By Andrew Hammond RIYADH, Dec 31 (Reuters) - Arab media coverage of Saddam Hussein's execution has reflected sharp divisions between Arabs opposed to U.S. influence in the region and those allied with Washington. The drama of Saddam's violent end was brought into living rooms across the Arab world with television pictures of masked hangmen tightening the noose around his neck. Al Arabiya satellite channel, which was given immediate access to the images by Iraqi state television, ran endless shots of Saddam at the gallows. Al Jazeera followed once it obtained them. The execution was a sequel to the fall of Baghdad in April 2003 when pan-Arab satellite networks relayed scenes of Saddam's statue being torn down in central Baghdad by U.S. troops and delirious Iraqis. "This is the first execution of an Arab leader. It's a new and surprising image for ordinary Arab citizens," said Khalaf Alharbi, editor of Saudi tabloid Shams. "People are confused. This is the end of a tyrant but also of a prisoner of war who fought the West," he added. On the one hand, commentators queued up on Al Jazeera to criticise the hanging at dawn on Saturday of the former Iraqi ruler deposed by U.S.-led forces in 2003. On the other, Iraq's Shi'ite politicians had open access to Al Arabiya to justify the first televised death of any Arab leader in a region of autocratic rulers. Al Arabiya is owned and run by Saudis close to the royal family, which was never comfortable with Saddam Hussein's secular Arab nationalist ideology despite bouts of friendship. Al Jazeera, a Qatar-owned channel which is banned from reporting inside Iraq, has provided a forum for the majority of Arabs across the region who opposed the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Al Arabiya stands for 'moderation' and dialogue with the West, Al Jazeera is about slogans concerning 'resistance', which frankly are more popular in the Arab world. But neither side is the whole truth," Alharbi said. As'ad AbuKhalil, a Lebanese politics lecturer at the University of California, criticised both channels in his popular blog site. "(Al Jazeera) is way too sombre and way too melancholic ... just as Al Arabiya's coverage is way too celebratory and fake," he wrote. BAD TIMING America's key Sunni Arab allies generally acquiesced in the U.S. invasion and occupation of Iraq, despite public opposition. Now they publicly back a continued U.S. troop presence to boost the Shi'ite government and avoid civil war. Those governments, including Saudi Arabia and Egypt, have criticised Iraq over Saddam's execution. But their main gripe was timing -- it came during the Eid al-Adha or the Feast of the Sacrifice that falls amid the haj pilgrimage to Mecca. The hanging risked stoking trouble as over two million Muslims followed the ancient rites amid already heightened security on fears of Iraq's sectarian violence spreading. "(Saddam's) execution was the application of the truest form of justice, although it took place at the worst time," wrote Abdel-Rahman al-Rashed, the manager of Al Arabiya, in Saudi-owned pan-Arab daily Asharq al-Awsat. Reflecting public attitudes, newspapers around the region were indignant. "America mocks the feelings of Muslims: Bush slaughters Saddam during Eid al-Adha," Egypt's opposition al-Wafd said. Egypt's state-owned al-Akhbar noted that Saddam, who mocked Arab leaders for kowtowing to the United States, "appeared composed and refused to have the bag placed over his head". (Additional reporting by Aziz El-Kaissouni in Cairo)
