2008 Woodie Awards
The execution of Saddam Hussein: crime or punishment?
Sat Paul Goyal
Issue date: 1/16/07 Section: Voices
The ousted Iraqi President Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging on Dec. 30, 2006, for his role in killing 148 Shiite villagers in Dujail in 1982. The unruly scene revealed that the executioners behaved as sectarian chauvinists, far from being civilized or dispassionate officials transcending a barbarian past.
The chaotic execution footage showing hangmen taunting Saddam with shouts of "Go to hell" looks pathetic. The execution and its timing have provoked anger among many communities and embarrassment to the Maliki administration. But the manner of execution does not condone the crimes the former dictator committed.
The execution was carried out at an army base in northeast Baghdad and Saddam went to the same gallows where Iraqi civilians were executed. Dressed in black, holding a Quran and refusing a hood to cover his eyes, Saddam walked to the gallows in a defiant but remorseless manner. Before the noose was tightened Saddam tried to remember God. He was buried at his birthplace of Al-Awaja in Tikrit, Iraq the next day.
Saddam was a ruthless dictator adept at outmaneuvering and eliminating political opponents. The Iraqi people were deprived of justice and equality during his long reign of terror and corruption. He was called the Butcher of Baghdad who killed thousands of innocent people, including members of his own family. Prosecutors say 180,000 Kurds were killed, many of them by gas. He emulated Joseph Stalin and thousands of portraits and statues were erected in his honor all over Iraq. His love of himself made him think he was the King of Kings. Like Marlow's Tamburlaine, overreaching the limits brought his downfall. The hardships he confronted at a very early age made him a hardened person.
The mishandled execution was a missed opportunity to demonstrate how all Iraqis suffered under Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime of fear and torture. Prime Minister Maliki failed to portray himself as a unifying national leader. The execution, described as an Iraqi affair, carries an American shadow.
The chaotic execution footage showing hangmen taunting Saddam with shouts of "Go to hell" looks pathetic. The execution and its timing have provoked anger among many communities and embarrassment to the Maliki administration. But the manner of execution does not condone the crimes the former dictator committed.
The execution was carried out at an army base in northeast Baghdad and Saddam went to the same gallows where Iraqi civilians were executed. Dressed in black, holding a Quran and refusing a hood to cover his eyes, Saddam walked to the gallows in a defiant but remorseless manner. Before the noose was tightened Saddam tried to remember God. He was buried at his birthplace of Al-Awaja in Tikrit, Iraq the next day.
Saddam was a ruthless dictator adept at outmaneuvering and eliminating political opponents. The Iraqi people were deprived of justice and equality during his long reign of terror and corruption. He was called the Butcher of Baghdad who killed thousands of innocent people, including members of his own family. Prosecutors say 180,000 Kurds were killed, many of them by gas. He emulated Joseph Stalin and thousands of portraits and statues were erected in his honor all over Iraq. His love of himself made him think he was the King of Kings. Like Marlow's Tamburlaine, overreaching the limits brought his downfall. The hardships he confronted at a very early age made him a hardened person.
The mishandled execution was a missed opportunity to demonstrate how all Iraqis suffered under Saddam's Sunni-dominated regime of fear and torture. Prime Minister Maliki failed to portray himself as a unifying national leader. The execution, described as an Iraqi affair, carries an American shadow.
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