Saturday, December 30, 2006

Saddam Hussein Executed

Like so many circuses, this one ends in death.

Saddam Hussein was hanged at dawn on Saturday for crimes against humanity after Iraq's prime minister rushed through an execution few believed would help stem the sectarian violence tearing the country apart.

This will not stem sectarian violence. If anything it will fuel it. While I do believe that Saddam Hussein was guilty of crimes against humanity and probably did deserve to hang, this is not justice in my eyes. Hussein was a pawn used poorly in a war that should have never been. The rope belongs around the necks of those responisble for 9/11, for the bombings in London, the bombings in Madrid and in India. Those responsible for the terror the world faces. Hussein was a centerpiece. His death changes nothing.

The former president, toppled by the U.S. invasion four years ago, was shown on state television going calmly to his death on the scaffold. He was to be buried within hours near his home city of Tikrit.

I saw the video, if you haven't, it shows Saddam awfully calm for a man having a noose placed around his neck. The video does not show the actually hanging.

"It was very quick. He died right away," an official witness told Reuters, adding that the body was left to hang for 10 minutes and he was pronounced dead at 6:10 a.m.

This execution has left a strange feeling in me I can't truly explain. An era has ended, an uncertain future still lies ahead. I guess what I'm feeling is slight confusion because, while a vicious dictator has died there is an uneasy sense of nothingness about it. You would expect an occurance like this to send shockwaves through the world. It hasn't. An era has ended with a whimper, making me feel that we humans are even more insignificant than we may think.

1 Comments:

Anonymous Anonymous said...

very good piece. Mad Man!
well said

January 02, 2007 10:43 AM  

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