It's official. Former Iraqi president and dictator Saddam Hussein has been hanged to death at 6:00 am on the first day of Eid (feast). People have been split about the subject and for good reason of course. Some argue that he had it coming, he was a mass murderer and put his people through decades of endless misery. Some say that he still was an Arab leader and that the American administration didn't have any right to execute him. As a friend put it, "not now...not that way."
Although I agree that the timing is a bit conspicuous, and the execution style was rather a bit off, given that he was still in a military position he should have been shot to death, I still feel happy he's gone.
Just to get things straight, I personally oppose capital punishment and see that they should've sentenced him to life in prison instead of letting him hang, like an old-style western movie.
But I just find it a reasonable ending to a dictator who killed tens of thousands of Shiites and other minorities just for faith-based differences. A person who pushed his country into a losing, unjustifiable war with Kuwait, a person who was basically a muppet.
Saddam, like Bin Laden, had appointed themselves as the Arab nation pimps.
Selling us very cheap under fake religious labels and a bad image.
I'm sorry, when people say, he was lured by the Americans, I say, that is nothing but bullshit. Even if, just the idea of him being lured doesn't make him guiltless! It actually takes me back to an old elementary school saying that my teachers used to tell me, "if he told you to jump out of the window, will you do it?".
Of course, one cannot help but wonder if all this was staged, and he'll be living a life of luxury on a secluded Island after playing the role on television.
In all cases, Saddam's death is only the start of elimination of the rest of the old-guard roster. May the picture remain in the minds of those who refuse to let go.
*Picture from Al-Iraqeya TV
