The swift manner in which ‘justice’ was meted out to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein must have come as a shock to all and sundry.
The swift manner in which ‘justice’ was meted out to former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein must have come as a shock to all and sundry. While the former Iraqi dictator was no saint and the fact still remains that he deserved to be given the harshest punishment -- even death -- for heinous crimes against his people, the manner in which he was ‘disposed of’ was equally disturbing and brutal.
It was obvious that the moment the United States pulled Saddam out of the rabbit hole in late 2003, his fate was sealed. Many believed the trial was a sham and that the verdict was a foregone conclusion.
Yes, Saddam was no saint. However, what was disturbing was the fact that a foreign power was seen to be administering justice on Iraqi soil. It was clear the power in question was doing so with vendetta on its mind.
There have been numerous instances in recent history where tyrannical dictators have been punished for gruesome acts. Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu was killed by a firing squad after being convicted for genocide and smuggling huge amounts of money from the country. The conviction was welcomed by Romanians, and a fully functioning democracy was established in the once Communist country.
Perhaps the most famous was the Nuremberg trial, where Nazis were tried and executed for war crimes against humanity, especially the Holocaust.
Parallels can be drawn between Saddam and these two events. In all three cases, ruthless dictators killed several innocent people. However, in the case of Romania, the resistance to tyranny came from within, while the Nuremberg trial took place to punish Germans for having started World War II.
As far as Saddam was concerned, it seems his end was plotted well before the second Gulf War. It is a different matter the second Gulf War was a big farce. Having failed to find the ‘dreaded’ weapons of mass destruction, US led forces had to find something — and who better than a guinea pig than Saddam. After all wasn't he their nemesis in the first Gulf War and didn't he get away despite showing audacity to capture Kuwait? The inability to punish Saddam then must have weighed heavily on the American administration’s mind.
Saddam thus became a coverup for America’s miserable failure in Iraq, only compounding as the days go by. With Saddam's execution, the US may find itself trapped in another Vietnam. A more dangerous one.
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