The Implications of Saddam’s Hanging

Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader who for the last year has been held in captivity, was hanged on Saturday at 6 a.m. (10 p.m. Friday EST) at an undisclosed location in Baghdad.

There is no doubt that Saddam Hussein was responsible for the slaughter of 148 Kurds back in 1982, as well as inumerable crimes against humanity under his regime. Yet, the hanging itself will not provide a resolution for the crippled country. U.S. President George W. Bush warned that his hanging would not put an end to the violence occurring throughout the country.

He said: “It is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and be an ally in the War on Terror.”

While the execution may be hailed as a triump for democracy, aside from the fact that the earlier judge had to be dismissed for allegedly sympathizing with Hussein, Iraq remains a war-torn, unstable country plagued by civil war between various opposing Islamic sects—the Shiites, Sunnis, as well as the Kurds—who all have long histories of violence and hatred towards each other.

It also seems important to keep in mind that, while I am not denying the fact that Saddam Hussein committed horrible atrocities against his own people, he remained our ally up until the end of the Cold War, when his regime’s power threatened the fragile stability of the Middle East, with particular regards to Saudi Arabia. At that time, he used the chemical weapons the United States sold to him to fight Iran to gas his own people. Thus, it seems ironic to condemn such a man, while lauding U.S. efforts as noble.

And, perhaps the greatest tragedy—or irony—of the Iraq war, is its impact on civilians. While Saddam Hussein stands accused, and rightfully convicted, of the deaths of nearly 150 Kurds (and clearly thousands more were brutally killed, raped, and tortured under his rule), it’s estimated that at a minimum, 52,000 Iraqi civilians have died, with the maximum being roughly 57,000.¹ In that sense, one must ask the question: who should’ve been on trial, Saddam Hussein or George W. Bush? (a little dramatic and leftist sounding, I know, but those numbers are just staggering and the media never reports on them!)

1. www.iraqbodycount.net/ ↩