UPDATED: A few thoughts on Saddam’s execution (three updates)
A few “morning after” thoughts on Saddam’s execution.
The next to last thing Saddam ever expected was a hangman’s noose. The last thing he expected, of course, was a fair trial.
Saddam got both, and yes, despite Ramsey Clark’s clucks and howls, Saddam’s trial was fair. The toppled tyrant got to pose and parade and accuse. He took several pages from the Milosevic book of courtroom antics and dock theatrics, then added a few of his own. Saddam certainly got more than his fair share of global air time.
With Saddam’s execution the myth of the Strong Man takes another major hit. We should all be thankful. The Arab Strong Man, the Serb Strong Man, the Albanian Strong Man, the Somalia Strong Man, the Soviet Strong Man, the fill-in-the-blank Strong Man — the thugs in charge claim that obedience and submission lead to ideological or ethnic or nationalist or tribal or fill-in-the-blank victory. It’s a scam, of course, a scam to obtain and maintain their own power. Ultimately, the tyrant’s show is narcissicism empowered by ruthlessness and the secret police. Saddam’s comment on his way to the gallows is indicative: “On the way to the gallows, according to Ali, “Saddam said, ‘Iraq without me is nothing.’” (From Newsweek’s article which interviewed the videographer who filmed Saddam’s execution.)
The Strong Man expects to die in one of two ways — with a nine millimeter ballot (ie, assassination) — or old age. That has certainly been the case in the Middle East. A public, legal trial followed by court-sentenced execution? That isn’t going to happen unless…unless a democracy replaces a tyranny. This is astonishing news — history altering news. For centuries the terrible yin-yang of tyrant and terrorist has trapped the Middle East. In 2003 the US-led coalition began the difficult but worthy effort of breaking that tyrant’s and terrorist’s trap, and offering another choice in the politically dysfunctional Arab Muslim Middle East.
Saddam’s demise serves as object lesson and example. In late 2003 every Middle Eastern autocrat saw the haggard Saddam pulled from the hole; now they’ve seen him hung. The larger message: To avoid Saddams fate means political liberalization. The message extends beyond the Arab Muslim Middle East. Iran’s mullahs see it. At some reptilian level, destructive despots like Zimbabwe’s Robert Mugabe also understand it.
Is this good-riddance to the myth of the Middle Eastern Strong Man? The photos of a weary Saddam smashed his reputation. His trip to the gallows finishes it. At one time Saddam compared himself to the Mesopotamian conqueror Hammurabi. He compared himself to Saladin, the Kurdish Moslem knight who beat the Crusaders. Long-abused populations throughout the Middle East have been fed the poppycock that their miserable conditions will suddenly change if they just support the tyrant (the Strong Man). Now the man who threatened the Mother of All Battles turned out to be a frightened, petty scoundrel. Saddam surrendered without firing a shot; he faced the rope with fear. Western peaceniks and other terrorist enablers will call this further humiliation of Arabs. As usual they are wrong. Its a chance for cultural liberation, to escape the dismal oppression of autocratic bullies
In a column I wrote over two years ago I argued that Saddam needed to be tried sooner rather than later. However, the elected, constitutional Iraqi government didn’t form until the late spring of 2006. In retrospect, it’s better this way; the legitimate, democratic government carried out the execution. This was about more than revenge; this is an act of indicative justice. A genocidal murderer was put to death. Those who love freedom and liberty should applaud — and hope that the 21st century is the century when democracy extinguishes tyranny.
UPDATE: Glenn Reynolds says momentum matters. He’s right — and, contrary to his comment, he’s smarter than I am. In Spring 2005 the democratic project in the Middle East had momentum — and we (the US) didn’t follow through by sufficiently supporting Lebanese democrats. But let’s not draw arcs on canvas. History is fits and starts and often three point nine steps back for four forwards. It’s a fight. “War is a series of catastrophes that results in victory” (Georges Clemenceau great line).
What’s broken the momentum of the democratic reconfiguration of the Middle East? I suggest one major momentum breaker is the US election cycle. I’m not arguing that it’s the biggest problem (we can find dozens of big problems), I’m suggesting it’s a big reason for fits and starts. What an irony, a rich irony indeed – domestic democratic wrangling breaks the momentum. Every two years the leader must stop and argue with himself.
There is also a poetry deficit, and that is Bush’s fault. He has Churchill’s spine but lacks the old boy’s poetry. Poetry motivates. I wonder though, if even Churchill’s great voice and inspiring rhetoric would rise above the sturm und drang of 24/7 news and the internet.
UPDATE 2: A quick response to an email on capital punishment and the commenter (number 5) who mentions “triumphalism” among certain commentators. I don’t like capital punishment but I support it. (I do believe all life is sacred.) I think war is wrong but I’ve waged it. To say the least, this world isn’t an easy place. That obvious case stipulated, in my opinion dictators like Saddam don’t understand mercy. (For the megalomaniac it’s all about me.) Tyrants like Saddam are self-absorbed and narcissistic. Show them mercy and at best they interpet mercy as a recognition of their own superiority– a reinforcement of their ability to survive. Mass murderers like Saddam are the men who have earned execution. Execution is their one moment of enlightenment. Read the Newsweek article. Saddam quaked. And the whim of another Strong Man didn’t do him in; he went through a legal process, where he had his say.
UPDATE 3: An email:
I agree with you that our President lacks poetry and even coherence most of the time. It would be nice to combine spine and oratory in one person. In Tony Blair we have both and he was unsuccessful in selling the war also. He is a fantastic speaker who says the right things in the right words. His approval ratings are about the same as President Bush’s and he is leaving the political scene soon. I think with the handicap of the democratic media, there is no one who could have made the case well enough to keep the conviction going past two years. Sadly there are so few of us that understand and the rest have made a new 911 inevitable. Perhaps then we will have more clarity about the battle but many people will die needlessly. With full support, much of the world wide terrorism could have been reduced to a nuisance instead of a continuing dire threat. I wonder if people like John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi and John Murtha will ever see and take responsibility for the terrible distaste…
I didn’t say he lacked coherence. His plain speech can communicate quite effectively. But inspiring words are important. I agree with you that Blair has the gift. I was thinking of Blair when I wrote about ”the sturm und drang of 24/7 news and the internet.”
And about dang time, too! One can only hope that more of Saddam’s ilk will get it in the neck before I pass beyond this mortal veil. With the demonstrated inability of the American public to maintain focus and effort and the appeas-o-crats back in power positions, it seems unlikely in the extreme though. And the rest of the World? NFW!
Comment by AF Dad — 12/30/2006 @ 12:33 pm
Ding-Dong, the tyrant’s dead……. The news just broke: Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq for over thirty years with a blood-drenched iron fist, who massacred his own people and caused the deaths of millions of Iranians and Iraqis in a war brought about by his…
Trackback by Public Secrets: from the files of the Irishspy — 12/30/2006 @ 1:06 pm
And over at DKos, they feel sadness at the government murder of this sad, misunderstood, little man. Oh well. Whatever gets you through the night, I guess.
Comment by Letalis — 12/30/2006 @ 1:40 pm
I hope this serves as a warning to Mr. Assad in Syria.
Comment by Roger Thompson — 12/30/2006 @ 2:00 pm
An argument I can agree with. I’ve found a lot of the triumphalism I’ve seen on the net the last 24 hours to be distasteful. Its an ugly, grisly business, executing someone, and how people can feel glee when confronted with pictures of this guy with the rope being fitted around his neck is beyond me. I hope you’re right. I hope the Assads of this world are scared to the point of piddling themselves by these events. That would at least be some good coming out of this action.
Comment by Dwilkers — 12/30/2006 @ 2:18 pm
If only we could get Mugabe next.
Comment by John Foster — 12/30/2006 @ 2:35 pm
It’s not just politically disfunctional; it’s also socially disfunctional. Islamic societies must be purged by force of their beliefs, with the alternative to reformation being annihilation. There is no point in war, if you don’t destroy the enemy. The American optimists are wrong; Japan and Germany had to be utterly destroyed to truly consider change.
Comment by AJ — 12/30/2006 @ 3:12 pm
Important to note that the Iraqis did it themselves, and in an expeditious manner. This confirms the wisdom of letting the Iraqis take care of their own business, instead of turning Saddam and his henchmen over to that joke known as the ICC, given the mess that the Milosevic trial degenerated into.
Comment by Rich — 12/30/2006 @ 3:18 pm
Reaction to the Execution of Saddam Hussein… Iraqi Americans in Dearborn, Michigan celebrate Saddam’s demise; a victory for liberalism. (Reuters) [New items on top] Saddam’s end strikes a blow at the “Myth of the Strongman” and is a victory for small-L liberalism. (Austin Bay) Mohammed @ Iraq…
Trackback by Pajamas Media — 12/30/2006 @ 3:26 pm
The Texas Cowboy put the fear of God, so to speak, in our enemies. Colonel Gaddafi saw the light and gave up his WMDs. President Bush gets very little credit for that bloodless route of an enemy. With the attacks from the Left on the president’s policies and his actions as commander-in-chief, those who do not understand our system perceive that Mr. Bush is now defeated. In my opinion the president having an eloquent speech pattern would not have served him any better during the five month diplomatic run up to the invasion of Iraq; the French, Germans and Russians could have cared less about his eloquence when their blood money was at risk. And it would do little for him now, since he would not be believed regardless. What I wish for is the US to quickly react to the propaganda and media attacks on our country and his administration before the half truths and lies become world wide facts through repetition. The blogosphere can not overcome the 24/7 media barrage, but the government has the assets to do so, if they were ever mobilized. One could say that any government release would be ignored, as CENTCOM’s is, but the media could not ignore a laud, forceful voice of the government anymore than the old USSR could ignore the VOA. As is said, the best defense is a good offense. Up to a point somewhere in the nether, if once you are believed to be something you are not, you might as well become what they call you since doing otherwise gets you no reprieve.
Comment by amr — 12/30/2006 @ 4:32 pm
I will just emphasize one point about Churchill and his speeches. He worked at them. If Bush did nothing more than work hard at getting better with speeches this could be the turning point. It is also the only way he willl avoid an impeachment trial in the next two years.
Comment by davod — 12/30/2006 @ 5:06 pm
“I think with the handicap of the democratic media, there is no one who could have made the case well enough to keep the conviction going past two years.” That’s almost right. The MSM still owns and commands about 98% of the cameras and microphones and screens and loudspeakers bringing ‘news and information’ to a huge majority of the public. The groupthink of the MSM producers and editors tends toward dramatic productions and away from concrete measures, particularly military ones, aimed at long-range solutions to tyrannies and terrorism. So we’ve been deluged with loud assertions of policy ‘mistakes’ and ‘failures’ (not to mention charges of criminal behavior from political opportunists), which successfully drown out most reasoned arguments in support of US or recent British actions in Iraq. Some of that drowning has been greatly aided at the inarticulate, patchwork, part-time communications of the Bush Administration to the public - and the Administration’s failure to counter immediately, to the public, those assertions and charges. But even Winston Churchill might have had a hard time bucking the combination of most ivory-tower academics and the commanders of those enormous screens and loudspeakers. We might remember how long he spent in the wilderness, shunned and disregarded by the antiwar goodthinkers and media, before 1939.
Comment by Insufficiently Sensitive — 12/30/2006 @ 5:07 pm
Three words: Osama bin Laden. Remember him? The guy who ACTUALLY ATTACKED US??
Comment by Andy — 12/30/2006 @ 5:11 pm
[…] Courtesy of Austin Bay: […]
Pingback by NoisyRoom.net » Blog Archive » UPDATED: A few thoughts on Saddam’s execution (three updates) — 12/30/2006 @ 5:13 pm
Churchill said: “The vice of capitalism is that there is an unequal share of the blessings; the virtue of socialism is that there is an equal share of the misery.” Truer words have never been spoken, and that delivery was indeed inspired, and yet I fear that battle has been all but lost. Qwinn
Comment by Qwinn — 12/30/2006 @ 5:43 pm
OK, Andy. I’ll bite. Let’s say we kill UBL tomorrow. Will you give GWB credit for it? Will it indicate to you that it means the end of the global war, or will you whine that AAZ is still at large? What effect do you think Saddam’s execution will have on Sunni resistance in Iraq? If none, then why would killing UBL and/or AAZ make any real difference?
Comment by Matt M — 12/30/2006 @ 5:44 pm
Andy, he’s not forgotten. ( Actually attacked the U.S.? Which airplane did he hijack and fly into a building?) Have you forgotten that we’re in a war against global terror? It’s not one against Al Qaeda, or bin Laden or any other single entity. Hussein’s regime encouraged and directly supported terrorists around the world; he put himself and Iraq on the spot with decades of active effort. That included financing terrorists, and welcoming others to reside in Iraq (unless they became inconvenient for some reason to the regime). Does , for example, ring a bell?
Comment by SteveH — 12/30/2006 @ 5:46 pm
A little serendipity - last night, as I checked ccn.com for news on Hussein & found that he had been hung, the tv in the background was playing an ad, and the background was The Sound of Music song that goes “so long, farewell, auf weidersehn, goodbye…” Nya nya nya nya, nya nya nya nya, hey hey, goodbye…as we say here in Chicago….
Comment by harmon — 12/30/2006 @ 5:55 pm
Victories are important, too. Imagine if UBL had been dealt with in September 2006. In spite of victories at Midway, North Africa and Sicily, can you imagine the 1944 election if the invasion at Normandy had been repulsed, as it might easily have been absent success with FORTITUDE? Or 1864, absent Atlanta? There was no comparable election victory for Bush in spite of the thousands of small victories that will make the difference in the long run for the Iraqis.
Comment by Richard Heddleson — 12/30/2006 @ 6:32 pm
Bush’s war killed more Iraqi’s then Saddam did. When is Bush’s trail? Most of the free world fails to understand how/why there is so little revealed about the trial of Saddam Hussein, and indeed why he was not fully hold in account for his crime in Kurdistan not to forget loss of one million human during Iran/Iraq war and occupation of Kuwait. It’s clear that Saddam was not allowed to divulge top secrets of how the US and the West armed his regime and gave him the political and military means to keep his opponents at bay. Some of the crimes against Kurds that he was found guilty of had the blessings of the Americans at the time, and there was not any demand for justice from the Washington when it happened. Shalom, — Prof. Leland Milton Goldblatt http://www.prof.faithweb.com http://drgoldblatt.blogspot.com/
Comment by Leland MIlton Goldblatt — 12/30/2006 @ 7:29 pm
I get so tired of this liberal humanist angst over capital punishment. Sure it’s an imperfect world and justice never ever can be administered perfectly each and every time, but what we have in America and to a large degree in Western Europe is the best man has witnessed in our short history here on planet Earth. It is precisely because life is sacred when innocent blood is spilt real justice demands the life of the murderer. Despite the self-righteous pooh-poohing by liberal moral relativists, the Bible makes the argument in Genesis 9:5-6 - And from each man, too, I will demand an accounting for the life of his fellow man. “Whoever sheds the blood of man, by man shall his blood be shed; for in the image of God has God made man.” And legitimate government with its laws and courts are the ministers who apportion such judgments. One of the greatest constitutional principles is “making the punishment fit the crime”. And what a mockery it is when we do not require the life of those who maliciously and with forethought shed the blood of innocent human beings. Those who say that giving someone life imprisonment without chance for parole for cold-blooded murderers is a worst punishment than death can’t be taken seriously since those on death row almost always avail themselves of every opportunity to reverse their judgment of death. And if what the anti-capital punishment crowd says is true, that someone who commits murder will spend the rest of their days mentally torturing themselves with what they have done to another human being, then I think that is far more barbaric than simply ending their mental anguish with a far more just death penalty that is swift and sure. Oh what a tangled web the liberal secular weaves.
Comment by Hankmeister — 12/30/2006 @ 8:04 pm
Bull puckey, Professor Goldblatt. The vast majority of Iraqi arms came from Russia and France. The means to ‘keep his opponents at bay’ was the human network from his Stalinist Baath Party, and Saddam’s tribal structure in Tikrit - strong enough to keep the minority Sunnis in the executioner’s seat, and the bayees six feet under. Blaming the Americans might bring thundrous applause in your ivory tower, but if the present-day Kurds were given a chance to express their own opinion in said tower, you’d need smelling salts.
Comment by Insufficiently Sensitive — 12/30/2006 @ 8:08 pm
The perfidy of the MSM is offered freely to any enemy of America. The media plainly promotes our enemies’ interests over our own, even if blatant untruths are required to do so, and hardly taking the trouble of feigning an allegiance to this country anymore. Few of us can grasp why, because the true answer is almost laughably trite, and monstrous. To see their motivation, understand that the media is the slavish lover of one political philosophy, and one party, eager to prove its love by thwarting any enterprise that might reflect well on it’s love’s rivals. Their love for their lover is greater than their love for their country - it is no more complex than that. That, and because they enjoy the warm tingle of power greatly more than the miseries and strains demanded by honor.
Comment by Sherlock — 12/30/2006 @ 8:09 pm
Prof Goldblatt lives in a media-driven echo chamber. Using his rather pathetic guilt-by-proxy arguments, then he too shares full guilt for any lives lost due to tyrants who aren’t deposed, by representative government he freely participates in, or because he doesn’t nothing but point fingers on the sideline. YOU, SIR, HAVE NOT DONE ENOUGH TO STOP REAL TYRANTS and you, sir, are guilty of engaging in morally bereft, impotent, moonbat conspiracy theories. By mere extension of your logic you are guilty of the blood of your fellow human beings for whom you have stood on the safety of American sidewalks bought by the blood of American patriots AND DONE NOTHING BUT SPEW HIGH-SOUNDING SOPHISTRY. Given that there are no age limits or physicals to pass to be a human shield for the causes you espouse, when will you act on your own rhetoric about you love and concern for you fellow man suffering under the chains of tyranny around the world? Just saying “it’s America’s fault” doesn’t absolve you of your own blood guilt according to your guilt-by-proxy worldview. How about climbing down from your ivory tower of self-righteous fingerpointing and start making a real difference in the hellholes of Islam yourself? Only then will YOU be a shining example of Shalom.
Comment by Hankmeister — 12/30/2006 @ 8:17 pm
Nah, Goldblatt does not live in an echo chamber. He’s a genuine kook all by himself. From his website: Dr. Goldblatt is President Emeritus of Georgian Trinity Southwestern and adjunct professor of Philosophy at the University serving in the Honours Program there. A former recipient of the Humanitarian a year award from the Maurice Mesnekoff and Abraham Glasband Foundation. Leland Milton Goldblatt has been named the winner of one of the world’s most distinguished theological and protection of the powerless prizes. The Segalberg Prize was established in 1977 in Oslo and is awarded to “individuals or have propensity in a pioneering and particularly creative way, has pointed to alternatives to the present extraordinary Abstract of Systematic Theology systems. Leland Milton Goldblatt has written more than 30books, using sources in nine languages and dealingwith literary and musical as well as doctrinal aspectsof religion. He was a former president of the AmericanAcademy of Arts and Sciences and was appointed byPresident Bill Clinton to serve on the President’sCommittee on the Arts and Humanities. Dr. Goldblatt philosopher $1 million Prize, whichhonors scholars in such areas as history, sociologyand politics — fields not covered by the Nobelprizes.”I enjoy the company of attractive, cheap women,” Prof. Goldblatt explains in his book, adding with characteristic aplomb: “I’ve always had a tendency to associate with women who were dramatically less educated than I.” Despite what Dr. Goldblatt clearly perceives as an unequal partnership, with his mistress Heather who moved in with him. Two months later-with.
Comment by Moneyrunner — 12/30/2006 @ 9:07 pm
Prof. Goldblatt, congrats on your post. You managed to work in more nonsense per sentence than anything I have seen since the heyday of The Daily Worker. Bush’s war has killed more Iraqis than Saddam Hussein did? That might be true if you believe that the late, unlamented Abu Musab al Zarqawi was really a CIA asset. The vast majority of Iraqi civilians killed in the war have been killed by insurgents and terrorists, who excell in only two things, killing innocent civilians and playing the MSM like a cheap ukelele. As for this silliness about the “west arming Saddam,” here are some facts. The US did give him some dual use chemicals as part of an aid package that he was getting from the US Department of Agriculture. As for their weaponization and doctrine for use, that came from the Soviet Union, which, the last time I checked, was NOT part of the west. As for weapons and heavy equipment, Iraq did get some material, such as 155mm artillery pieces, from France, which was not part of NATO militarily at the time. The vast majority of the Iraqi Army’s tanks, artillery, armored personnel carriers, helicopters, small arms, heavy weapons, ballistic missiles and aircraft came from that noted western power, the USSR. While his crimes against the Kurds met with initial and unforgivable apathy until the rules covering the Northern No Fly Zone were extended to stop Saddam’s operations, they did not receive anyone’s “blessings.” Also, Saddam’s crimes did indeed result in regime change in Iraq being made an official US policy goal in 1998. One might say that that particular goal has been achieved.
Comment by Rich — 12/30/2006 @ 9:15 pm
… When is Bush’s trail? …. Are we really supposed to believe that a professor wrote this and misspelled “trial”? Look, if you really think your ideas are so weak that you must pose as a professor to give them more force, perhaps you should not post here. As for the crappola that the US armed Saddam, I’m a Desert Storm vet. I had to memorize the NATO vehicle recognition silhouettes (defined below for you “doc”) at the beginning of the war. Guess what, they were all Russian and French. Only 2 percent of Iraqi’s armaments were US and that was probably from the black or surplus markets. To back that up, “perfesser” I went to a neutral source — the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute http://www.sipri.org/contents/armstrad/TIV_imp_IRQ_70-04.pdf/download. Being an academic, you will enjoy perusing the original material. Stamping out the lies of the left is truly a full time job…. sil·hou·ette /ËŒsɪluˈɛt/ Pronunciation Key - Show Spelled Pronunciation[sil-oo-et] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation noun, verb, -et·ted, -et·ting. –noun 1. a two-dimensional representation of the outline of an object, as a cutout or configurational drawing, uniformly filled in with black, esp. a black-paper, miniature cutout of the outlines of a famous person’s face. 2. the outline or general shape of something: the slim silhouette of a skyscraper. 3. a dark image outlined against a lighter background.
Comment by RED — 12/30/2006 @ 9:23 pm
Bush or not Prof. Leland Milton Goldblatt’s statements were beyond absurd. Whether the situation improves or not in Iraq because of the execution is not the issue, this was the right thing to do for a very evil man who intentionally killed thousands of men, women, children and even infants. As a comparison, the situation in Yugoslavia went back to the in fighting that was part of the reason for WW I, but to say that communism was good because it kept the peace would be equally absurd, as many died in secret to keep this peace under communism. Carl, Grants Pass OR
Comment by Carl — 12/30/2006 @ 9:44 pm
Now that I’ve had time to reflect……. ….on the hanging of Sadaam, I think perhaps this was a more momentous event than I realized. While legal executions are routine here in Texas (and we like it that way, thank you very much), in other parts of the world they are not. In fact, executi…
Trackback by Media Lies — 12/31/2006 @ 12:24 am
[…] Austin Bay has similar thoughts: Strong Man — the thugs in charge claim that obedience and submission lead to ideological or ethnic or nationalist or tribal or fill-in-the-blank victory. […]
Pingback by UrbanGrounds » Blog Archive » The Death of Saddam: The Historical Perspective — 12/31/2006 @ 1:00 am
Austin Bay Blog Declaring Saddam Trial Fair… Link: Austin Bay Blog: Declares Saddam Trial Fair . I always find it interesting how people make these declarations. Just how does this Austin Bay KNOW that the trial was fair? Was he there? Did he read the trial documents?…
Trackback by The Command T.O.C. — 12/31/2006 @ 7:30 am
Poetry is important, but even more so is myth. There is NO myth of a Good, Strong King who must fight weak, evil villians, and never wins. Either the King is not good (strong evil king losing to weaker good rebels — LOTR, Harry Potter); or the good King is not strong (Alladin, where the evil Vizier is the strong one). The lack of such a myth is part of why it’s so hard to understand that the USA is good AND strong — with the terrorists being evil. The low popularity of the oratorically gifted Blair is proof, to me, that missing myth is more important than missing poetry. I do think Bush should be more honest in pointing out how the MSM is helping terrorists kill; as well as in giving the human terrorists full human rights AND responsibility — the killers are doing the killing, not Bush. The lack of killing in the Kurdish areas shows that Iraqi Arabs had a chance at peaceful Liberation, but chose killing instead.
Comment by Tom Grey - Liberty Dad — 12/31/2006 @ 10:33 am
[…] Austin Bay (UPDATED: A few thoughts on Saddam’s execution (three updates)) describes the execution in more rational terms. Western peaceniks and other terrorist enablers will call this further humiliation of Arabs. As usual they are wrong. Its a chance for cultural liberation, to escape the dismal oppression of autocratic bullies […]
Pingback by Whispers in the airstreams » Blog Archive » Never enough, the fallacy of the excluded middle — 12/31/2006 @ 10:59 am
The most troubling aspect of Saddam’s execution for me is the fact it was carried out on the day the Sunni, not Shiia, celebrate Abraham’s sacrifice. A gratuitous sectarian gesture, making the exectuation more about insult than justice.
Comment by Mark Zimmerman — 12/31/2006 @ 11:02 am
If you think Saddam and Kofi Annan don’t have the MSM pumping out buffalo poop, check out this… Wait until you read this AP account of Annan by AP’s Edith M Lederer. And, this is not in the Houston Chronicle’s opinion section.
Comment by paul a'barge — 12/31/2006 @ 11:35 am
Saddam has hung by the neck until he was dead. Good riddance to him.
Comment by Harold C. Hutchison — 12/31/2006 @ 10:44 pm
I think the president od the united state was supose to be hanged with saddam and also blair, yes saddam, did alot od bad things, but what about Bush, the so called leader of america, how many deaths lays in his hands, the only difference between bush and saddam is that the media does not tell us the truth about the so called president, especially CNN
Comment by nojustice — 12/31/2006 @ 10:54 pm
I actually think Guliani has both of the qualities that you are seeking and maybe he’d make a good nomination to the UN post if he were interested. Regarding Saddam. It is interesting that we are now learning that his loyalists actually admit to “throwing in their lot” with Zarqawi post invasion http://regimeofterror.com/archives/2006/12/time_magazine_interview_with_a_1/ Makes you wonder about that whole “secular and jihadist won’t cooperate” BS we’ve been fed so long.
Comment by Mark Eichenlaub — 1/1/2007 @ 8:23 pm
“nojustice” - appropriate moniker, given the comments he made.
Comment by Mwalimu Daudi — 1/1/2007 @ 8:35 pm
A few thoughts on Saddam’s execution (three updates)… Link: Austin Bay Blog » UPDATED: A few thoughts on Saddam’s execution (three updates)….
Trackback by Agent of Influence — 1/2/2007 @ 7:02 am
Someone left the door open on the moonbats’ cage and they are swarming! Big Question of the day, why do they show up here?
Comment by AF Dad — 1/2/2007 @ 7:24 am
Well I LIKE the death penalty. I like its closure. I like its fairy tale quality where the wicked are punished. What I don’t like is that it takes 20 years to get it done here in the lawyer-whipped USA. And I really, really don’t like that it’s done behind closed doors in the wee hours, as if society were ashamed of it. Do it publically, proudly, with pomp and ceremony. Granted, pomp and ceremony isn’t our nation’s strong suit, which is proven every year at the Superbowl halftime. Still, putting on good civic spectacles is necessary if a government is to stay in business; if it becomes boring its days are numbered.
Comment by dhimwit — 1/2/2007 @ 11:42 am
[…] AUSTIN BAY: “The next to last thing Saddam ever expected was a hangman’s noose. The last thing he expected, of course, was a fair trial”; Saddam Hussein has been executed (and now it’s on youTube). CQ: An Unseemly Eulogy.. The New York Times gives its readers a blow-by-blow description of Saddam Hussein’s final moments …. (Various) […]
Pingback by CaNN :: We started it. — 1/2/2007 @ 6:07 pm
I posted “Ozymandias” when Zarqawi was killed. I feel the same about Saddam. He’s dead. Let’s forget him. He doesn’t deserve to be remembered or even discussed any more. Sic Semper Tyrannis.
Comment by AST — 1/2/2007 @ 7:24 pm
I’m late to this discussion but I think it takes more than an eloquent voice and powerful content to successfully “sell” the war on terror. Republicans need someone who can do both, but with passion. We need someone who will respond to the media with aggressive rhetoric rather than patient explanations. Most Republicans are unwilling to act passionately because they fear they will appear intolerant or not sufficiently kind. Frankly, Republicans need more macho moments like Rudy had when he rejected the Saudi prince’s $10M check, but macho isn’t “in” these days.
Comment by DRJ — 1/3/2007 @ 10:48 pm
Although I do not agree with the war, I am glad they killed that f’n POS whether he had mass weapons of destruction this time or not, he hurt/killed tons of his own people along with others, he is no martyr, if he was he wouldn’t have had to “hide” xxxxx- the people out there that praise his are as stupid as him and should be hung as well. HAVE YOUR OWN MIND MORONS NOT SOMEONE ELSES
Comment by jp — 1/8/2007 @ 7:33 pm
I’m glad that Saddam got executed as well. I don’t support this war, but Saddam mistreated his own people. He should have been ashamed of his deplorable and sick self for mistreating his very own people. I think the judge ruled fairly to have Saddam Hussein executed for his crimes done against his own people. Yet, the stupid trial continues for Saddam Hussein.
Comment by James Daniel Reid — 1/9/2007 @ 9:32 am
A.F. Dada, please just try to respect other people’s opnions. They don’t have to think the way you think. That statement that you have made about moonbats flying out of their cage was just an insult to the people who have different beliefs than you. Don’t do that, because if you do, you are making people feel that they are worth nothing.
Comment by James Daniel Reid — 1/10/2007 @ 6:46 pm
I agree Sadaam was an evil man, but my only problem with the whole execution is this: who supported him back in the 80’s? who was his ally? who gave him weapons when these atrocities were actually committed? you guessed it…our very own government - the USA
Comment by jip — 1/11/2007 @ 12:58 am