Local Kurdish Immigrant Reacts To Saddam's Death Sentence

Hank Rafaii says he always thought the day Saddam Hussein would be executed would come; it's just taken a long time. Rafaii moved from Northern Iraq to Tulsa in 1993 to escape the violence. News on

Friday, December 29th 2006, 9:45 pm

By: News On 6

Hank Rafaii says he always thought the day Saddam Hussein would be executed would come; it's just taken a long time. Rafaii moved from Northern Iraq to Tulsa in 1993 to escape the violence. News on 6 reporter Steve Berg says for Rafaii, the execution couldn't happen quickly enough.

Hank Rafaii says he loves living and working in Tulsa. But just for this one day, he'd like to be in Iraq.

"And I'd love to be there when they hang him or they shoot him," said Hank Rafaii.

If that seems harsh, you have to remember that Rafaii; the owner of Kurd Auto Service in Tulsa is Kurdish himself. And you likely remember how ruthless Saddam was to the Kurds, Rafaii certainly remembers. He says he had friends who were taken away by Saddam's secret police and never seen again. Because he was heard saying he wanted to leave the country, Rafaii was put in jail for six months, where he says he received beatings.

"Worst thing I've seen in my life," Rafaii said.

And he has no doubt that Saddam is responsible for thousands of deaths.

"He said he didn't do it, but he did. They found evidence, and he signed for it. He did. He loved to do this kind of killing, he's worse than the Devil," Rafaii said.

So what kind of Iraq will emerge after Saddam's death? Rafaii doesn't like the idea of his country being divided into three separate nations. He says three different states would be okay, but he wants Iraq intact.

"We need to forget about the past that's happened. We need to forget about the religion, the Sunnis and Shia. We need to live as one Iraq under the flag under one Iraqi government, that's it," said Rafaii.
Someday, he says he'd like to return to a peaceful Iraq.

"I'd like to see my mom and dad and be back more. I'd love to do that," Rafaii said.