Please let me make it clear immediately that I am no fan of Saddam Hussein. A ruthless thug, a merciless killer, and a power-craving lunatic for certain, Saddam created the atmosphere in Iraq that caused millions to suffer persecution. Despite what I believe has been an ill-advised American military venture in Iraq, there is no question that Saddam’s own repugnant behavior as president of his country caused two military invasions and the loss of many more lives.
Still, despite “his crimes against humanity” and all the other horrendous things the man did, his execution does not make me satisfied in the least. As a fairly faithful Christian, I do not condone the death of another person for any reason by any means. The execution of a person by the state, whichever state it may be, does not eradicate its violation of one of the Ten Commandments. “Thou shalt not kill” is not prefaced with anything like “except if it is a judicially condoned execution” and, in my mind, this is one of the most essential commandments, one that delineates a civilized society from that which is just a barbaric state.
I often hear people talking about capital punishment as a deterrent for crimes. I think if we examine the history of most murderers, rapists, kidnappers, and whoever else may be eligible for the death penalty, we can see that its possibility does not stop them from going out and committing the crime. As for brutal dictators, I am sure Saddam’s swinging from the gallows doesn’t send a shiver down their spines. They are not going to stop their troops from slaughtering innocents or their secret police from torturing people because of a possible execution. Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Pol Pot, and Slobodan Milosevic are all perfect examples of past leaders without any concerns about a system that might eventually bring them to justice and execute them.
Once a leader like Saddam is captured and convicted, the moment is ripe for setting an example to others of his ilk. Instead of executing him, place him in an irrevocable sentence of life in prison with hard labor (with emphasis on the hard). Make his life, whatever is left of it, as miserable as he made other people’s lives. This takes the onus off a state that allows executions and, more importantly, it shines a light on that state as a beacon of civilization.
Besides the fact that I personally think that the state should not kill someone, there is an even more important issue at stake here. By killing the convicted person in a state-ordered execution, we are giving that prisoner the easy way out. In my experience it seems that most of these “death row inmates” who have been merciless thugs and killers want out. They do not want to suffer in a small jail cell for another thirty or forty years; they want to go out in some kind of glory. Even now there are former Saddam loyalists in Iraq who are looking at his death as “glorious” and as part of the war against the Satanic American government. Saddam’s martyrdom and rise in stature as a legend is a given, especially in Sunni dominated parts of Iraq (and other countries as well).
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - Ann Brown
First Victor, "we" did not execute Saddam. He was tried, convicted and executed by Iraqis. If they had not done it, the Iranians or Kuwaits surely would have.
Second, there is no such thing as "hard labor" any more. Just try it and the aclu and amnisty international will pull all stops to end it fast.
Third, if you put Saddam in a comfy prison, it's just a matter of time before someone gets him out - perhaps at the cost of hundreds or thousands of lives killed as hostages or in battles.
I'd love to hear about a real alternative to executions because it's sad people feel the need do it (because there are NO other REAL alternatives).
2 - Joe T
To Ms. Ann Brown, who commented that we (the US) did not kill Saddam: We did all but actually say the words. We funded the tribunal, we trained the judges and lawyers, American soldiers were in charge of guarding Saddam during the entire process up to the moment he was hanged, and oh yeah, don't forget the whole war thing that led to his capture and trial (not that it was anything more than frosting on a giant cake of lies). We killed Saddam, and we can't allow ourselves to just wash our hands of it with political and semantic spin.
To Mr. Lana: As a faithful Christian, you would prevent a state-ordered execution of a person who has been proved guilty of genocide, because it's the "easy way out?" And how does sending Saddam to a "nightmare of confinement and suffering" fit into that Christian dogma? Right alongside the Inquisition? While we may create a "martyr" in executing Saddam, i would prefer that to having him alive and pursued by terrorist groups who would have him freed. How many times has that scenario played out in the last 40 years? And although William Wallace inspired the Scots to continue their fight against England, please take note under what nation's government Scotland still remains.
With Saddam alive or dead, there will be no reprieve from the anti-West sentiments that currently dominate the Middle East, Europe, and the followers of Islam worldwide until our current president is sent to a trial of his own to be held accountable for the crimes he and his cabinet have committed. Only then can we show the world - using his impeachment as a gesture of apology - that we as a nation have some decency and civility.
Let's not lose focus on where the problems really are: not on that gallows, but in our White House.
3 - Joshua
Yes, don't hang Saddam. Feed him for life with taxpayer's money and then release him 5 years later for good behaviour.
If you understand the 10 commandments, you will realise that there is consequences (death) for those commit who murder mindlessly. Take the bible "text" out of "context" and you still have the "con".
Please stop using your limited knowledge of the bible to build a lawless society. That's what conman does - use a bible text out of context to build a cult. God is not humanistic. It is precisely why human nature failed that He needed to come.
The reason why the world is in this sad state is because of lack of punishment for crimes committed and nowadays, criminals have more rights than victims.
You and your reasoning are the reason the world is in this sorry state.
Is there a drug problem in your country that is destroying millions of lives? There is none in mine because we hanged drug traffickers instead of spending millions of taxpayers' money debating their rights and why they do it.
Victims cry out for justice and when there is none and people starts to despise the very system that is suppose to protect them.
4 - Harry Wolf
Ann Brown is a fool. Women dont understand violence as well as men - a woman will always seek revenge, whereas a man knows its a bad idea.
Killing Saddam Hussein was and is a big mistake and also a crime.
Prison would have been the best punishment.
If we let the unwashed masses make decision, we get this kind of murder - the 'Ann Browns' of this world are wrong - even though they are not bright enough to know it.
5 - phil
TV News for some reason won't show this
cell phone video of Saddam Hussein being hanged, right to the end.
Check out the full story and see the video yourself.
It's almost impossible to find and to be able to watch this video anywhere else on the Internet. We've researched it.
- Phil at IRC
6 - Salem Poor
"We had a wonderful opportunity in the capture of Saddam Hussein to show the world our decency and civility. "
Oh yeah... and in the mean time Saddam would have sat in this jail cell as a living symbol that maybe, just maybe someday his fellow henchmen might regain power in Iraq. Great idea, wish I had thought of it.
7 - Victor Lana
I never claim to be an expert about the Bible in this piece, nor do I claim any expertise in any other area. This is an opinion column and, in this country at least, I have a right to that.
My problem is with a state carrying out a court ordered execution, as if that makes it the correct thing to do. Killing someone is murder no matter how one plays around with "text" or "context" or whatever.
If someone refers to the Old Testament philosophy of "an eye for an eye," I can counter with the New Testament and Jesus calling for us to "turn the other cheek."
Saddam could have been taken out of Iraq, placed in a high security prison in Iowa, and no one would have had a chance to touch him. Now he is a martyr, dying for a terrible cause in a terrible way that will only enhance the hatred of the USA.
8 - Silas Kain
We put him in power. We took him down. We kept him in our cell to keep him silent. We returned him at the hour of his death. No blood on American hands - such a typically American thing to do.
9 - Kevin Knight
Great Comments:
Joshua: "...criminals have more rights than victims." YES! This is exactly right. Just ask Mr. John Walsh who's been working hard here in the US for Victim's Rights. Which we still don't have.
Salem Poor: "...Saddam would have sat in this jail cell as a living symbol that maybe, just maybe someday his fellow henchmen might regain power in Iraq." YES! and at taxpayer's expense.
Silly comments:
Ann Brown: "...there is no such thing as "hard labor" any more." OH YEAH? Have you visited North Korea or Cuba in the last 50 years?
Joe T: "We (the US) killed Saddam." OH YEAH? We, the US, prevented Saddam from being ripped to bits by people who had family members tortured and killed by Saddam, his wonderful sons and his wonderful government. Hey Joe, you said you wanted Saddam in prision so terrorists could break him out. You sound like an Islamic Cult Terrorist to me.
Harry Wolf: "Ann Brown is a fool. Women dont understand violence as well as men..." OH YEAH? Women, and children for that matter, understand violence better than anyone you idiot. Only a mean hairy wolf could come up with that one!
Victor Lana: "Saddam could have been taken out of Iraq, placed in a high security prison in Iowa..." OH YEAH? I'm sure people in Iowa would just love having their state turned into a terrorist target. Who pays Saddam's bills: Iowa? The U.S.? Germany? Maybe Germany should because they're the most upset about the hanging.
Silas Kain: "We (the US) kept him (Saddam) in our cell to keep him silent." HELLO!?! Have you not been following the news of Saddam's trial??? Saddam has been ANYTHING BUT SILENT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Did you notic how much HEALTHIER Saddam looked after he was in US custody. To much pampering and a cozy jail cell! ALSO this was not a US trial but an Iraqi trial. Guess what? The US has had no charges against Saddam. I think he was in US Custody for his own protection. I think something happened that when the "transfer from US custody" (shortly before the hanging) that the US somehow STILL prevented Saddam from being hauled off and tortured to death by his "fellow" Iraqis.
10 - G M McLaughlin
According to Saddam's own people, the US protected Saddam to protect his "dignity." This is why Saddam wasn't "hauled off and tortured to death."
Najeeb al-Nauimi, a member of Saddam's legal team, said US authorities maintained physical custody of Saddam until the execution.
Mr. Najeeb said this was to prevent him being humiliated publicly or his corpse from being mutilated. He said that this has happened to previous Iraqi leaders deposed by force.
Mr. Najeeb added that the US did not want anything to happen to further inflame Sunni Arabs.
11 - Franco
The execution of Saddam Hussein will save lives. That is a responsible measure in looking forward to the future. That in and of itself is more reason they revenge, which is only looking to the past.
Things to consider when talking about employing the death penalty viruses a lifetime of confinement whether it is Saddam Hussein or other career criminal killers.
Unlike Iraq, the US operates and maintains the largest and most expensive prison system in the world. The US has the most varied degree of prison security facilities known to man, from house arrest, and county club prisons, all the way to the SuperMax systems touted as the most secure prison system in existence in the US.
The US prison system comes at great cost to tax payers. However it is more then just money and protecting society from the criminal that constitutes this real cost. Rightfully, there are civil rights that come into play for both the prisoner inside and free society outside and it is on this basis of civil rights that lies the reason for its high dollar cost when dealing with the true killers.
These civil rights allow convicted criminal killers now serving life sentences instead of being executed, to continue to abuse the very system and reason they were locked up.
Yes it’s true, the criminal has fewer civil rights then the free citizen just by the fact that he is held in confinement. But beyond that the criminal is allowed the basic and equal civil rights as you or me. In a death penalty situation, the execution ends 100% of the individuals civil rights.
Here in lies the devil in the details and gives strong credence to the good comment points of Ann Brown in post #1 that are in fact realty.
If we stopped the death penalty sentencing and all executions, how much civil rights do those who would have been executed otherwise now have access to.
What are the ongoing risks to society for maintaining life sentences for criminals who would have otherwise been executed?
In helping answer this question and open up this discussion/debate, I provide the following web link that offers some sober insights to how even in the US at the most secure prison system, SuperMax, officially known as Administrative Maximum (ADX), one time death sentence candidates who instead received life time sentences are still carry out further acts of killing and terror. If they, like Saddam could do it in the US most secure prison system, how much more likely would they be able to do it in an Iraqi prison?
How safe is the general public from societies worst criminal killers even if they are confined in a SuperMax?
12 - Joe T
Kevin Knight: Pretty sure i remember saying i prefer him becoming a martyr (execution) to being kept alive in a prison where he would be pursued by his fanatical followers and former party members. The fact that i don't want to wash the US's hands of his execution does not mean i think it was wrong to execute him. Did you even read the comment?
Victor: The Old Testament does teach punishment to fit the crime. Jesus taught to forgive sin. However, your suggested answer still falls into neither category. Keeping him alive in prison does not fit the crime of killing hundreds of thousands of people to gain power as a dictator. Neither does keeping him alive in a "nightmare of solitude and suffering" exactly show the brand of compassion that Jesus had in mind. If we were to abide strictly to a Christian perspective (as in original Christ's teachings, not Christian dogma), we'd be forced by compassion and forgiveness to turn him loose, all charges dropped.
Obviously, not the answer. Perhaps execution is murder no matter how you slice it. If you define murder strictly as the taking of life, so is hunting animals, so is protecting your home from a break-in by killing the intruder, so is letting a mother die in childbirth by preventing her from having an abortion from a pregnancy that poses life-threatening risks to her. They all fall into the taking of life. To say "who are we to judge" is copping out of the responsibility of upholding civil order and protecting innocents from harm.
You are entitled to your opinion, and i to mine. And even illiterate Kevin Knight to his.
i fully agree with Franco on this one. His first sentence is the most correct thing so far: it will save lives. There will still be violence in retaliation to Saddam's death, but if Bush and his nitwits do the right thing, the US can manage and suppress it until the revenging fanatics fall away.
Oh, and as for Charles Manson and David Berkowitz... don't you see the subculture tee-shirts and other merchandise with "Free Charlie" and other slogans on it? i do. It was huge in the 80s, and has sustained a certain following among the counter culture youth. They don't understand the stories of those guys, and they are too naïve to realize the horrifying impact that those assholes had on the civil climate. So yes, they are still very much a part of our culture. Just not so public as Jessica Simpson or K-Fed.
13 - Col. Mustard
"The execution of Saddam Hussein will save lives."
It certainly didn't help the 78 people who died as a result of violence that day. Tell you what, why don't you hurry up and evolve and the rest of us will wait for you to catch up.
14 - dazey mai
Any suggestions about what to do with our very own #1 war criminal, aka, George W. Bush?
15 - Jhon Kennadey
As per my opinion saddam hussain was a right person. The only thing i found in this case is bush wanted the petrol which he reffused to give him.And in my opinion if saddam mudered 148 people he was hanged but instead of saddam was haged i would like to hang bush because he killed more than 8 lakh people of iraq and also created a war between muslims i mean to say between shea people and sunnis.And his next aim as per my view is IRAN now he will have a sapport of sunni against Iran.BUSH IS SON OF A BITCH.And he should be KIlled before he do any thing els which hang the whole earth.
16 - Victor Lana
A picture tells a thousand words, right? Well, in this case, I'd say one hundred thousand and counting. Don Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam? Hmmm.
17 - Franco
#13 "Col. Mustard
It certainly didn't help the 78 people who died as a result of violence that day. Tell you what, why don't you hurry up and evolve and the rest of us will wait for you to catch up.
Undoubtedly some of the 78 who were killed that day were caused by emotional terrorist acts in reaction to Saddam’s execution. However these exact type of terrorist attacks have been going on for 3 years and always, without exception, escalate around any and all events that further advances and establishes the authority of the new Iraqi government.
Saddam’s execution was just one more Iraqi government advancement in its effort to take authority just like the almost countless list of other such steps that have all been meet with terrorist attacks. It’s a pattern that has clearly been proven and will be proven in the future until full authority is established.
It is this advancement that is constantly under attack by terrorests. It is this pattern of terrorist attacks against every authoritative advance taken by the Iraqi government that caused these 78 victims.
To suggest that this recent terrorist act some how cancels out may assertion that the execution of Saddam Hussein will save lives is a fallacy. Your statement clearly shows you are only looking at a pattern of immediate cause and effect and you fail to look at events further on down the road at each step in the Iraqi government’s establishment of authority. There will be set backs but it will advance. Your perspective takes my assertion out of context and makes your point mute.
Therefor I stand by my assertion that the death of Saddam will save lives. He needed to be executed and so do all those continuing the killings and attacks on Iraqi citizens.
Is this all something that we have to wait for you to catch up on?
18 - Dave Nalle
A picture tells a thousand words, right? Well, in this case, I'd say one hundred thousand and counting. Don Rumsfeld shaking hands with Saddam? Hmmm.
Have you ever heard of a policy of diplomacy called 'active engagement'? It was practiced during the Reagan administration. It helped open up China and liberate Poland. It involved dealing even with people we didn't like or agree with to see where we could find common ground and move them along towards freedom and stable government. Would you have preferred that we invade Iraq during the Reagan administration?
Dave
19 - ahmEd_H
Now, who will hang Bush for war crimes?
Or Blair? What about Olmert?
20 - Victor Lana
Dave, I never said what those words were, but I implied they were copious and that is in itself telling.
To put it into context, just imagine if Harry Truman had gone to Berlin to practice "active engagement" in 1936 and was photographed shaking hands with Hitler?
It's like in the film It's a Wonderful Life when George Bailey shakes hands with Mr. Potter and then realizes how dirty he feels.
I suppose we have all shaken hands with people we wish we had not (bosses, ex-girlfriends' fathers, and Yankees fans come to mind), but having a picture taken to remind us of it years later is another story.
21 - Ruvy in Jerusalem
"Now, who will hang Bush for war crimes?
Or Blair? What about Olmert?"
Got a rope, Ahmed? I'd be glad to stretch Olmert's neck - but for treason, not war crimes, even though both are punishable by death in Israel...
22 - SHARK
Saddam and his execution are irrelevant. Fucking Irrelevant.
It's a momentary distraction, a fleeting boner for the Right-Wing, macho, GOP, Bible-Thumpin', "Let's Put the Ten Commandments in Schools and Courts!" crowd who run the White House.
Argue about abstractions.
American soldiers are dying like flies in Iraq.
For what?
Never mind.
Just keep yer eye on the swinging *pocketwatch, America.
* apparently available online from a video cellphone recording! Whoopee! Make some popcorn!
23 - SHARK
The President who said his favorite philospher is "Jesus" not only supports capital punishment, but during his tenure in Texas, he oversaw more *executions than in all European nations combined.
IRONY ON A COSMIC SCALE.
*including that of a "born-again Christian" -- see Karla Faye Tucker
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I love this country!
24 - SHARK
Some of us spank our kids to show them that hitting others is wrong.
=======
ahahahaha.
I REALLY love this country!
25 - Dave Nalle
To put it into context, just imagine if Harry Truman had gone to Berlin to practice "active engagement" in 1936 and was photographed shaking hands with Hitler?
Does the name Neville Chamberlain ring any bells?
And might I submit this picture of Truman shaking hands with Joe Stalin who killed more people than Hitler, Saddam and Pol Pot put together.
Politics makes for strange bedfellows.
I suppose we have all shaken hands with people we wish we had not (bosses, ex-girlfriends' fathers, and Yankees fans come to mind), but having a picture taken to remind us of it years later is another story.
When you're in politics or diplomacy it's the risk you run to do your job.
Dave