Hanging, Handwringing And Our Failure Of Nerve

The execution of Saddam Hussein should be a moment of celebration for Americans. Because of the blood and treasure of United States citizens, one of the worst dictators in recent history–– a psychopathic thug with the blood of millions on his hands, a torturer and sadist eager to magnify the scope of his evil by acquiring weapons of mass destruction––has paid the just price for his crimes. We have shown the world that justice awaits such tyranny and inhumane brutality, that crimes against humanity have consequences. We should be proud.

But of course, such satisfaction is not the national mood. The fatal failure of nerve afflicting the West––the disbelief in the rightness and superiority of our own way of life, of the values that will not tolerate monsters like Hussein––has left us discontented with the brutal costs of enforcing our beliefs. Spoiled by affluence and comfort, we chafe at the tragic constants of violent action: the unforeseen consequences, the mistakes in planning and execution, the inadvertent deaths, the brutality unleashed even in the good when placed in violent and fearful circumstances. These characterize every war, including what we now idealize as the “good war,” World War II.

But we were a different people sixty-five years ago, more spiritual, more mature, more confident in the rightness of our beliefs, and thus more accepting of the grim truth that sometimes the good must kill some people now so that the evil don’t kill more people later. No more. We are the therapeutic generation that wants to eat its cake and have it, to achieve all goods without risk or cost or hard trade-offs. [more]

You mean like the way we killed his sons? I thought it was well and good that we caged him and made him swing. Giving his victims a chance to spit at him.

His victims got to spit on him? Good. Guess there is some comfort in that. I remember an Iraqi woman on TV awhile back who wanted each victim to "cut a piece" off of him - that would have been real justice.

We killed his sons with a bomb, bet they did not see it coming. Too good for them, IMO.

The fact that they are all being buried in their hometown is what really chaps me. There should not be enough of them left to bury, and the graves should be unmarked. None of them deserve the "dignity" of a hometown, marked grave.

What's making me sick is the whining going on about how those bad guards taunted poor old Saddam before opening the trap door and getting rid of him. After what the Shi'ites suffered at the hands of Saddam, what would anyone expect, that they not be overjoyed the tyrant is dead? They were vying for the job of being the ones to get to hang him. I would have tried to get a few verbal shots in too before offing him. That's the human reaction. Those that hung him weren't automatoms. Some of their families suffered horribly at Saddam's hands of gov't. Torture, death. And people are complaining because they mouthed off for a couple of minutes to the one that caused all their grief? And of course there are the attempts to somehow link this behavior to the U.S., how we bumped Saddam off too quickly. Like waiting for some more time to pass would have helped how? The Sunni's were going to be PO'd regardless of when Saddam was hung. So, let them be angry. They are already, and they are causing most of the bombings of our troops and of the Shi'a. I'm amazed at the restraint the Shi'a have showed. My instinct would be to try to stomp the Sunni's that have been causing most of the insurrection, into the ground. And, by the way, I don't like the Shi'a any better than the Sunni's, but at the moment it is the Sunni's, backed by the fundamentalists from Saudi Arabia, and some from Syria, that have caused many of the problems. The Iranians are causing trouble backing Al Sadr and his militias in response. But it's the Sunni's that have started most of the sectarian violence, and now that their main man Saddam has bit the dust, they better catch on that they are on the wrong end of a losing proposition now. Either they cut a deal or they will go down in the long run.

The Sunni's were going to be PO'd regardless of when Saddam was hung. So, let them be angry. They are already, and they are causing most of the bombings of our troops and of the Shi'a. I'm amazed at the restraint the Shi'a have showed. My instinct would be to try to stomp the Sunni's that have been causing most of the insurrection, into the ground.

The sunni's have not got what's coming to them at all, they started their whining after saddams fall, and many actually feel sorry for them. They do not deserve pity for they showed no pity when their guy ruled. Sadly enough, many on all sides have chosen to coddle their enemy in one way or another.

A lot of hand wringing in the USA about saddams treatment, but they never LIVED it, in light of this, I agree the Shi'a have shown remarkable restraint

As for me, I will never wring my hands over the death of a murdering, soulless psychopath.

THORTON: The fact is, it is the Iraqi people who are failing, the Arabs who are failing, and Muslims who are failing. The same cultural pathologies that keep Palestinian Arabs sullen welfare clients, that keep Lebanon a political basket-case, that keep millions of Middle-Eastern Muslims mired in poverty and oppression and ignorance and gender apartheid, are the same forces that are keeping Iraqis in some Road Warrior dystopia. Not our blunders, or cultural insensitivity, or arrogance, or whatever other excuse concocted by self-loathing Americans. No, Iraq is failing because too many Muslims love sectarian hatred, love resentment and envy of a successful infidel West, and love their belief in their own God-sanctioned superiority and righteousness more than they love freedom and prosperity and human rights. We have spent our citizens’ lives and our money to give Muslim Arabs a chance to create a better life, and they are blowing it, all the while neighboring Muslim nations either sit on their hands or actively support the forces destroying that opportunity.

This is a golden paragraph. Blame is often heaped on societies with the capacity to absorb blame, regardless of whether or not the targeted society deserves it. From the looks of it, the current elected Iraqi government doesn't have the capacity to absorb and process blame. Honestly, I’m surprised how little thought is given to Iraqi policy. When you look at what they’re doing, they aren't really taking responsibility for the hardest questions of the day; questions only they can answer. What is amazing is that Americans will skip over the details like “who is who in Iraq, and which Iraqi is responsible for which failure”. At first glance, these observations might lead a person to think less of Americans. The pattern is pretty clear. Instead of thinking it through, Americans will accept blame for things entirely out of their control.

In fact, this kind of behavior is the exact opposite of stupid. In terms of social intelligence, accepting more responsibility is the smart thing to do, but it causes serious problems in the midst of this War. By accepting fault, Americans remain the masters of Iraq and Iraqis become near insignificant derivatives of what Americans either do, or do not do. IMO, the first act of liberating Iraq is for Americans to accept blame only when it is reasonable to do so. The second act of liberating Iraq is to specifically blame Iraqis for their faults. This second duty is impossible to accomplish if we do not know who to blame, even when we think we do.

Case in point; the enemy is portrayed, in their own words, by a media that elevates their concerns (the media’s concerns and the enemies concerns) above the objectives of allied forces. The media’s concerns are for increased ratings. The enemy’s concerns are for more influence in the battle space. Therefore the problem is systemic. There exists a naturally symbiosis between enemy action and broadcast ratings. We can rant about the media all day long and nothing will change the fact that ratings are a function of what we all do together.

So I ask the question to the ether, without expectation of reply… Who in Iraq is responsible for the problems there, beyond Maliki, beyond Sistani, beyond Talabani, beyond Hakim and beyond Al Sadr. Why is Iraqi society not taking responsibility to competently answer the most important policy questions of the day? What are the points of failure that Iraqis themselves must repair in order to transcend the hell of their own making? I have no interest in accepting faux responsibility to remain a faux master. Iraqis are not insignificant, and so deserve every bit of blame and praise befitting their unique behavior.

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