This is going to be one of those moments akin to the Kennedy assassination or September 11th. Following a nighttime ride through the muffled whiteness of the latest blizzard here in CO, I sat down to my computer, crossing my fingers that my illicit Internet connection would be functional enough for me to send some business-y emails I have been putting off for several wks. Uttering an surreptitious exclamation of delight when the wireless connection did its job, I signed into my account, started to hit the 'Compose' button, but halted w/my finger above the mouse key as I read the title of the Washington Post News Alert in my Inbox: 'Former Iraqi President Hussein Executed.' My jaw dropped slightly -- you never expect to find that an evil which has colored your entire life really can die, and at the hands of an executioner, no less -- and I hastily read the article, a revised version of which can be found at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142.html?referrer=email
Then, smthg. even more unexpected happened. I welled up. I got all misty reading abt. the ignominious end of that dirtbag, Saddam. Don't misunderstand -- I wasn't sad for him, his death is no real loss to the world. I am, however, sad that in the midst of large-scale violence being perpetrated on all sides, the Iraqi government response is to join in the throes, adding one more victim the growing pile, albeit one more deserving of his end than many others who have perished thus far. If this whole thg. had taken place at a different time or in a different political context, I may not be so dismayed at the outcome. I am not a wholehearted proponent of the death penalty, but I think we can all agree that this man perpetrated some of the most heinous, brazen crimes against humanity this side of the Holocaust, and, frankly, I am okay w/such ppl. being hanged. I'm not trying to turn this into a debate abt. the death penalty, so save it -- I've heard the arguments of both sides and formed my own mostly anti- opinion according to my own standards of conduct, so let's leave it at that -- but what I am saying is that by hanging even a creature as vile as Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi government has just shot itself -- and us -- in the foot. No, more like the face.
Prior to his execution, Saddam was not much of a rallying point for anyone, not even his own Sunnis. Why? B/C he was, as covered previously, a cunning, ruthless asshole who was not particularly nice to anyone, regardless of religion, tribe, or political affiliation. The only thg. most Sunnis miss abt. Saddam are the oil revenues he used to throw their way to keep them fr. starving and rebelling against him since they do live in the most worthless section of Iraq and would not have survived otherwise -- as they are now unhappily discovering. But now, now all that has changed. By executing Saddam, the Iraqi government -- run primarily by Shi'ites and Kurds, remember, neither of whom are well-loved by the Sunnis and vice-versa -- has made a Sunni martyr of Saddam. They have created smthg. that was not there before, potentially triggering an even greater blood-letting than we have heretofore seen, even in the last six mos. when the Baghdad morgue has been averaging 100 bodies a day and the Coalition casualties have been mounting at steadily increasing rates.
Certainly, this is speculation. But it is educated speculation likely to be borne out by exceptionally unfortunate events. Certainly, too, if there is an increase in violence, much of it will be directed b/t the ever-warring factions within Iraq, not strictly at Coalition troops. But the execution took place within the American-run Green Zone, after a US judge gave consent through his silence for the event to take place, and at the behest of a government which is essentially propped up by the US Coalition. So you do the math and figure out if this is likely to decrease or increase the popularity of our troops there, at least among the Sunni faction. Maybe you can do some real fun math of the sort the administration uses often and thereby figure that two-thirds of the country is happy Saddam is dead, so that other third is inconsequential, no matter how many armed fanatics they count among their number. You can play the numbers as you see fit, but I for one am going to worry more than ever about the ppl. I care abt. who are over there or are soon to be so.
On a final note, Iraqis being fond of their guns as they are, it was not surprising that there was widespread celebratory gunfire across the country as news of Saddam's death spread. I believe the Ottoman Empire hadn't quite fallen off the knowledge wagon in the 17th c. when Newton conclusively demonstrated the existence of gravity and the attendant corollary, 'what goes up must come down,' which leads me to believe that these ppl. should have gotten the memo abt. that. This, in turn, would lead one to hope they would refrain fr. unreservedly letting loose a salvo of gunfire, since they should have the understanding that those bullets do come back down with some force, coming to rest, as all objects eventually do, when acted on by an outside force, frequently some unsuspecting bystander's body. A common complaint lodged against the West by ppl. fr. this region is that we underestimate them and look upon them as somehow 'less' than us -- less developed, less educated, less able to govern themselves w/o the use of force, etc. My question, then, is why would a ppl. so annoyed by our 'unfair' characterizations continue to engage in a behavior that is, charitably, foolish and which flies in the face of even the most basic scientific principles?
The world is above all a mystifying place.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/12/29/AR2006122900142.html?referrer=email
Then, smthg. even more unexpected happened. I welled up. I got all misty reading abt. the ignominious end of that dirtbag, Saddam. Don't misunderstand -- I wasn't sad for him, his death is no real loss to the world. I am, however, sad that in the midst of large-scale violence being perpetrated on all sides, the Iraqi government response is to join in the throes, adding one more victim the growing pile, albeit one more deserving of his end than many others who have perished thus far. If this whole thg. had taken place at a different time or in a different political context, I may not be so dismayed at the outcome. I am not a wholehearted proponent of the death penalty, but I think we can all agree that this man perpetrated some of the most heinous, brazen crimes against humanity this side of the Holocaust, and, frankly, I am okay w/such ppl. being hanged. I'm not trying to turn this into a debate abt. the death penalty, so save it -- I've heard the arguments of both sides and formed my own mostly anti- opinion according to my own standards of conduct, so let's leave it at that -- but what I am saying is that by hanging even a creature as vile as Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi government has just shot itself -- and us -- in the foot. No, more like the face.
Prior to his execution, Saddam was not much of a rallying point for anyone, not even his own Sunnis. Why? B/C he was, as covered previously, a cunning, ruthless asshole who was not particularly nice to anyone, regardless of religion, tribe, or political affiliation. The only thg. most Sunnis miss abt. Saddam are the oil revenues he used to throw their way to keep them fr. starving and rebelling against him since they do live in the most worthless section of Iraq and would not have survived otherwise -- as they are now unhappily discovering. But now, now all that has changed. By executing Saddam, the Iraqi government -- run primarily by Shi'ites and Kurds, remember, neither of whom are well-loved by the Sunnis and vice-versa -- has made a Sunni martyr of Saddam. They have created smthg. that was not there before, potentially triggering an even greater blood-letting than we have heretofore seen, even in the last six mos. when the Baghdad morgue has been averaging 100 bodies a day and the Coalition casualties have been mounting at steadily increasing rates.
Certainly, this is speculation. But it is educated speculation likely to be borne out by exceptionally unfortunate events. Certainly, too, if there is an increase in violence, much of it will be directed b/t the ever-warring factions within Iraq, not strictly at Coalition troops. But the execution took place within the American-run Green Zone, after a US judge gave consent through his silence for the event to take place, and at the behest of a government which is essentially propped up by the US Coalition. So you do the math and figure out if this is likely to decrease or increase the popularity of our troops there, at least among the Sunni faction. Maybe you can do some real fun math of the sort the administration uses often and thereby figure that two-thirds of the country is happy Saddam is dead, so that other third is inconsequential, no matter how many armed fanatics they count among their number. You can play the numbers as you see fit, but I for one am going to worry more than ever about the ppl. I care abt. who are over there or are soon to be so.
On a final note, Iraqis being fond of their guns as they are, it was not surprising that there was widespread celebratory gunfire across the country as news of Saddam's death spread. I believe the Ottoman Empire hadn't quite fallen off the knowledge wagon in the 17th c. when Newton conclusively demonstrated the existence of gravity and the attendant corollary, 'what goes up must come down,' which leads me to believe that these ppl. should have gotten the memo abt. that. This, in turn, would lead one to hope they would refrain fr. unreservedly letting loose a salvo of gunfire, since they should have the understanding that those bullets do come back down with some force, coming to rest, as all objects eventually do, when acted on by an outside force, frequently some unsuspecting bystander's body. A common complaint lodged against the West by ppl. fr. this region is that we underestimate them and look upon them as somehow 'less' than us -- less developed, less educated, less able to govern themselves w/o the use of force, etc. My question, then, is why would a ppl. so annoyed by our 'unfair' characterizations continue to engage in a behavior that is, charitably, foolish and which flies in the face of even the most basic scientific principles?
The world is above all a mystifying place.
