BETWEEN TWO WORLDS
Zainab Salbi

Early on in Saddam Hussein's reign, a woman could occasionally express a contrary opinion as long as she joked, cried, or sounded like a bit of an airhead.

...though [Saddam Hussein] legalized honor killings in the 1990s...

I remember hearing about a businessman who had been executed for raising his prices in violation of a law no one understood. The amazing part was not his murder, but the act that the Mukhabarat had apologized to the family afterward, saying they had made a mistake because he hadn't violated the law after all.

"He charms people, he seduces them, and then he harms them."

Uday, the elder of Amo's two sons, would later become infamous worldwide for his "rape palaces" where he raped and tortured women. ... Uday invited the daughter of a friend of my mother's out on a date, and her parents were so upset they arranged overnight for her to be married to a cousin in Dubai. She left the country almost immediately.

Between the world of right-doing and the world of wrong-doing there is a meeting ground.

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