Call Me a Bleeding Heart, but Saddam’s Execution Troubles Me
December 29, 2006
It’s not that I think he’s innocent. And if anyone deserves to die for his crimes, it’s Saddam Hussein. He’s an evil shit, no question.
But he’s still a human being. And he’s probably a very frightened one right about now. I imagine myself in his shoes and cringe at the idea of knowing that my death at the hands of the state is imminent and there’s nothing I can do about it. It’s a special kind of terror that most of us will never be unfortunate enough to know.
Yes, Saddam made his bed. But no matter how many inhuman things he’s done, he’s still a human being. And there’s something about giving the state the power to put any human being through that kind of terror–no matter what he has done–chills me to the very bone.
Well it appears the wait was short. However, I’m sure it was done to make the process more humane.
But something about this just seems wrong nevertheless. What about the Kurds getting their day in court with the man? What was the big rush? Why does this seem like a cowardly act? I’m no Saddam fan, and the man deserved to die, but something about this whole thing just doesn’t feel right to me.
It was absurd, but then the entire Iraq war is absurd. By having him executed (and the Iraqi “government” does nothing without our approval, so as far as the world and this sailor is concerned, *we* executed him), we have irreversibly further tarnished our position in the world.
Attorneys and judges were killed, replaced, and/or thrown out of the court during Hussein’s trial. The standards applied to rules of evidence and witness tampering were definitely not what you’d find on Main St., USA. To execute someone after this “trial” is inhumane.
The issue isn’t whether Hussein was evil. He was. But so is Putin, whoever runs China this month, the leaders of half of the nations in Africa, and the leaders of 3/4 of the Middle and Far East nations with which we do business. So “evil” or being an “evil shit” isn’t the issue. He killed his own population with US-supplied weapons, and we were his good buddy while he was doing it, so we can’t claim righteous indignation at his version of ethnic cleansing, either.
Hussein was executed to make a political statement, and the wrong political statement at that. Bush has given every would-be martyr in Hussein’s tribe reason to blow up a US building for the next 100 years. It’s such a stupid and wrong thing to have done, it’s almost beyond belief.
Daniel: I, too question the timing. I feel like this was more a political statement to the American people about the war in Iraq than anything else. It plays a bit like one of Rove’s increasingly feeble attempts to remind Americans that we’ve “accomplished” something in Iraq.
John: I truly hope you’re wrong about the would-be martyrs. I think people who support Hussein are in the definite minority in Iraq at this point. That said, I think this does give lots of people an excuse for random violence.
Ok, you’re a bleeding heart.
Saddam had to die, and die publicly. Both so his supporters don’t believe he can be brought back, but more importantly so his detractors know. Yes, this may cause some short term violence, but I believe it’s one more step in us getting out of there. I believe that there is a group of Iraqis that have been silent up to this point, out of fear of Saddam returning to power. That barrier has been removed. Ask his victims if they were scared before they died. The state didn’t summarily execute him, he had his day in court, there’s many who would argue that they should have shot him in the rat hole they found him in. I think the people who say this was all engineered by the US aren’t given the men and women who put their lives and their family’s lives on the line for their country to try this man enough credit (I mean the Iraqis).
i think sympathizing with saddam even for humane reasons is doing a major disservice to the memory of his victims. as for the 100 year comment, I think it is foolish to step on eggshells to appease any would-be martyr assclowns. People like them don’t need a reason to inflict the violence they do. If Saddam was given a jail sentence or even freed, they’d still be assclowns, they’d just look for another excuse to blow up people and buildings. Appeasement and complacency are losing attitudes.
As an aside, I think the appropriate punishment would have been to publicly shackle him to allow the people of Iraq to spit on him. Then put him in solitary for a while and then publicly hang him. After that, I’d cremate his dumbass and scatter him in a dung heap, which would then be dumped into the ocean. Of course, this would create a security and logistics issue as I’m sure there would be rescue attempts, but nevertheless this would make sure he had absolutely no honor in his death.
[...] My friend Deborah commented on my last post about Saddam Hussein’s execution that, “sympathizing with saddam even for humane reasons is doing a major disservice to the memory of his victims.” [...]
Its a year later, and Saddam got much better than what he should have, for anyone who feels bad for the scared man… take a look at the executions he sentenced others to.
http://justsickshit.com/2007/sickos/saddam-believed-in-superman-revisited/