The New York Times and the AP have reported that the Iraqi government has ordered an investigation into the goings-on at Saddam’s execution. A three-member committee of the Interior Ministry will conduct the inquiry. The AP quotes Sami al-Askar, identified as a close political adviser to Prime Minister Maliki, as saying that the Iraqi leader had “ordered the formation of an investigative committee in the Interior Ministry to identify who chanted slogans inside the execution chamber and who filmed the execution and sent it to the media.”
According to the Times, the Maliki government’s representatives at the hanging included a judge and a prosecutor from the special tribunal that condemned Mr. Hussein to death. Also present was Maliki’s national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, and he was identified today by another of those who was present as one of two people — both Maliki government officials — who had held up cellphones towards the gallows to record the hanging.
Rubaie was identified by Munqith al-Faroun, who was the deputy prosecutor at Saddam’s trial. He said he had recognized Mr. Rubaie, a physician who spent years in exile in London under Mr. Hussein, but that he knew the other official only by sight and could not name him. Faroun said he was puzzled as to how the two officials managed to get their cellphones into the execution block, since the American who flew the official party to Khadamiyah and maintained outer security at the execution block had demanded that all those attending the execution surrender their phones before entering.
The investigation will be a real test for the Maliki government. There have been numerous reports that the Interior Ministry has been infiltrated by members of Shi’ite militia groups, making it more than likely, in my view, that the investigation will either amount to a whitewash or never be concluded. If I’m right, the slide towards full-scale civil war will accelerate.
As to the American role and viewpoint, the Times reports the following:
- One report circulating among senior Iraqi officials today, which no American official would confirm, was that the American ambassador, Zalmay Khalilzad, had appealed in the last hours before the execution for a delay of 14 days to provide time for all the constitutional and legal questions surrounding the hanging to be resolved, and for detailed planning of the execution to take place.
- American officials say privately that the Maliki government, by allowing the Hussein execution to be conducted as it did, signaled more powerfully than ever before that it was unwilling or incapable of surmounting the deep sectarian divisions here.
- According to the account given by the United States military command, the American role in the hours leading up to the execution ended when Mr. Hussein stepped off the Black Hawk helicopter that carried him to the Khadamiyah prison at about 5.30 a.m. local time on Saturday and was handed over, at the doors to the execution block, to Iraqi officials. There were no Americans present at the execution itself.
What happened to the elder Bush’s “kinder, gentler nation”? Do those who support Saddam’s brutal and unjust hanging know what they do? Supporters of his brutal treatment have corruption, or they must claim Saddam knew what he was doing; however, the media don’t talk much about the pardons and commuting of death sentences he did before the unjust invasion, while he complied with the U.N.
There’s no justice his death when many in his family have died violent deaths as well—even his 14-year-old grandson!! CNN posted E-mails they’d received at http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/12/30/hussein.execution.feedback/index.html. One said, “We have probably just guaranteed World War III.” However, others had a more positive note. Certainly, supporters of his hanging have damaged the U.N., a partner to prevent another world war, because it makes it more difficult for any world government to rely on adhering to it without suspicion, and our actions demonstrate we’re more barbaric and life has less value now.
A few facts. The UN has never prevented any war. In fact, it has managed to exacerbate virtually every conflict it’s become involved in. There is no world government, and never will be. Saddam Hussein was a brutal dictator, directly responsible for the murder of many thousands of Iraqi citizens, and for the invasion of Iran which resulted in the death of many more thousands of Iranians and Iraqis. His hanging can’t be considered unjust by any stretch of the imagination. He was tried and convicted by a legal court set up by the elected government of Iraq. His execution was not only legal and legitimate, it was necessary for Iraq to progress beyond the current state of sectarian violence it finds itself in.
Kinder and gentler mean only one thing to the groups we oppose—weak. If you want to end the violence and move toward a more peaceable world, you have to be ready, willing, and able to oppose those who commit the violence. All pacifism means is that you expect someone else to fight your battles for you while you cry about how nasty they are.
Doug, speak for yourself! My grandfather, John Wallace Rich, eldest of two brothers, fought and died, volunteering for World War II while he was an engineering student at Purdue; my mother was his only child, less than a month old when he was KIA at 20, and the folded flag takes center stage in my memory. My cousin, Louis Bartning, the only male sibling in his family with two sisters, also volunteered to fight and die in Korea for our constitution, not arrogance and inappropriate comments like yours. I do get angry and have other feelings about it, but I don’t think I’m crying about how nasty someone else is in fighting “my battles.” I remember thinking the invasion wrong when it began.
Saddam seemed to have a brutal government, but he also had a softer side, exemplified by there being no weapons of mass destruction, his following the U.N.’s guidelines, and, as I said, his commuting of death sentences and pardons. For us to support his execution before Osama Bin Laden even being caught shows merciless injustice, and I don’t see what I want about it. Moreover, Saddam was tried and hanged for a sovereign Iraqi court’s decision, though also a brutal one, deciding on the fate of others, not for the atrocities for which you accuse him.
Your response also uses too much criticism. The definition of arrogance according to The Free Dictionary, http://www.thefreedictionary.com/arrogance, states it’s an “overbearing pride.” I’ve heard other, much more applicable definitions than yours for “pacifism,” such as a “chicken hawk” being someone who supports a conflict without being willing to fight for it, and justice and tolerance are also things over 400,000 Americans fought and died for on the front lines during World War II, not some evil agenda it appears our executive and judicial branches have had—possibly our whole government, an institution Madison describes rhetorically in Federalist 51 (1788) as “the greatest of all reflections on human nature…” You equate cheap victories with manliness or something good? What happened to humanity, something your awkward comments attack like the injustice I complain about?
Saddam won’t have to answer about where he got chemical weapons in the 80s. However, Americans and our society want and need the truth, and your lies make big lies rather than provide protection for truth because of the arrogance and violations of our constitution. One officer, Lt. Ehren Watada, even risks jail time to stand up for the U.S. Constitution about serving in what he thinks is an illegal invasion in Iraq. See http://hotzone.yahoo.com/b/hotzone/blogs19056 for further information on it.
At least we seem to get the truth about WMDs, and some sources don’t make the false claim about Saddam’s links to Al Quida, something Lt. Watada even complains about. The article also questions prosecuting criminal activity regarding an illegal invasion of Iraq, and if you’re going to blame Hussein with wild numbers, are you going to blame Bush for the million abortions a year in the U.S., the murders and executions in our country or of or by our countrymen abroad? What about the injustice here besides, something Hussein’s hanging contributes to IMHO? What happened to the law, an Oath of Office or oath to stand up for the constitution, something Lt. Watada claims his reason for refusing deployment to Iraq?
FDR said Washington would be there for the children and grandchildren of those who fought and died in World War II. MacArthur said during the surrender ceremony on the U.S.S. Missouri:
It is my earnest hope, and indeed the hope of all mankind, that from this solemn occasion a better world shall emerge out of the blood and carnage of the past—a world dedicated to the dignity of man and the fulfillment of his most cherished wish for freedom, tolerance and justice…
...Men since the beginning of time have sought peace…. Military alliances, balances of power, leagues of nations, all in turn failed, leaving the only path to be by way of the crucible of war. We have had our last chance. If we do not now devise some greater and more equitable system, Armageddon will be at our door. The problem basically is theological and involves a spiritual recrudescence and improvement of human character that will synchronize with our almost matchless advances in science, art, literature and all material and cultural development of the past two thousand years. It must be of the spirit if we are to save the flesh.
Again someone confuses kindness with weakness. If your words paid the price, they would not have been posted, for they argue for a brutal society.
“A free press can of course be good or bad, but, most certainly, without freedom it will never be anything but bad. . . . Freedom is nothing else but a chance to be better, whereas enslavement is a certainty of the worse.”—Albert Camus, Resistance, Rebellion and Death (1960)
French existentialist author & philosopher (1913 – 1960)
Son, you don’t know me and you don’t know my background. You also clearly don’t know the facts. Your defense of Saddam Hussein puts you in the not-worth-arguing with camp. You also have the leftwing habit of claiming “arrogance” of anyone who disagrees with you. Oh, and Lt. Watada dishonored the uniform and his oath by refusing a lawful order. Like him if you want; you’ll never persuade me that he’s an honorable man.
BTW, my father and two uncles served in WWII, and I served 3 years in a nuclear missile unit of the US Army. Watch who you’re calling a “chicken hawk,” son. And just what was your military service?
Doug, I’m 42, so “son” seems awkward. Do you accuse everyone who disagrees with you of having a “leftwing habit”? Whether you change the subject from military sacrifice to military service presents an issue. Also, where did I call you a chicken hawk? I criticized the definition of pacifism you used and described a chicken hawk as “someone who supports a conflict without being willing to fight for it.”
I’m generally against the death penalty; besides, Osama has remained at large since 9/11. The puppet government the Bush administration has in power in Iraq shouldn’t have hanged Saddam IMHO, and we shouldn’t have invaded and/or occupied the country.
Shiites, the ones who arrived in Iraq after the Sunnis are the majority in Iraq nowadays, and they verbally attacked Hussein , a Sunni, during the hanging. It could contribute to the sectarian violence and sets a poor example. Part of the poor example involves the former Iraqi leader complying with the U.N.
What about doing good for the country? Your response didn’t address my statement about someone again confusing “kindness with weakness.” And I believe in doing good things for our country, not bad. My father, B.S.E.E. undergraduate, designed the first cost-effective integrated-circuit memory. My great grandmother, Dr. Beatrice Gelber, did some important research in psychology. What about fairness? You don’t honor those in your family who paid the ultimate price.
Patriotism means to stand by the country. It does not mean to stand by the president or any other public official…—Theodore Roosevelt
It is the job of thinking people not to be on the side of the executioners.—Albert Camus
Military glory—that attractive rainbow, that rises in showers of blood—that serpent’s eye, that charms to destroy…—Abraham Lincoln
Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth.—Albert Einstein
Rigid justice is the greatest injustice.—Thomas Fuller
There is no crueler tyranny than that which is perpetuated under the shield of law and in the name of justice.—Charles de Montesquieu
You can wipe out your opponents. But if you do it unjustly you become eligible for being wiped out yourself.—Ernest Hemingway
Guard against the impostures of pretended patriotism.—George Washington
Violence can only be concealed by a lie, and the lie can only be maintained by violence.—Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
Only a free and unrestrained press can effectively expose deception in government.—Hugo Black, Supreme Court Justice
Nations, like individuals, are punished for their transgressions.—Ulysses S. Grant
What is morally wrong can never be advantageous, even when it enables you to make some gain that you believe to be to your advantage.—Marcus Tullius Cicero
The life of the nation is secure only while the nation is honest, truthful, and virtuous.—Frederick Douglass
We are the ones responsible to determine whether the war that our marines, soldiers and airmen are fighting in is worth the cause…—Scott Ritter
I am not blaming those who are resolved to rule, only those who show an even greater readiness to submit.—Thucydides
Everybody’s worried about stopping terrorism. Well, there’s a really easy way: stop participating in it.—Noam Chomsky
Those who give up essential liberties for temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.—Benjamin Franklin
An army of principles can penetrate where an army of soldiers cannot.—Thomas Paine
The opinion of 10,000 men is of no value if none of them know anything about the subject.—Marcus Aurelius
Paramount among the responsibilities of a free press is the duty to prevent any part of the government from deceiving the people…—Hugo Black, Supreme Court Justice
In times of universal deceit, telling the truth will be a revolutionary act.—George Orwell
It is dangerous to be right when the government is wrong.—Voltaire
It is a truism that almost any sect, cult, or religion will legislate its creed into law if it acquires the political power to do so…—Robert A. Heinlein
The power to declare war, including the power of judging the causes of war, is fully and exclusively vested in the legislature.—James Madison
The voice of protest…is never more needed than when the clamor of fife and drum…is bidding all men…obey in silence the tyrannous word of command.—Charles Eliot Norton
That we are to stand by the president, right or wrong is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public.—Theodore Roosevelt
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive.—Thomas Jefferson
Right is right, even if everyone is against it, and wrong is wrong, even if everyone is for it.—William Penn
May we never confuse honest dissent with disloyal subversion.—Dwight D. Eisenhower
Behind the ostensible government sits enthroned an invisible government owing no allegiance and acknowledging no responsibility to the people.—Theodore Roosevelt
One is left with the horrible feeling now that war settles nothing; that to win a war is as disastrous as to lose one.—Agatha Christie
Vincent, at best your unironic commentary is laughably diffuse, not unlike something out of a Leslie Nielsen movie.
Vincent, I’m 54, so “son” is perhaps a stretch. But your comments seem very adolescent to me. The answer to the plaint, “Can’t we all just get along?” is “No.” Your yearning for a world where the lion lies down with the lamb will go unfulfilled. It just doesn’t work that way. It takes two sides working for it to make peace, but only one side to make war. And I don’t accuse everyone I disagree with of leftwing habits. But you exhibit some classic leftwing tropes. No one else uses the term “chicken hawk.” And accusing your opponents of “arrogance” is something you lefties do every time. So you’re showing your leftwing habits yourself, I’m just pointing them out.
I won’t engage in an epigram battle with you, because relying on bumper-sticker quotations rather than thought and analysis for your beliefs is a fundamentally silly thing to do. If you want a good argument or discussion, say something rational rather than just what you feel would be nice to have happen. Gee, I’d like everything to be sweetness and light too. I just know that it won’t happen.
Michael:
Your post makes it look like flame wars have moved to blogs. I don’t want to be funny here.
Vincent
Yes, you’re claiming the “high road.” I’m moved.
“Adolescent” comments? I don’t get it Doug. How’s that constructive to the conversation? I’m sharing ideas to strengthen them, not with poor intent like a flame war, and I’m definitely open minded, though as I said, I’m generally against the death penalty.
“Kinder, gentler nation” cites authority, a Republican at that, George H W Bush. You’re calling that “adolescent” uses a slippery slope at best, sliding it down to making that the same as “Can’t we just get along,” something I think a quote of Rodney King for one.
I don’t see what I want about it. Saddam did not deserve death IMHO. Do I need more power, more understanding, more humility? Whether the problem remains injustice presents an issue it seems to me.
What do you define as “leftwing” then? I’ve been reading the term “chicken hawk” on other blogs, specifically in some of the later comments to a http://www.newshounds.us article, http://www.newshounds.us/2006/12/30/oreilly_fails_to_take_stand_against_death_penalty_when_presented_with_opportunity.php.
Madison said in Federalist 51 (1788), “Justice is the end of government… It ever has been, and ever will be pursued, until it be obtained or until liberty be lost in the pursuit…” Blocks abound here, but justice seems difficult to obtain from my perspective at least, and I have not seen fairness. However, I do value miracles here, and I laugh about it.
I’m not at peace about the hanging, nor the conversation. However, though 9/11 presents a major attack, something we should work on, Iraq seems a more personal and frustrating endeavor by President Bush, and I do not agree with our supporting Saddam’s execution after we invaded unnecessarily.
Authorities did not even fully prosecute Jefferson Davis, former president of the Confederate States of America, after the Civil War. Wikipedia’s article on him at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jefferson_Davis claims he spent only two years in prison after he was caught on May 10, 1865. Moreover, he went on to do much public service after his release. Yes, I do say that morality has suffered, but I don’t think I’m safe in claiming it.
“The first panacea for a mismanaged nation is inflation of the currency; the second is war. Both bring a temporary prosperity; both bring a permanent ruin. But both are the refuge of political and economic opportunists.‗Ernest Hemingway
hair restoration…
hair restoration…
Want the Best Hair Loss Treatment ? Provillus Review…
If hair loss has crushed your confidence, you need to see this now. Check out Provillus the best hair loss treatment on the market!...