The Hanging: Beyond Travesty

The Washington Post ^ | January 05, 2007 | Charles Krauthammer

[21stCenturyFreeThinker]

WASHINGTON -- Of the 6 billion people on this earth, not one killed more people than Saddam Hussein. And not just killed, but tortured and mutilated -- doing so often with his own hands and for pleasure. It is quite a distinction to be the pre-eminent monster on the planet. If the death penalty was ever deserved, no one was more richly deserving than Saddam Hussein.

For the Iraqi government to have botched both his trial and execution, therefore, and turned monster into victim, is not just a tragedy, but a crime -- against the new Iraq that Americans are dying for, and against justice itself.

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Interesting comments by syndicated columnist and Fox News contributor Charles Krauthammer.

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[Alamo-Girl]

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[ReignOfError]

Nonsense. It sets back no cause of ours. In the Arab culture, it just makes us look like the strong horse.

You and I will have to agree to disagree on that. If the only way we can win is for our side to be more savage than theirs, then what are we really winning? If the point was to project strength, we should have just obliterated Saddam and everyone in a mile radius without futzing around with a trial. If the object was to illustrate the rule of law we should have illustrated the rule of law.

The execution of Saddam achieved neither. It sent the message that the new Iraqi government is feckless at achieving either justice or revenge.

[Southack]

Nonsense. That's a liberal Western worldview. Arab culture sees that the U.S. wanted a clean execution, and that the U.S. wanted a delay in the execution, but that the U.S. followed the law in turning Saddam over to Iraq.

The Arab worldview sees that the U.S. is strong enough to follow the rule of law even during conflict.

Likewise, the Arab schzitzophrenia kicks in when viewing what fellow Arabs did, which is what they all want to do (e.g. spit at Saddam).

[ReignOfError]

The Arab worldview sees that the U.S. is strong enough to follow the rule of law even during conflict.

If you think the execution of Saddam was in accordance with the rule of law, you're delusional. The US government disagrees with you. The Iraqi government disagrees with you, and has already arrested the guy who shot the video. I suspect that the best day of the rest of his life will be worse than the worst day of the rest of my life.

The whole damn point is that we should be bringing them up to our level, not lowering ourselves to theirs. Otherwise, why bother? Did three thousand Americans die to bring Iraq from one form of barbarity to another form of barbarity?

Of course not. If we don't believe that Iraqi Arabs are capable of democratic self-governance, we're wasting time, treasure and blood on a lost cause. If there can be no democratic Iraq, we should just punch out and stop being targets.

I believe that Iraq (Babylon) and Iran (Persia) can find their way out of recent craziness and back to their noble traditions. If not, well, I'll brace for when all Hell breaks loose, and we have to choose between being present and killed or absent and irrelevant.

[Southack]

"If you think the execution of Saddam was in accordance with the rule of law, you're delusional."

Snap out of it! He had a trial. He had an appeal. That's the rule of law. Sentence was carried out.

Next.