The execution -- an appeal from the rational

[ngant17]


Bush needs to exercise his power of executive clemency, to at least extend a life sentence for Pres. Sadaam Hussein. His fate was never in anyone else’s hands but the USA. Not one Iraqi official, no matter how much of a charade they will try to create, would have been able to do this. It is all a US matter, pure and simple.

His approval of the summary execution, or rather, assassination in broad daylight of the Iraqi leader will accomplish nothing positive, neither immediate or long term.

It is self-evident that it will become an act of martyrdom and a banner for the Iraqi Baath resistance to wage a protracted war and on a more aggressive scale against the occupation.

It’s the same as if the US had invaded and captured Ho Chi Minh in 1959, and the S. Vietnamese puppets sentenced him to death for “crimes against the state”. The US had no right to invade Iraq, it was done under false or mistaken pretenses and they had every obligation to obey international law or at the very least, an international trial instead of a regional farce of a trial.

When Pres. Diem was murdered in 1963, it was a shock to Pres. Kennedy, who never authorized it, but evidence now confirms that the CIA wanted him removed and replaced with a purely military dictatorship. So they set the gears into motion for it to take place. To me, this is the
closest thing I can visualize for the aftermath of Iraq after the execution. The assassination of Diem set loose a horrific chain of events that didn’t end until 58,000 US troops died, for nothing.
The US created an unstable military dictatorship in Vietnam. It was bound to fail. So goes Iraq. Perhaps it will last longer and there will be more KIAs. That’s a great unknown.

Why unleash the devil, then? At least Bush can truthfully say he was a Christian if he pardons him out of a sense of forgiveness of sins.

[Avalux]

1. lol - never gonna happen.

Bush is frothing at the mouth for Saddam's execution - he's a sick man and wants nothing more for him to hang. Bush isn't a Christian and neither are his followers who want their kids to watch the whole sordid event. Your post is unfortunately a sentiment that will never even be considered by this administration.

[Lowell]

2. Surely you jest

Bush has built the biggest murder machine in history. Saddam's head will be the cherry on the sundae. His crowning moment.

[ngant17]

3. The cost of that cherry will be too high

for the US.

Saddam was only "mildly authoritarian", to use Jeanne Kirkpatrick's selective definition of dictators. Not much worse or much better than anyone else around him in the Middle East.

The problem is that this state-sponsored assassination has resulted from an illegal invasion and occupation. It was unwarranted. Once this evil deed has been completed, it will be plain to the world that the US can invade any country it wants to (or small enough to bully), it can arbitrarily make up its own rules as it plays its own game, and then expect the world to cheer them on for whatever mindless acts of barbarity and violence against countries that it has taken a whim to attack.

China and Russia don't have to worry because they are essentially superpowers. It's the small nations that need to fear America and its ability to do evil in this world.