This is the way Algerians see it

The Algerians who managed to get Eid off on their rotation off are mostly back. I talked with some of them and asked them how their holidays were. Unwillingly here I opened quite the subject. Apparently in town the mood was very bad over Eid…and when I asked why, of course it was because of Saddam Hussein. I am told that some newspaper had “Thanks a lot Cowboy for your present. We will never forget it” and this was not meant nicely.
They told me that the hanging of Saddam Hussein on the day of Eid was perceived as a provocation.
Here is some of what I was told:
“People in America will pay for that. He (Bush) will go to his ranch in Texas and not care, but the people of America will pay for this”
“The Arab world now has a reason to unite.” (you will notice that usually Algerians do not consider themselves Arabs...this is how united they now feel)
“They took pictures of him hanging. It is an insult.”
“People who before didn’t care are ready to take arm and go to Iraq”
“People will never forget that. It is a provocation”
“He (Bush) will cry and wonder after why “nobody likes me”…” mimicking a child crying.

I tried to explain that before I came to Algeria I had never heard of Eid and that the people of America do not know about it. I tried to point out that maybe the decision was made by people who did not know about it…but let’s just say that they did not buy the second part. Yes, they know that nobody knows about Eid…the same way that they didn’t know about Easter until I crack a joke about “Happy Easter” when we were all wishing each other all the “Happies” appropriate for this time of year. So yes they know that the people don’t now…but they don’t believe that Bush didn’t know.
I haven’t read the western papers about it: Did he know?