Saturday, December 30, 2006
Saddam Executed
I am not a supporter of the death penalty. It was therefore with a dark sense of foreboding and distaste that I read this morning of the execution of Saddam Hussein. The man was an evil tyrant who persecuted and murdered thousands and for that he should have been locked away for the rest of his life. I do not believe though that we or the Iraqi government had a moral right to take revenge on him in this way.
The rush to execution after a less than satisfactory trial process will enhance Saddam's status as a martyr around whose memory terrorists and insurgents will gather. The biggest regret though is that he was not made to answer for other crimes before he was killed, such as the Kurdish genocide. Perhaps there were other interests and former allies who prefer this barbarism to remain unexamined in this way.
This is not a good day for peace or democracy.
The rush to execution after a less than satisfactory trial process will enhance Saddam's status as a martyr around whose memory terrorists and insurgents will gather. The biggest regret though is that he was not made to answer for other crimes before he was killed, such as the Kurdish genocide. Perhaps there were other interests and former allies who prefer this barbarism to remain unexamined in this way.
This is not a good day for peace or democracy.
