Shed No Tears For The Butcher Of Baghdad
Another reminder today of what sort of man it was that went to the gallows:
Saddam Hussein and his cousin “Chemical Ali” discussed killing thousands with chemical weapons before unleashing them on Kurds in 1988, according to tapes played on Monday in a trial of former Iraqi officials.
Nine days after Hussein’s hanging, his front-row seat in the dock was conspicuously empty, but Ali Hassan al-Majeed and five other Baath party officials remained on trial for their roles in the 1988 Anfal, or Spoils of War, campaign in northern Iraq.
“I will strike them with chemical weapons and kill them all,” a voice identified by prosecutors as that of Majeed, Hussein’s cousin and a senior aide, is heard saying.
“Who is going to say anything? The international community? Curse the international community,” the voice continued.
“Yes, it’s effective, especially on those who don’t wear a mask immediately, as we understand,” another voice, identified as Hussein, is heard saying on another tape.
“Sir, does it exterminate thousands?” a voice asks back.
“Yes, it exterminates thousands and forces them not to eat or drink and they will have to evacuate their homes without taking anything with them, until we can finally purge them,” the voice identified as Hussein answers.
Distaste over the procedural niceties or lack thereof attending his hanging is of small weight next to the enormity of his evil deeds…
I don’t see who was shedding tears over Saddam, or saying he was anything but a monster. From where I was sitting, the concerns seemed to be about what the trappings of the execution said about the future of sectarian violence in the country, and about the stability of the government there.
Here is someone who shed tears over him, but she probably did not over her husband whom she helped Saddam to murder, though.
Agreed…I merely highlight the above to put things in a little perspective, perspective that was missing in some quarters, it seemed, as people fell all over themselves to protest the unsavoryness of the execution…
The issue isn’t “procedural niceties” as much as whether it makes Saddam a martyr or a rallying point — as far as I’m concerned, they could have put him in a wood chipper, but if the result of our invasion is to elevate him from an object of scorn to a mythic figure, it throws question (as if any more were needed) on the decision to invade Iraq in the first place –
Yeah, you’re right Peter. Let’s not make a martyr out of OBL either…that would be bad. Might give them a reason to dislike us.
JB, there’s a big difference between someone dying and someone being made a martyr.