Saddam's Death A Building Block For Iraq
This column was written by the editors of National Review
Death on a scaffold is the fitting ending for Saddam Hussein. His was a carefully conceived career of mass murder and terror — and an Iraqi court, with Iraqi judges and Iraqi lawyers, has sat in judgment on it. True, they passed sentence on only a small portion of his crimes, and much of the evidence was still to be heard of the genocide he ordered for the Shiites and the Kurds. However, legalistic quibbles or conscientious objections are particularly misplaced. Iraq has long been a failed state, its true condition concealed by a run of dictators, each more brutal than the last.
Nothing can be said for Saddam except that he knew no better than the rule of the gun under which he had always lived. He was to make the most of the opportunities for crime open in the circumstances to anyone of vicious character like him. He was barely adult when revolutionary nationalists staged a coup and killed virtually all the members of the family hitherto ruling Iraq. At that same time, Saddam declared himself a revolutionary nationalist — but in reality he, too, was a glorified hit man like the others. In due course, purposefully, he murdered his way to absolute power. As he went to his death, he may have recalled the 22 colleagues and rivals whom he accused of conspiracy with "U.S. imperialism" and whose hanging he one day personally supervised.
Arab despotism is a fearsome phenomenon, renewing itself from within each and every time yet another glorified hit man sets out on his bloody career. In the spirit of pure self-aggrandizement, Saddam invaded Iran and Kuwait, fired missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia, decimated his own population and in the process resorted to poison gas, manipulated the great powers, and made a special mockery of the United Nations. And perhaps none of that matched in vileness the way that he deceived the husbands of two daughters of his into returning from exile under safe conduct, only to send a squad of gunmen under his son Uday to kill these fathers of his own grandchildren.
With such brutes, entreaty, diplomacy and conferences are exercises in self-deception. Regime change imposed by superior force was the only realistic way to ensure Saddam's fall. This is what occurred in March 2003, and it is a historic marker. The collapse of his dictatorship has created a social and political void, and a variety of hit men, as usual, are trying to make careers out of it. The only way to prevent their doing so is to introduce the rule of law and impose enough security that it has a chance to take. Saddam's trial, for all its flaws, was an exercise in the rule of law. Justice is never perfect, especially when carrying an element of retribution. Much more important, though, this case is exemplary. Saddam's trial and execution could yet be the building block of a future with hope in it for an Iraqi society and state at last free from his tyranny.
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online
National Review Online Death on a scaffold is the fitting ending for Saddam Hussein. His was a carefully conceived career of mass murder and terror — and an Iraqi court, with Iraqi judges and Iraqi lawyers, has sat in judgment on it. True, they passed sentence on only a small portion of his crimes, and much of the evidence was still to be heard of the genocide he ordered for the Shiites and the Kurds. However, legalistic quibbles or conscientious objections are particularly misplaced. Iraq has long been a failed state, its true condition concealed by a run of dictators, each more brutal than the last.
Nothing can be said for Saddam except that he knew no better than the rule of the gun under which he had always lived. He was to make the most of the opportunities for crime open in the circumstances to anyone of vicious character like him. He was barely adult when revolutionary nationalists staged a coup and killed virtually all the members of the family hitherto ruling Iraq. At that same time, Saddam declared himself a revolutionary nationalist — but in reality he, too, was a glorified hit man like the others. In due course, purposefully, he murdered his way to absolute power. As he went to his death, he may have recalled the 22 colleagues and rivals whom he accused of conspiracy with "U.S. imperialism" and whose hanging he one day personally supervised.
Arab despotism is a fearsome phenomenon, renewing itself from within each and every time yet another glorified hit man sets out on his bloody career. In the spirit of pure self-aggrandizement, Saddam invaded Iran and Kuwait, fired missiles at Israel and Saudi Arabia, decimated his own population and in the process resorted to poison gas, manipulated the great powers, and made a special mockery of the United Nations. And perhaps none of that matched in vileness the way that he deceived the husbands of two daughters of his into returning from exile under safe conduct, only to send a squad of gunmen under his son Uday to kill these fathers of his own grandchildren.
With such brutes, entreaty, diplomacy and conferences are exercises in self-deception. Regime change imposed by superior force was the only realistic way to ensure Saddam's fall. This is what occurred in March 2003, and it is a historic marker. The collapse of his dictatorship has created a social and political void, and a variety of hit men, as usual, are trying to make careers out of it. The only way to prevent their doing so is to introduce the rule of law and impose enough security that it has a chance to take. Saddam's trial, for all its flaws, was an exercise in the rule of law. Justice is never perfect, especially when carrying an element of retribution. Much more important, though, this case is exemplary. Saddam's trial and execution could yet be the building block of a future with hope in it for an Iraqi society and state at last free from his tyranny.
Reprinted with permission from National Review Online
How convenient too to pass over in silence U.S. complicity in the gassing of Kurds in the 80's, when Rumsfeld was buddy buddy with Saddam.
Is not the guy who supplies the gun accessory to murder?
?????????
You have got to be kidding me. It is now completely obvious that the "NRO" is where one will find in the media the "neo-con" mentality.
IT IS WELL DOCUMENTED HISTORY THAT WE, THE UNITED STATES OPTED FOR THE VIOLENT APROACH TO OUSTING SADDAM IN IRAQ AND DIDN'T CONSIDER PEACFULL APPROACHES.
Neo-con = Violent
The Arab world blames America for everything already. Iraqi's have an elected government that will make as many mistakes as we do. Of course, Maliki has an attachment to the Bush administration. In most cases, they would be called allies, but in the Arab world that is not possible and not because of us.
Guess who the Arab world blames for Saddam's trial and execution? It is not the Iraq government but us - the Americans. Sorry, but the world knows that the administration controls the Maliki government. In proof, remember when Maliki had to "obey" the cleric and not meet with Bush and Bush said to meet with him, Maliki obeyed Bush. Now, this is an additional cross our military has to bear in Iraq.
The same and intelligent thing to have done was to have handed Saddam over to the World Court at The Hague as other dictators have been. After all, he did also commit international crimes. After a very long trial, he would have been found guilty and executed.
Was Saddam made to face all the charges from the many aggrieved Iraqi groups ? NO - one trial against the Prime Minister's group, and he is hung by a gang of masked, taunting thugs - this is American democratic justice ? The whole region should do this ?
Every opportunity to demonstrate the superiority of democracy lost. As usual, the Bush Administration put the lie to what they claimed was their goal - justice and freedom in Iraq. Saddam's crimes were many, but they were enabled by the Reagan and first Bush Administrations - so the entire trial was a sham excuse for the second Bush's imperialist Neocon intervention into Iraq. We see now, tragically, the many services Saddam did the U.S. by controlling Iraq, suppressing Islamic fundamentalism, and countering both Iran and Osama bin Laden. Bush's arrogance and stupidity destroyed the natural equilibrium and put America into the position it cannot sustain. Bush "lost" Iraq the moment he marched in.
If you guys missed PBS's Frontline last night, it was titled The Dark Side, and it explained how our Vice President formulated the invasion of Iraq and used 9/11 and lies that were passed off at the time as intellegence to further his agenda.
Every American should watch it, and I think you can still see the entire show at their website.
=========
Iraq has been FREE FROM HIS TYRANNY since we invaded almost four years ago and nothing good has come of it yet...