So Tony blair and other leaders in UK and the US now condemn the hanging of Saddam Hussien and the way the trial was handled. Hang on…
… both hail the death sentence and say that the trial was just and fair ? Didn’t the US forces deliver Saddam on the morning of the hanging ?
And wasn’t the stated purpose of the invasion the elimination of Saddam Hussein (though less and less people are believing that now)
So why the crocodile tears now ? The coalition invasion forces could have easily stopped the hanging if they wanted to. What caught them all by suprise was the video, I guess. CNN and Time magaizine, amongst others reported that Saddam looked scared. Not to me he didn’t. He seemed remarkably composed for a man that was about to have his neck jerked apart in a minute .
I am not standing up for Saddam. But I am sick and tired of the duplicity of the coalition forces in Iraq. What kind of schoolboy politicians run the US administration if they did not know about the differences between Shia and Sunni. What kind of schoolboy politicians really believed that Iraqi’s would continue to welcome foreign invaders with open arms ? When was the last time any Arab nation lived comfortably under foreign rule ? Especially non islamic Western rule ?
Even if the US went to civil war, would the people of the US accept a foriegn Chinese (say) army come and attempt to bring peace ? Would they accept Chinese soldiers on American soil running the country ?
And then when Bush lost the majority, the world celeberated. Everyone hoped this was the end of the occupation of Iraq. But now there is talk of even more troops.
Let’s face it. The US and the UK are in for a long haul. They can’t leave and they can’t stay. They cannot win in Iraq, for there cannot be any defined goalposts any more. Saddam is dead. There are no weapons of mass destruction. But the coalition forces have fostered a civil war that is taking more lives than Saddam ever did. They do not know how to end the Civil War.
Maybe they have no desire to. Perhaps both the Uk and US want to stay on in Iraq. Perhaps they want to increase and have a permanent presence there. After all, who cares about the lives of over half a million Iraqi civilians that died after the invasion.
Not in face of the politcs of Oil.
And I do not shed a even a crocodile tear for Saddam Hussein. I just hate Colonization under any pretext.
Shekhar
Iraq of today is reminiscent of India of 1857 – only scaled up . but all this pales before something more alarming – what about the imminent alien colonisation of the earth , shekar ?
Hello Shekhar,
Just came across your site today and I can scarcely believe that you actually may read this!Have been a fan of yours for ever – love the subdued feminist ethic of your work ( right from “Masoom”).
Without going off -topic : do you believe in capital punishment ?The recent videos of Saddam’s hanging have had me thinking again about this.I am conflicted – when I hear of child killers like the recent NOIDA case ,I think it is justified.The primordial urge for revenge asserts itself. But what then is the difference between a society sanctioned killing and one that is not? Can I be pro-choice and anti -capital punishment? Do I need to be consistent in my beliefs?
Shekhar,
I beg to differ from you on certain points. First I think US and UK have not condemned the hanging but the manner in which it was handled. You have to admit the Iraqis made a mess of it, they made it look like a spectacle a kind of “Roman Holiday”
I dont know whether Saddam was composed during his time of death but I certainly believe that he was a big coward during his life time. He and his sons(sins) had executed scores of people without a reason or for the most flimsiest of the causes.
Now the US is no angel or the saviour of the world, admitted. They are in Iraq to further their own interest.
But then the iraqis should be working towards throwing them out of their country instead of killing themselves. I am reminded of the quote which Mel Gibson used in his film Apocalypto which says some thing like this:
“No civilisation could be destroyed from without if it is not destroying itself from within”
I am also reminded of that adage about the bedouins:
” Me against my brother; me and my brother against our cousins; me, my brother and our cousins against the world”
Reuben.
Hi Shekhar,
This is the first time, you mentioned “I hate…” on your blog. Anyways, ditto like Reuben I haven’t heard US condemning Hanging Saddam.
Question for Rueben: Reuben, “if it is you against your brother” will you accept anybody killing your brother? True every civilization that has been destroyed, was killing itself from within. Is this what Bush is doing to HIS civilization?
It is not the matter of who destroys what…it is a matter of WHEN … when in the end will we stop these double standards…May be this is what Shekhar meant?
Hi Sheetal,
Question No.1:
if it is you against your brother” will you accept anybody killing your brother?
What I meant is if I am against my brother then it invites outsiders to take advantage and profit from it. The British profited from India nearly 3 centuries ago.
Question No.2:
Is this what Bush is doing to HIS civilization?
I dont think any particular individual can have that much influence. It has to be through the collective conscience of a society.
Question.3:
It is not the matter of who destroys what…it is a matter of WHEN … when in the end will we stop these double standards…
No Idea.
Reuben.
Saddam… who??? US goal is not Saddam or WMD but Corporate Coloniziation Iraq .
http://fuel2economy.blogspot.com/2007/01/us-corporate-colonization-of-iraq.html
Bush Administration is using the military invasion and occupation of Iraq to advance a corporate globalization agenda by transition from a centrally planned economy to a market economy.