There must be something inherently human about feeling uncomfortable to witness the death of anyone. And so it is entirely justifiable for many of us to have felt trepidation about the execution of Saddam Hussein. This isn’t to say a majority of people don’t believe he got what he deserved; it’s just that we don’t want our Humanity to get lost in the impulse for revenge.
This may surprise a few, but I don’t believe in the death penalty. It’s based on the notion that planning an execution is a cousin to a planned murder. Most people believe the Ten Commandments include the principle, “Thou shalt not kill,” but it actually says, “Thou shalt not murder” and I have trouble getting around the idea that mankind arranging for the killing of another isn’t a violation of the founding tenets of our society.
Having said that (or, better, written that), Saddam was not executed based on Western values, but on Islamic law and the Iraqi society. I have less trouble with Saddam’s demise based on who carried it out and the reasons for it. There were few despots more brutal to his own people than Saddam. In modern terms, Saddam gets a seat at the same table with Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot and Mao. He may have been moving toward the head seat if his regime had not been stopped.
Americans generated a certain amount of sympathy for Saddam as he walked his final steps, but Americans didn’t live under his terror and state-sponsored murder. The Iraqis did, however, and it’s doubtful our sensitivity to capital punishment means much to the Kurds who were bombed with mustard and sarin gas or the Shiites in the south of Iraq who were systematically rounded up, murdered and shoved into mass graves – all by his orders and approval. By most estimates, more than 1 million Iraqis were killed under Saddam and another 1 million in his war with Iran. To the surviving families and friends of the disappeared, Saddam’s public execution was naturally welcomed, Western concerns notwithstanding.
4 comments:
Good comments. Similar to a car wreck I actually watched the grainy footage of him being executed even though I desperately wanted to turn it off. It was one of those experiences where my rational mind detailed the hundreds of thousands that he had killed yet my emotional mind saw the look of humanity on his face. I share the same take on the death penalty as you and I guess his example sheds light on our stance. Murder is wrong under any situation, and I think the duplicity in murder as a punishment for murder - while sometimes rationally justified - gnaws at the morality that exists in us. I guess it is a good sign though, that we don't blindly accept and feel what we are told. Governments and indivuals who comprise them are fallible, and I suppose that while this decision may not have been wrong, it did not exactly feel right either. I guess it is just another one of those stupid gray experiences that reminds you how complicated life can be. Good post.
Who wrote this? This is far too rational for my normal readers.... Ummm.... sorry Henry.
The bible also says an eye for an eye. The people have the right to take his life for all those he killed. Americans have become far to soft and PC. If they spent just a week in Iraq they would be screaming off with his head.
Actually, the reference in the Bible is Matthew 5:38-39 in which Jesus is quoted as saying "You've heard that it was said, 'Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth,' But I tell you, 'Do not resist an evil person. If someone strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.'"
In other words, Jesus is telling us to do the exact opposite. He's talking about "turning the other cheek" even if we have "the right" to get even.
However, I think the Iraqis should be able to do what the Iraqi culture calls for and they did by hanging Saddam and there was much merriment and celebration in the streets.
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