Tony Blair, the British prme Minister said he was against executing Saddam Hussain. Because he against Capital Punishment. I don’t get it. He sent his troops to Iraq to kill Saddam Hussain !
I do not think anyone can deny that Saddam Hussain is responsible for horrendous crmes against his own people. Though in all of history people will now argue whether he was also responsible at one time for holding Iraq together, for allowing a more liberal interpretation of Islam, and indeed economic progress befoire sanctions were set in. Does this forgive the gassing of the Kurds or any such ruthless supression of any opposition ? I dont think so.
Yet the reaction across the Globe to the sentence has been amazingy political. Prakash karat for example, the leader of the Indian Communist Party has demanded that India condemn the Death Sentence for it represents the will of the American Goverment and not the will of the Iraqi Judiciary or it’s people.
I’m not sure. I think Karat is wrong to take such a skewed pint of view, though I do agree the timing is awkward. . I do not believe that the trial should have been rushed given that Iraq is on the verge of Civil War.
But the towering question to me is this : Who is responsible for the 650,000 civilians that were killed in Iraq AFTER Saddam’s downfall ? More than under Saddam Hussain. Who should stand trial for that ?
Shekhar
Dear Shekhar
US and coalition forces are directly responsible for many of the 600K+ deaths since 2003. But more than 60% of the deaths happened because the lid was removed from an already boiling mass of competition in Iraq.
Hussein and previous rulers of Iraq placed that lid on the pot, and set the fire under it. They could have spent their decades in power removing tension and generating economic health, to remove motives for competition that is currently set to broad murderous levels.
Hussein used ethnic-based power to murder other ethnic groups wholesale, to reduce their vitality and sap their courage, and to cow others who might want to use those courageous ones as a model.
In peacetime, it is those same people who have courage in the face of oppression, that make the biggest contributions to a society’s overall health. Hussein spilled much of the most courgeous lifeblood of his country on its ground. And many people emigrated, rather than face being killed.
Many knowledgeable people in the US, coalition countries, and the UN, knew beforehand that removing Hussein would unleash an internal hell in Iraq.
The current administration’s outsized and under-justified hubris made them think they could control things. They were wrong, and hundreds of thousands have suffered. The stage was set for this disaster, and the playwrights/directors currently on stage are jerks who have never done this kind of thing before, and who shouldn’t have taken it on. When they realized they were in trouble, they continued to deny the problem existed, publically.
They did not ask for help and support properly, they did not understand the country they were entering, they alienated many who might have otherwise helped or supported their efforts, despite disagreeing with their actions. And thus, by their dumbness, they doomed their own plans.
Cheney’s shooting his buddy in the face says it all, for me. Cheney is by far the most powerful man in this administration, and the most arrogant. And he is also one of the stupidest.
The clique of intellectually-smart but socially and culturally-stupid people who surround Bush et al, are responsible, directly and indirectly, for these deaths. It would be very interesting to see them on trial.
I can understand why the reaction to Hussein’s sentence is political: The US now symbolizes — and is — an egregious aggressor, that has been, at the highest levels of power, comfortable making unilateral decisions, and either going ahead with its lopsided, narrow-minded agenda, or bullying support from others, via economic and strategic levers. The US now is seen as closed-minded, stupid, and disrespectful of other countries and cultures. Looking of the current administration, its ideas and its actions, I agree.
As for the future, I hope tomorrow’s midterm elections in the US will carry the opposition party back into power in the legislature. That will have the effect of slowing down, if not fully stopping, much of the current adminstration’s disastrous decision-making and actions.
love, Heather
Dear Shekhar, I agree with you!! Who should be held accountable for the injustice, and genocide being done in Iraq right now!?
I feel, giving Saddam the death sentence, will instigate a blood-bath in Iraq. The retaliations will become perhaps unprecidented yet, by this invasion.
It troubles me deeply and greatly, that a country, was invaded under false pretence in the first place; second, is the fact not one Iraqian has ever hurt an american in “any way” whatsoever; thirdly, the fact the US stole 20 billlion dollars of Iraqi tax-payer money, intended/promised for medical care and infrastructure, was shamelessly wasted by american higher-ups….
shame shame shame, USA!!
Though Saddam must pay for his war-crimes, I tend to also agree; it was rushed, considering the murders of so many crucial witness’s etc. in this trial; let alone, the timing, due to american election.
Seems, the americans are doing it again.. passing the buck!
Let us hope, tonights elections in the US vote in, a more liberal, compassionate government; one bent on mending warring factions… not feeding them!!
with loving kindness,
North
There are many reasons to be inclined against capital punishment. But in this case there is no ambiguity and is more than deserved.
Ousting Saddam was a necessary evil. But Iraq turned out to be an altogether different ballgame than Afghanistan. Iraq is being crippled by the bloodshed and it can only serve as a deterrent to such invasions, however well-meant.
In response to Neeta,
How do you know ousting saddam was better and he dserved what he got. I travelled to Iraq when Saddam was in power and now when the Americans are ruling. Even the Shittes and the Kurds that I talked to preferred Saddam over current situation. So what makes you think it was better?
Sabba
“Perhaps it is time for someone to go beyond Mahabharata and write/produce Mahaprithvi, as Harpreet has beautifully made a case for.”
Please Refer to comments no.4 and 5 on North Korea’s nuclear test, China is the key.
Sabba, It is not better as I mentioned this debacle would deter ANY future invasions by the US.
The US could not have forseen the current situation, the hope was for a transition to democracy. And I still hope it would be for the better in the long run. Didn’t as many or even more die when India got it’s independence? Though the circumstances were different, history has always extracted a cost for democracy and freedom.
Haha so much for democracy and the right to vote! Deve Gowda or Shibhu Soren..take your pick!
Shekhar, very interesting question but I don’t think anyone has answer to who should be on trial for 600k+ Iraqi deaths, On similar lines read this blog post by an Iraqi girl
http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_10_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#116120448528625171
who writes about how the situation has become hopeless and how the people and country are torn. She writes her thoughts very nicely on her blog.
Dear Shekhar,
I’m a U.S. citizen, mid 30’s. I was thinking about your questions.
Question 1, Who is responsible for the deaths of the Iraqi people? Why not blame the citizens of the united states? Oh, i’m not talking as individuals, no no, i mean The Masses. The country as a whole. Until us citizens come together and realize that we are a country of 1, The United States. As a country we need to come together on foreign policy. We let these few jerks in the Whitehouse get away with human extermination, because we, ourselves, are selfish, demanding, cruel to eachother, and psychotic. Only a rare few of us Americans actually physically hurt each other. (See examples of priests molesting children, gang violence in inner cities and criminal detention centers, meth production in small towns, extreme religious fundamentalist groups violent and non-violent, large corporate failures like enron, kids and gun use in schools, and other crazy people who murder, like the guy who shot those Amish girls)…yup. Americans have blood on their hands. But most of us are willing to look the other way, if it means, we can just go and do what we want. Drugs, TV/Entertainment Driving in that Humvee.
Question 2: Who should stand trial?
Answer to Question 2: That’s easy too. The democratically elected president of the United States. The president that we elected, should stand trial to the atrocities, since he told us this was what he was going to do. The United States government should pay for the attrocities done to the people of iraq, since they agreed with the president on what he was going to do. The US citizens should pay for letting their elected officials in the government to side with the president on what he was going to do to the Iraqi people. A third of the people in this country can’t even point out where Iraq is on a map. So blame us.
Dear Shekhar,
I’m a U.S. citizen, mid 30’s. I was thinking about your questions.
Question 1, Who is responsible for the deaths of the Iraqi people? Why not blame the citizens of the united states? Oh, i’m not talking as individuals, no no, i mean The Masses. The country as a whole. Until us citizens come together and realize that we are a country of 1, The United States. As a country we need to come together on foreign policy. We let these few jerks in the Whitehouse get away with human extermination, because we, ourselves, are selfish, demanding, cruel to eachother, and psychotic. Only a rare few of us Americans actually physically hurt each other. (See examples of priests molesting children, gang violence in inner cities and criminal detention centers, meth production in small towns, extreme religious fundamentalist groups violent and non-violent, large corporate failures like enron, kids and gun use in schools, and other crazy people who murder, like the guy who shot those Amish girls)…yup. Americans have blood on their hands. But most of us are willing to look the other way, if it means, we can just go and do what we want. Drugs, TV/Entertainment Driving in that Humvee.
Question 2: Who should stand trial?
Answer to Question 2: That’s easy too. The democratically elected president of the United States. The president that we elected, should stand trial to the atrocities, since he told us this was what he was going to do. The United States government should pay for the attrocities done to the people of iraq, since they agreed with the president on what he was going to do. The US citizens should pay for letting their elected officials in the government to side with the president on what he was going to do to the Iraqi people. A third of the people in this country can’t even point out where Iraq is on a map. So blame us.
Hiii
Read ur piece late.Saddam has been executed by hanging just an hour before.Experts on International relations are pouring in, sharing their views …….. most of our national channel correspondents are at Jumma Masjid, Lucknow, Srinagar for vox pop …. isnt that a bit too disgusting … as if this event has everything to with a specific community.
Politics of calculations doesnt interest me much.But the question remains…
for how long we would keep on accusing THE OTHER? A legacy of thounsands of yrs of civilisation could do only this….. shattering it is… Because its a symptom not an event.We cannot change the course of history but we certainly can try to redefine the collective sense of history.Things are going beyond the theory of civilisational clash……..
Regards
Who is responsible for the death of thousand of Iraqi ,do u think its only Saddam ,i will strongly say No ,Saddam was not only person responsible for this ,why we do’t think about the US & other countries coalition who together attacked on Iraq…
we know why saddam is sentenced to death bceoz he is blamed that he is the killer..if the world is diong justice with saddam then why shouldn’t bush and tony bliaer is sentence to death becoz they r responsible for the death of millions of people in afghanistan and iraq….i need the answer ,,
It is completely a mess, what has occured in Iraq!! President George Bush, said in the beginning, he invaded, to look for Osama BinLaden, and to look for reported weapons of mass destruction!
Under this false pretense, the UK and USA invaded Iraq… more than half a million Iraqi people are dead. BinLaden has become a forgotten reason, and NO weapons of mass destruction were ever found there….
In my opinion, they should have gotten out a long time ago; IF those were the truths as to why they invaded Iraq.
I am in Canada… and from our perspective… they invaded Iraq, for their oil reserves.
I am in agreement… the usa administration; should be charged with crimes against the humanity too.. just like Saddam was!!
Suddam is hanged yesterday.. and, what will this serve to do, other than rid the planet of a bad leader? Will it bring peace, to Iraq? no!! Will it bring prosperity? no!!
The lies, the deceptions, the killing, the madness… when will it all stop?
with loving kindness,
North
Shekhar,
This must be the height of “Double standard”. When US says Saddam was brutal dictator and he killed is own people then I ask then who supplied him the Chemical weapons which he has used it on Kurds in 1981 massacre. Talking about massacres, has US not used Chemical weapons(phosphoric acid) in Falluja massacre in 2005…hmmm?
nice site you have!