Hanged for wrong reason

Saddam Hussein was not allowed to see the first light of 2007. Rightly so, albeit for the wrong reasons. Massacring 148 villagers may very well be a crime punishable by death, but it was certainly not Saddam's worst crime. He was never convicted, and thus never punished, for the crimes of aggression against Iran and Kuwait, which caused the deaths of more than a million people.

During his trail and up to his execution he remained in U.S. custody, in the hands of the occupying power which invaded Iraq based on lies and false premises. If Saddam deserves to face the hangman's noose, so do the Commanders-in-Chief of the invading forces, Bush and Blair.

Many ministers of European countries condemned the execution because they are against the death penalty. The death penalty should not be carried out for ordinary murder like in the U.S., but crimes against peace, crimes of aggression and crimes against humanity deserve the highest penalty.

The gold medal for hypocrisy should perhaps go the Belgian Foreign Minister Karel De Gucht, who declared that Saddam deserved the death penalty, but that it shouldn't be carried out. Twisted logic – in that case, why impose the death penalty at all?

The year 2007 will be free of Saddam the war criminal, but other war criminals remain heads of state or government. In a world where justice reigns, the hangman would not be without a job.

The killer deserves death

“The killer deserves to be killed,” shouted Shia protesters in Baghdad’s Sadr City, in Najaf, in Dujail and other Iraqi cities. In Saddam’s hometown of Tikrit, thousands of Sunni demonstrators defied a military curfew to protest against the verdict. Saddam’s lawyer, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, called the trial a travesty.

Saddam Hussein was convicted to die by hanging for a single crime, the order to execute 148 people of Dujail in 1982 after a bungled assassination attempt organized by the current Iraqi president’s party. For the relatives of the 148, justice has been served. Millions of others are still waiting.

Yes, Saddam is guilty of horrible crimes, much more terrible crimes than the one for which he was sentenced to die today in Baghdad. He is guilty of a war of aggression against Iran, started in 1980, which lasted eight years, longer than the first and second World Wars. More than a million innocent Iranians and Iraqis died in that war. But of course, the U.S. supported him in his war against the Iranian Mullahs. He is guilty of gassing Kurdian villages, killing thousands, but of course the U.S. kept silent then. He is guilty of launching the invasion of Kuwait, which the U.S. could not tolerate because it endangered oil supplies. That marked the beginning of the end for Saddam.

Those crimes are much worse than the one he was convicted for today. He should have been brought to justice at the International Criminal Court for invading Iran and Kuwait, not toppled by an illegal U.S. invasion and sentenced by a kangaroo court.

British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett commented: “Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein’s regime. It is right that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face Iraqi justice.”

Er, yes. When will Blair face British justice?

U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad hailed the verdict: “A former dictator feared by millions […] has been brought to trial in his own country – held accountable in a court of law with ordinary citizens bearing witness.”

Er, yes. When will Bush be held accountable in an American court of law?

Bush and Blair are guilty of killing 650,000 Iraqis. If they don’t get out of Iraq on the double, they may very well gain the same status as Saddam. Will they face the same verdict?

Millions are still waiting, for Bush, Blair and Saddam to be brought to justice for their most heinous crimes.

In his final, shouted statement to the court, Saddam, however, summed it up: “Long live the people and death to their enemies”, or maybe it was “Don’t push me, boy”?