanon and Palestine. They're building a STATUE of him in Libya (remember Libya, the country seen as our great friend now after renouncing WMD?) and scheduling three days of mourning. And that interview with Egypt's President was extremely vitriolic, particularly toward the United States, as well as the Iraqi government's "conspiracy" to kill Saddam before the year is out.

Saddam must be looking from beyond the grave and chuckling at this. These nations and people who had no use for him are turning him into a celebrated figure because of a religion for which he had no utility. It'd be comical, if it wasn't so tragic and dangerous.