 POSTCARDS OF THE HANGING: THE SOFTER SIDE OF SADDAM
Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial -- the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.
Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule.
It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law. -President George W. Bush, Saturday 30 December 2006
There was a little noticed news item this past holiday weekend. The former president of Iraq, Saddam Hussein Abd al-Majid al-Tikriti died peacefully Saturday morning. His death was sudden and quite unexpected. He was only a 69-year-old retired grandfather, but I think it would be wrong of me to ignore it like everyone else has. I know, I know. It's my gift for understatement that makes me so sexy. None but a few of my selected lady-friends knew this, lo these many years. Now you all do. Saddam was a living monster who pillaged his country and raped the populace with impunity. Further, he had none of the charm that made his eldest son, Uday, so popular with the ladies. There was hardly a soul Saddam met that he wasn't at least tempted to dispatch to the afterlife. I know it isn't accepted in polite society to celebrate the death of another human being, but when one is discussing someone who viewed genocide as a hobby, one should never hestitate to break out the party hats upon their shuffling off their mortal coil. Speaking only for myself, I broke out champange and masturbated when I learned of his hanging. Some men's celebrations of justice are more visceral than others. It just so happens that justice effects me differently than other men. Saddam fancied himself a military man and lobbied for a military execution; specifically, a firing squad. The court refused this and sent him to the gallows before dawn. He was a jackal and even hanging was too good for him. He should have been tied to steaks and eaten alive by radid wolverines. One of the demonstrated ways to prevent the grave of a "martyred" monster from becoming a shrine for his ghoulish followers is to not leave enough of a body to bury. Having his mortal remains shit out of a predator more ferocious than himself is what justice is really about. At least it seems that way to me. Again, this is something Uday understood better than most.  The initial reports of the execution were that he went down like a soft little bitch. Quite a contrast to the usual behaviour of one who's name literally means "he who confronts." I was actually surprised and more than just a little disappointed by that. Say what you will about the man, but anyone who saw the reporting of his trial knows that he put on the Greatest Show On Earth. One had hoped that the final act would be a little more in keeping with that tradition. As is usually the case, the truth is slightly more complicated. American forces, who retained physical custody of Saddam since his capture three years ago, turned him over to the Iraqi government for his execution. The carrying out of the sentence was videotaped by representatives of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to demonstrate to the people that Saddam was indeed deceased. To understand this, one should understand that Arabs are a generally superstitious people and given to fantastical conspiracy theories. If we had a history anything like that of the Arab world, we would be, too. Furthermore, Saddam and his twisted offspring inspired such fear among the people that you have to prove beyond any doubt that they're actually dead, lest they return from Elba to restore the throne. Sometimes you have no choice but to open the closet door and illuminate it with a flashlight to show the kids that there are no monsters within. Small problem. The "official" version of Saddam's death was creatively edited. At first blush, one could be forgiven for thinking that this was done for reasons of taste. Unfortunately, that was far from the truth. A creative witness to the proceedings took a cell phone video of the event to record it for history. And, unlike the official video, this one came with audio.
Defiant to the end, Saddam Hussein mocked Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr moments before he was hanged, a witness said Saturday.
The Iraqi government executed Hussein before dawn as punishment for his role in a massacre of his own people, more than two decades before he was toppled by a U.S.-led invasion. A video of the execution broadcast on Al-Iraqiya state television showed Hussein, dressed in a black overcoat, being led into a room by three masked guards. A witness, Iraqi Judge Munir Haddad, said that one of the executioners told Hussein that the former dictator had destroyed Iraq, which sparked an argument that was joined by several government officials in the room. As a noose was tightened around Hussein's neck, one of the executioners yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr," Haddad said, referring to the powerful anti-American Shiite religious leader. Hussein, a Sunni, uttered one last phrase before he died, saying "Muqtada al-Sadr" in a mocking tone, according to Haddad's account. The judge said Hussein appeared "totally oblivious to what was going on around him. I was very surprised. He was not afraid of death."
Saddam had been around the block a time or two. He knew from experience what happened to deposed leaders of his country. After all, he was involved in deposing a couple of them himself. If anything, I think he was surprised that he was afforded the luxury of a trial and the platform it gave him. History usually doesn't give tyrants an encore. More likely than not, he knew the jig was up and that he had done what he set out to do. In my opinion, he was ready to go out quietly and let history be the judge. 
As Muslims, Saddam and his executioners do not celebrate Christmas. Yet, the guards who took him to the gallows gave him the greatest gift of all. By invoking the name of Muqtada al-Sadr, they inadvertantly turned Saddam's death from a political event into a sectarian one. Make no mistake, Saddam's penchant for murdering as many of al-Sadr's family was something of a personal pastime, and as the leading Shia cleric in Iraq, it isn't unreasonable to expect that his name would be mentioned as the Shia-dominated government of Iraq brought justice unto Saddam. But if there's one thing that the Iraqi Sunnis and the United States government have in common, it is the belief that Muqtada al-Sadr is a very bad man, possessed as he is of death squads and the conviction that the Americans are "the Great Satan." It isn't entirely unreasonable to suspect that al-Sadr might just be an Iranian fifth-column agent in place. The popular perception is that Saddam murdered only the Shia and Kurds. The reality is a little different. Saddam revelled in killing anyone who wasn't Saddam. The Sunnis suffered just as much as everyone else in his Iraq. If I could find fault with his trial, it would be that the charges were entirely too specific. He could have been charged with "crimes against the Iraqi people," and precise instances of his brutality used as evidence against him. What happened instead was that the trial cemented the image of an ethnic minority on a rampage against everyone who wasn't Sunni. However, one should always remember that Saddam was never particularly religious until the United States began bombing him in 1991. Everyone in Iraq was fair game for his bloodlust. In the confusion of the invasion and subsequent chaos, people forgot that Saddam's thirst for mayhem was political, not sectarian. He killed anyone who he perceived as a threat to his grip on power. Saddam Hussein wasn't a Sunni fundamentalist, he despised such people. He was a Stalinist with the attendant personality cult. And the difference between the two is enormous. The behaviour of those attending his execution has masked that fact, perhaps forever. Instead of the event being seen as justice for the Iraqi people, the execution of Saddam Hussein will be seen as an act of Shia vengence. This is precisely what isn't needed in the midst of what most sensible observers describe as a sectarian civil war. For that reason alone, I had hoped that Saddam would have gone out like his sons - under American fire in a blaze of glory. That might have prevented what will almost certainly be a deepening of the sectarian divide. Instead, we are where are. It's tragic, but inescapably true that the hopes of a democratic, unified Iraq may have had its airway shattered with Saddam. In a sad and terrifying way, the son of a bitch might have actually won. Even as he met his date with the hangman, Saddam said "Iraq is nothing without me." And he might just have been right. There might not even be an Iraq in three or four years. But this is hardly the time to mourn the future. It is a time to celebrate the snuffing out of a monster. In that spirit, I bring you the much talked about bootleg Saddam snuff movie.
While not done in an ideal way, a cancer has been snuffed out. And that's enough reason to celebrate the new year. Special thanks to the love of my life for suggesting the second half of the title to this post. You're a good girl, Judes.Easy Listening Recommendation of the Day: Gallows Pole By: Led Zeppelin From: Led Zeppelin III
PermalinkLabels: Fun With Politics, I See Monsters, Sunday Papers
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