Saddam Hussein executed

There are times when, for all of the US's superiority in terms of military muscle and technological advancement, that I am very happy to be what Donald Rumsfeld called an "old European". Today, with the execution of Saddam Hussein, is one of those days.

It is extraordinary that a nation as advanced as the US still lives with the dichotomy of recognising killing as wrong and yet pardoning such a wrong whenever it is carried out by the state as opposed to an individual. In this regard the US finds itself out of kilter with all of it's usual allies and in bed with some of the world's most repressive regimes.

Victor's justice has never looked as mean and small minded as it does this morning. For in order to greet what has happened as justice, one would have to ignore the fact that Saddam was greatly aided in his crimes by the same nations that now insist on his death.

Even William Safire, the right-wing, war-mongering NYT columnist, on December 7, 1992, felt compelled to write that, “Iraqgate is uniquely horrendous: a scandal about the systematic abuse of power by misguided leaders of three democratic nations [the US, Britain and Italy] to secretly finance the arms buildup of a dictator”.

As I write this the TV is showing shocking footage of Saddam being taken to the gallows. At the moment of his death there is something horrendous about the invasion of privacy taking place here and anyone who hoped for tears and a breakdown of sorts would come away cruelly disappointed. Saddam, certainly from the pictures I am looking at, is uncannily calm.

So yet another Bush propaganda event appears to have blown up in his face.

The trial was a shocking farce, a show trial that was as concerned with silencing Saddam about who armed him as it was with achieving justice. However, the news of who gave him what has been disclosed even if it has not received the widespread attention that it deserves.

• President Bush and Secretary of State James Baker had committed billions of taxpayer dollars to assist Saddam Hussein.
• Bush and Baker allowed the export of U.S. technology that would directly help Baghdad build a massive arsenal of chemical, biological and possibly nuclear weapons. The arms were given to help Iraq fight Iran.

So, having been greatly assisted by the father, Saddam is now hanged by the son for those same crimes that had his father's fingerprints all over them. Has hypocrisy ever been carried out on such a scale?

The Bush regime seems anxious to attempt to portray this as "Iraqi justice" although I notice that even Bush is making no attempt to say that this death will have any positive effect.

In a prepared statement, George Bush cautioned that Saddam's execution would not stop the violence in Iraq but said it was "an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror."

The very fact that the death will have no positive effect renders it even more pointless. Indeed, the only effects that one can think of are negative. A ruthless dictator is martyred when he should have been sent to the Hague and rendered impotent and, with time, forgotten.

However, his last words will be remembered by Arabs everywhere.

The former dictator, dressed in black, refused a hood and said he wanted the Koran he carried to the gallows to be given to a friend. "Before the rope was put around his neck, Saddam shouted: 'God is great. The nation will be victorious and Palestine is Arab'," Mr Askari told the Associated Press.

The condemnation of his death sentence has already started:

New York-based Human Rights Watch criticised the execution, calling Saddam's trial "deeply flawed".

"Saddam Hussein was responsible for massive human rights violations, but that can't justify giving him the death penalty, which is a cruel and inhuman punishment," said Richard Dicker, director of the group's International Justice Programme.

Even US troops are greeting the news of his death with extreme cynicism:

Some soldiers expressed doubt that Saddam's death would be a significant turning point for Iraq.

"First it was weapons of mass destruction. Then when there were none, it was that we had to find Saddam. We did that, but then it was that we had to put him on trial," said Thomas Sheck, 25, who is on his second tour in Iraq.

"So now, what will be the next story they tell us to keep us over here?"

So, it's not a major turning point and, by Bush's own admission, it won't do anything to stem the violence. It is simply what it is. A small, tawdry, pointless act of viciousness by a small, tawdry, ineffective leader.

Saddam's execution has Bush's style written all over it. By which I mean, the event has no style at all.

Click title for full article.

Related articles:

Saddam trial verdict tarnished by Iraqi court's failings

Despite having US advisers, the judges and lawyers were insufficiently trained and were unprepared for the hostile environment. The level of expertise of the Iraqi trial judges, administrators, prosecutors and defence lawyers was "not sufficient to fairly and effectively try crimes of this magnitude".

tag: Bush, Iraq war, Saddam Hussein, death penalty