Categories: Current Events

I first read the news over at Mad Bull’s blog, and heard it at my first class this morning. Saddam Hussein, once feared tyrant, the self-proclaimed reincarnation of Nebuchadnezzar, now convicted war criminal, was sentenced to hang yesterday for crimes against humanity. I wasn’t surprised that he was found guilty. I mean c’mon, he’s Saddam Hussein. I think Stalin would have a better chance in court than he did. I wasn’t surprised at the way they want him executed. No fancy humane lethal injection or gas chamber. Just hung, like a common dog.

Bush and company must be loving this. They got to debase the mighty ruler, finding him in a spider hole, looking more like a vagrant than a dictator, capturing him and reveling in the fact that he co-operated like a little child, a far cry from the proud, defiant ruler he once was. They dismantled his empire brick by brick, and took the lives of his sons, his would-be successors. And now they get to complete his humiliation. It’s almost sad to see a man utterly destroyed like this, even if he is a tyrant. But Saddam isn’t going to give them the pleasure. He’s going to fight to the bitter end, shouting “God is great” in defiance. There’s a sort of understated courage in that, and I have a grudging admiration of him for it.

But while the media has a field day with the news, and the Bush administration uses it to deflect attention from its failures in Iraq, what about the people of Iraq? Won’t this divide them even further? Won’t this bring about another round of sectarian violence in Iraq? Won’t this give U.S. troops a harder time maintaining peace? Wouldn’t it be better to let the vendetta go and let him live, because a lot of people will suffer, all because they refused to spare one man’s life. I guess in the end, I’m left asking the same question as Mikhail Margelov: “Who benefits?”