Saddam Hussein executed
Saddam Hussein was a very nasty piece of work who deserved to spend the rest of his life in jail. However bad he was, though, the death penalty is still wrong for a number of reasons:
- Death penalties are always inherently wrong. They mark the failure of civil society to deal with criminals in a humane way. Even the man who killed has human rights.
- By killing Saddam now, the Iraqi government is seeking to draw a line under the whole Hussein story. It would have been better if he could have faced trial for other crimes such as Halabja.
- It is expected that the execution will somehow be a turning point for Iraq. I'm not convinced that it will be. If anything, it marks that Iraq as a country has not moved on from execution as a tool of the state. It also marks the completion of the process of Islamicisation in Iraq's government. This will not lead to a stable or democratic civil society.
- Typically, the entire process has been mishandled by the US government and their allies in Baghdad*. The trial was carried out on a very shaky legal basis (but then the US doesn't subscribe to international law, so that's no surprise). The execution will be seen by many in Iraq as something pursued and argued for by the Americans. What could have been a uniting moment for Iraqis will much more likely prove divisive.
The fact that he's gone now and can't hurt another soul is good. But this whole thing has been handled in a very old-fashioned, retributive way. All we can hope for is that Iraq will pull itself back together, despite the efforts of a few thugs and foreign powers.
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*I should add that if you're going to try to deny that the US government has either (a) been involved in the way the trial was handled, (b) illegally invaded Iraq in a highly destructive and disastrous campaign; then you're very welcome to. You're wrong, of course, but it's always interesting.
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