The Death of Saddam Hussein
By Chad A. B. Wilson
Published January 3, 2007, 11:17 am in News, Military / Foreign policy, Ethics, Morality, & Justice.
Now that the holidays are over, I can get back to commenting on all of the crazy political stuff going on in the world...
And first on the list, Saddam Hussein was executed on December 30 in what was apparently a raucus gathering of government officials and guards. In this column, I will discuss the reasons for and implications of his death.
Why So Quickly?
We have to understand that this wasn't a U.S. decision. He was in U.S. custody, yes, but once he was convicted and sentenced, we turned him over to the Iraqis, and they decided to execute him right away. In fact, their government mandated that he be executed within 30 days. Yeah, it's weird to execute someone only hours after their appeal is denied, but that's the way the democratic government of Iraq wanted it. If what we're interested in allowing the Iraqis to govern themselves, then we have to abide by the laws they set up. And one of those laws was to allow the execution hastily, I mean quickly. Supposedly, a U.S. official tried to get them to hold off the execution, but they refused to do so. If the U.S. had intervened more strongly, then we wouldn't have been respecting their laws. And that would then undermine their stability and tell them that their laws don't matter when it comes to doing what we want. We can't do that if we're trying to build a democracy.
It's a similar idea when it comes to the election. If they had elected some crazy guy to lead their country, there would be nothing we could do about it. If want to respect democracy, we have to allow Palestine to elect Hamas, for example. The same is true for Saddam Hussein, those who execute him, and the laws that allow for his execution.
Besides, I'm glad they didn't wait and say that he will be exectued on January 6, for example. The day is arbitrary, but having an appointed time could likely cause severe problems. Imagine what the Sunnis would do if they had a week to plan for his execution at a given time. If there is violence now, I can only imagine what they would do at an appointed execution. Roadside bombs and suicide bombers would only be the beginning. As it was, there seemed to be no time to plan for these things. The quickness of it made it impossible for the Sunni/Baathist insurgency to coordinate anything. So that is a good thing.
What Does the Execution Mean?
First, let me say that I personally oppose the death penalty. I think we would do better with a United Nations ban on capital punishment, as Italy says it will now fight for. But let's put that aside for the moment, for the Iraqi Consitution does allow capital punishment, and the international community has not wholly condemned it.
Forgetting that the death penalty may be wrong, Hussein's death means a few things for the Iraqis. First, it is retribution. This is the part I don't like. Killing for revenge is never a good idea, and it doesn't help anyone. Wait, I feel myself going into an argument against the death penalty; I better pull back...
Second, the execution spells the end of Hussein's reign. It is easy to oust a dictator, but it's more difficult to get rid of him. His execution serves that function. It closes the book on Hussein, as it were.
Several commentators have said that Hussein always thought that he would be asked to come back and rule the country. It doens't sound far-fetched, either. People keep joking that it is only a dictator like Hussein who could control Iraq; the U.S. and the democratic government just keep mucking about. What is needed is a strong leader who can crush all opposition, just like Hussein did. But then he was executed for doing just that: crushing a rebellion by executing the innocent. Many people still thought the Sunni insurgency had a chance to take over the country again and get Hussein installed again.
That can never happen now. Hussein is officially out of the picture. His death means that his return is impossible. He was tried in a somewhat respectable court of law, and was summarily executed. No more Hussein. His reign of terror is over and he can never do it again.
What that means is that the country can move on. In fact, it has no choice. No need to look back at the good ole days of stable dictatorship under Hussein because that era is over. Now the country must focus on building and stabilizing its democracy.
Oh, the Spectacle!
This, I deplore. Searching for "Saddam Hussein Hanging" on youtube.com gives you 1599 hits as of 11:02 AM January 3. All of them do not contain the actual hanging video, but a lot of them do. The fact that we can now watch someone's death is sickening. I don't want to watch it, and I refuse to look at it. I agree with the TV censors who say that public executions aren't helpful. They are merely spectacle. But perhaps this is an argument for another time.
U.S. Credibility
I don't think the spectacle hurts the U.S. Because the U.S. turned Hussein over to the Iraqi authorities, they are the ones responsible. But then again, they can't even control their own militias. One entire ministry is controlled by a renegade militia leader with his own army, after all.
Do we expect anything less than a public spectacle of the execution of one of the country's most horrific leaders? Nope, I can't say I'm surprised. While I would have liked it to have been a calm, orderly, private execution, I'm not at all surprised that it wasn't. In fact, in hindsight, I should have been surprised that it had been calm and orderly, if, in fact, that were the way it happened.
The spectacle of the execution is just another indication of the problems with the country, of the sectarian rifts that are tearing it apart. Hussein was there representing the Sunnis, and the Shiites were there shouting at him and eventually acting as his executioners. It's not as simple as that, but the two factions were at odds even there at his death, one taunting him and killing him for revenge, and the other somewhat powerless at the moment, resorting to vindictive killings themselves and attempting to undermine the Shiite government.
Vanity, Vanity, Everything is Vanity
I will close with this: in the long run, Hussein's execution and the manner in which it was handled is indicative of the disorder in Iraq. And it will eventually be meaningless.
In other words, in six months, no one will care that Hussein was executed. The violence will continue in the same manner it has for over 3.5 years, and the problems will keep rearing their ugly heads. In the long run, the execution won't matter. I stick to my point that it serves as an endpoint of the Baathist fight for power, but that endpoint does not signal the end of Sunni violence. Nor does it signal the Shiite dominance of Iraq. If either of those things do happen, they will have nothing to do with the death of Saddam Hussein.
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