Of course I get to work today and read reality’s first attempt to knock me off my opti-horse, the execution of Saddam Hussein. Well, to be more specific, the videos that are circulating everywhere that detail the entire episode.
First, I will say that I believe Saddam to have been a rather shitty human. He was a person who had no right being in a position of power that had any sway over the happiness of millions of people and he did some pretty horrible things while he was in power. I do not believe, however, that he was the worst person to be in such a position of power through history, or even the last few decades. This is not an attempt to protect character, rather, an attempt to state the truth.
The whole media farce that was his trial did nothing to convince most people in the country he absolutely needed to die. He was on trial for killing 148 people back in 1982 (back when he was the U.S.’s good buddy and deterrent for Iran) in an event that separated his deeds from what the context of his trial should have been. He did much worse things than kill 148 Kurds, so why was this what he was convicted with? Fucking theatre ploys. Also, having fought so hard to establish international law for the last 50 or so years, even through the Hague debacle, we reduced the punishment of an international war criminal to this? This whole thing should have be executed (no pun intended) much better than it was and I’m sure it will have repercussions eventually. Honestly, I don’t believe in the death penalty at all, even in Saddam’s case, because punishing violence with violence doesn’t accomplish anything except proving we’re all animals anyways.
Everyone knew as soon as the execution was announced that the videos on you tube and other media sources would be popping up as soon as it happened. It was destined to leak before it even happened. The only thing I can think of when I hear about it (and I haven’t nor will I watch it) is shame on the fucking idiots who are passing this about like it was a video of a cat juggling socks. As compelling as it could be to watch another human being die, please refrain from soiling your eyes with this.
Still optimistic, I promise. ^^
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1 comment:
I totally agree that the whole thing is pretty suspect.
One thing I did hear though reading around on the topic was that in Iraq there's an age limit for executions set at 70, and Hussein was 69 with a birthday coming in April so they expedited things and didn't get to the real meat of the bad stuff that went down throughout the 80's and into the 90's.
They still did a pretty shitty job with the whole thing, but at least you can somewhat see what they were thinking.
I dunno about the video thing - I guess it's like how people watch NASCAR to watch the crashes.
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