By: Nick Buglione
When Dr. Mozaffar Partowmah found out U.S. forces had finally tracked down and captured former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, he was elated.
To Partowmah, who lives in East Meadow after emigrating from Iran as a young man, the capture offered a small measure of closure for the vicious attacks his fellow Kurds in Iraq had suffered at the hands of Hussein.
It was a reaction echoed by a number of East Meadow residents, who were still buzzing some two weeks after it was announced that Army 4th Infantry and Special Forces troops, acting on a tip, collared Hussein in an 6-foot deep spider hole just miles from his hometown of Tikrit.
Saddam has dug his own grave, said Partowmah, a founder of Bellmore s Jaam Masjid mosque who once served as a political adviser to Iranian President Banisadr Abolhasan. We hope that other rulers of the world will learn from him that it doesn t pay to oppress people.
Hussein ordered chemical weapons to be used against the Kurdish town of Halabja 15 years ago, an attack that killed 5,000 Kurds, many of them women and children. It is believed during his 24 years in power Hussein had 5,000 Kurdish villages destroyed, Partowmah said.
We are elated that he was arrested and that he has come to an end, Partowmah said. This is not finished. We want to interrogate him and find out why he did what he did.
Partowmah believes Iraqis should preside over Hussein s public trial. Execution is the only fitting punishment, he said. It should be a slow execution, Partowmah said. He should pay for every individual he executed unjustly. He should die a very slow death.
Mohammed Saleh, president of the East Meadow-based Long Island Muslim Society, said he expects Hussein will ultimately be executed. I will not be surprised if he s put to death, said Saleh, of Merrick. I don t think that Islam prohibits execution.
Actually, prior to the announcement of Hussein s capture, Saleh had assumed the dictator was already dead. U.S. forces were successful in killing his infamous sons Uday and Qusay in July and had bombed a number of targets where Hussein was suspected to be hiding upon the war s outset in March.
If he would have followed his own religion, he wouldn t have been doing what he s done, Saleh said, noting that the Islamic faith preaches tolerance and that Hussein will likely face a vengeful God for the atrocities he committed.
Deena Shiflett was equally surprised and excited when she learned Hussein had been captured. Shiflett lives in Mitchel Manor with her two daughters and husband Chris, who s in the Navy and served in the war for four months. I was shocked because they were searching for him for quite a while, she said. I didn t think they were going to find him.
Months past after coalition forces toppled Hussein s regime, but troops were unable to locate the dictator. Like many others, Shiflett began to wonder if he d ever be caught, especially considering that a two-year search for Osama bin Laden, the terrorist leader who masterminded the Sept. 11 attacks, had so far proven fruitless.
I was one very happy camper, said Roland Costen, commander of the East Meadow American Legion Post 1082, on Hussein s capture. It s not over yet.
Costen believes troops still have their work cut out for them, as a number of key leaders from Hussein s regime remain at large.
He also doesn t expect an end to the pro-Saddam guerilla attacks, which have claimed scores of lives since President Bush officially declared major hostilities in Iraq over. Just because we got him doesn t mean they re going to roll over and play dead, Costen said.
Meanwhile, Iraqbodycount.net estimates between 7, 935 and 9,766 Iraqi civilians have been killed as a result of coalition military action both during and after the war. The Web site bases its estimates on eyewitness and media reports.
