HYPOCRACY AND VENGEANCE
No one should take a delight in the execution of Sadaam Hussein, particularly among Americans. There is no doubt that his rule of Iraq was a self serving and cruel one that saw privilege for some Iraqis and exploitation of others, mainly Kurds and Shia Muslims. HE WAS THROUGHOUT HIS CAREER AMERICA'S MAN. He was supported with CIA help in gaining power and remained in power with the support of the US government over the years. He served US interests as a secure source of oil and as a bastion against Communism over the years. Historian,Juan Cole summarizes this sad history in his blog entry for today http://juancole.com/
His fate was sealed from the moment of his capture. His trial for war crimes should have been at an international tribunal but the US hostility to the International Criminal Court prevented him being sent there. US politician have reason to fear that they may find themselves tried for war crimes before this court, justifiably so. For the rest of their lives members of the Bush administration will be fearful of any travel abroad as they may be subject to arrest. The Americans allowed a kangeroo court with dubious legal procedures to be given the task of legitimating his murder. The US assured this by making the death penalty part of the political system they set up in Iraq to join the few counties in the World that still have the death penalty as part of their judical system. No one should mistake the death of this unpeasant man with Justice. It was vengence for some Iraqi's and the hypocrical disposal of "their man" who had become an embarassment and threat to the security of US oil interests in the middle east.
Journalist Robert Fisk, who has reported on the Middle East for years writes more poignantly than I of the meaning of the death of Saddam Hussein and the culpability of others in the West, who have gotten away with it" http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2112555.ece
The death of any person is a sad day not only for the loss of a life but also for what is says about those who tolerate state sanctioned murder. We all stand accused!
"No man is an island, entire of itself...any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in mankind; and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." (John Donne)
posted by Tossing Pebbles in the Stream @ 5:34 a.m.
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3 Comments:
Gosh, Philip. Sometimes you really sound anti-American! You are of course entitled to your opinion, so I don't want to say any more, except Happy New Year. Hope all your wishes come true in 2007.
69 countries currently have death penalties. Amongst them are Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, and Iraq. The Americans did not change the existing penal code by giving Iraq something it did not already have: i.e. the death penalty. There was never any doubt of the guilt of Hussein, so in that sense, you are right, it was inevitable. There was a Mount Everest of documentary evidence of complicity beating a path to his office with his fingerprints all over it. That being said, the alternative to execution would have been life in prison, where he would be an object of continuing martyrship for his followers with civil consequences. He was a murderer plain and simple and there is no point in trying to trivialize what he did on some greater political scale (ie. worked for Americans)or on some forum basis (should have been the international court). None of that alters the facts concerning Hussein's acts of murder. I find it astonishing under these circumstances that you could describe his exection as murder. Murder is the unlawful taking of an innocent life. He had a long trial and a lot of lawyers (including Ramsey Clark)so his execution was not unlawful, nor was he an innocent. Now, if you want to turn around and accuse Americans of murder, that is different thing, but their role in this does not condone Hussein's murders.
will avoid this hot topic and just ask how you are. Hope your eye is not giving you problems and that you get your stitches out soon.
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