The End of an Era

The unconfirmed reports are starting to trickle in that Saddam Hussein, terror of the Middle East since before I was born, has been put to death. There are vastly conflicting views on whether this execution should have been carried out or not, but I doubt many people would argue it was not deserved. Justice can be difficult to enforce, and was certainly absent throughout the course of SH’s rule. The execution of the Dujail villagers, the genocide of the Kurds in the north during the Iran-Iraq war, the invasion of Kuwait and his crimes against humanity-- these events were not preceded by the kind of fair trial (kangaroo courts don’t count), like the one Saddam received. That contrast in the way Saddam dealt out judgment, to the way he received it, distinguishes the west and its democratic system of checks and balances from the tyrannical and unilateral way Hussein would arouse fear in his neighbors and his fellow countrymen. In this way, it seems that Saddam has been made an example of. As an opponent of capital punishment, I feel it would have made a better example of Saddam to let him live out his remaining years as the destitute, hobo we’ve come to know (a far cry from the oppressive despot image of just a few years ago). It would help us rise above the culture of violence that seems destined to embroil the mid-east for years to come. But if anyone deserved to be put to death, it was Saddam. I’m not losing any sleep.