Edward Said calls for Saddam Hussein to step down

[Michael Pugliese]

<URL: http://www.dailystar.com.lb/01_02_03/art21.asp >
Intellectuals speak outArab intellectuals and lawyers compiled a petition 
Friday calling on Iraqi President Saddam Hussein to step down to avoid a 
“catastrophe” in the Middle East.
“We call upon public opinion in the Arab world to exercise pressure for the 
dismissal from power of Saddam Hussein and his close aides in Iraq in order 
to avoid a war that threatens with catastrophe the peoples of the region,” 
the petition reads.
It also calls for “the rule of democracy in Baghdad and for the stationing 
across Iraq of human rights monitors from the United Nations and the Arab 
League to oversee the peaceful transition of power.”
The signatories are as follows: l Nabil Abd al-Fattah, (Egypt) editor in 
chief of State of Religion in Egypt, Al-Ahram Center for Political and 
Strategic Studies
l Asli Bali, (Turkey) attorney, Department of Politics, Princeton 
University, New Jersey
l Melhem Chaoul, (Lebanon) professor of sociology, Lebanese University
l Ghassane Ghosn, (Lebanon) writer and columnist
l Wael Hallaq, (Palestine) professor of Islamic Studies, McGill University, 
Montreal
l Mustafa Husseini, (Egypt) senior columnist, As-Safir daily
l Ahmed Ibrahim, (Egypt) senior researcher, Al-Ahram Center for Political 
and Strategic Studies
l Sadeq Jalal al-Azm, (Syria) philosophy professor, Damascus University
l Hasan Johar, (Kuwait) member of Parliament, Kuwait
l Kemal Kirisci, (Turkey) Jean Monnet professor, Bogazici University
l Samir Khalaf, (Lebanon) professor of sociology, American University of 
Beirut
l Elias Khouri, (Lebanon) novelist and editor, Mulhaq al-Nahar
l Kamel Labidi, (Tunisia) journalist and human rights activist
l Chibli Mallat, (Lebanon) lawyer, EU Jean Monnet Chair in European Law, 
Universite Saint Joseph, Lebanon
l Saoud al-Mawla, (Lebanon) professor of political sociology and 
anthropology, Lebanese University
l Jamil Mroue, (Lebanon) publisher and
editor-in-chief, The Daily Star
l Yusri Nasrallah, (Egypt) film producer,
l Soli Osel, (Turkey) Bilgi University, Istanbul
lAbdullah Yusuf Sahar-Mohammed, (Kuwait) professor of international 
relations, Kuwait University
l Edward Said, Columbia University
l Mohammed al-Sayed Said, (Egypt) deputy director, Al-Ahram Center for 
Political and Strategic Studies, academic advisor, Cairo Institute for 
Human Rights Studies
l Fares Sassine, (Lebanon) professor of philosophy, Lebanese University
l Yezid Sayegh, (Palestine) professor, Cambridge University, UK
l Janber Suleiman, (Lebanon) Palestinian researcher, coordinator of the 
Sabra and Shatila Committee
l Roland Tomb, (Lebanon) professor of medicine, Universite Saint Joseph
l Fawaz Trabulsi, (Lebanon) professor, politics and social studies, 
Lebanese American University, Beirut
l Fahmiyeh Sharaffeddine, (Lebanon) professor, Lebanese University
l Michael Young, (Lebanon) writer and columnist, Lebanon
l Karim Yousef, (Egypt) lawyer and law lecturer, Cairo
l Sharhabeel Zaeem, (Palestine) lawyer, Gaza, Palestine
l Jihad Zein, (Lebanon) opinion and diplomatic editor, An-Nahar daily

-- 
Michael Pugliese

"Without knowing that we knew nothing, we went on talking without listening to 

 each other. Sometimes we flattered and praised each other, understanding that 

 we would be flattered and praised in return. Other times we abused and shouted 

 at each other, as if we were in a madhouse."
-Tolstoy