"Let the Dead Bury the Dead"...

[mikelewis]

All day yesterday, I was troubled by the news of Saddam's impending death. Even though I knew he would eventually be sent to the gallows and when that day came there would be some sort of ripple effect that would reverberate not only around the world but in me as well, I still didn't pay this day too much attention. I've been avoiding thinking about the intended and unintended consequences but now that his time has passed and the world seems to have as much trouble dealing with this rather harsh abstraction as I do, I'm wondering what the consequences will be for this act.

It seems quite clear that there is not much love loss over Saddam's untimely departure from this world and a great many people feel as though he has gotten what he deserves... though the debate over who and how seems to have grabbed our fleeting attention spans for the time being. Who had the right to "bring him to justice"? Should he have gotten a fair trial or is "Texas Justice" a fitting judgment? These questions and a great many others will haunt us for some time... or at least until next week when America forgets this ever happened and the world is left to simmer and stew over our particular flavor of Democracy.

But for now my thoughts are on other people, people like the President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. What must he be thinking right about now... what is going through his head knowing that America can kill a President of a country as the other world powers sit in impotence? What is going through the mind of Vladamir Putin knowing that the once expansive empire that was the Soviet Union is now considered just another third world toilet America can "correct" if it too goes too far out of our liking. What must the leaders like Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak or King Fahd of Saudi Arabia or President Bashar al-Assad of Syria et al. be mulling over this day as they thumb through the pictures of Saddam being led to the gallows like some common rough-rider out of an old dime-store novel. How will they respond to our ultimate sanction? Will they grow sober and resolve themselves to bow to our might or will they grow sober and resolve that they will never allow us to set up a kangaroo court in their countries... What message are they interpreting from the swinging of their neighbors President?

Now, I'm sure the decision to kill Saddam didn't come lightly to ol' W down there in Washington. Killing an enemy is one thing that he certainly relishes but to kill one in such a spectacular and oddly anticlimactic manner doesn't really suit his style. There's just something odd about the way this was handled that intrigues me and makes me wonder what was going through Bushie's head at the moment the sound of the rope-snap heard round the world reached his ears. I wonder if he'll hear that sound in his dreams or if he's the kind of guy that can kill his enemy and then go and make a ham sandwich.

I also wonder what's going through Poppy's head today... I don't know how friendly Saddam and Sr. were but their love-hate relationship has spanned a lot of years and both their crimes if weighted down with Jr.'s on the scales of justice might just be enough to give ol' Adolph a run for his money. I wonder if our illustrious cold-warrior isn't wearing his ties just a bit looser today and worrying that the noose that Saddam wore might not be big enough to even fit around the girth of his ego. Of course he's not too worried about that but somewhere in his mind the thought that justice might actually be real and that maybe sometimes people... even rich people... have to pay for the crimes they've been accused of.

Of course, I'm still not trying to imagine what was going through Saddam's mind as he stepped up to receive the punishment America decided to mete out to him. I read his letter but even the words of a dying man can't seem to dispel the illusions woven by our media... in spite of the fact that they lie and lie and lie but on this one thing I must base my faith. They tell me Saddam was evil and I have no choice but to accept that and move on even though we took his country over a lie and added insult to injury by refusing to give him a fair trial. In spite of all of that, I must swallow the fact that he got a fair hanging and be satisfied... otherwise, I better start looking for a new country to live in.

I'm fortunate to have a friend that knew Saddam rather well and he's satisfied that justice was done. I find very little comfort in that but I can't seem to shake the feeling that something about this execution was so very wrong... so far removed from right it's not even on the same planet. I tried to ask Jesus (my imaginary friend that may or may not exist) but all he said was... "Let the dead bury the dead..." and I still don't truly know what that means. Maybe next week, when America rolls over and becomes outraged or emphatic about some new story line, I may be able to put my finger on just what was truly wrong with this picture and why killing the caricature of a demon and the body of a human isn't the "good thing" I'm being told to believe it is... maybe next week I'll understand what "Let the dead bury the dead" means but today, I just feel sad and worried that the story I don't know may come back and haunt this country and the world for a very long time.

Anyway, it's with a confused heart that I bid good bye to Saddam... whether or not anyone will grieve over him seems irrelevant because the complexity of his life and the multi-entendre that was his death is weighing very heavily on the world. My life and death won't even ripple the waters of time yet, at least until next week, the world will ponder his existence and now nonexistence. Maybe that's the best epitaph a leader of a weak nation floating on a sea of wealth can ask for... but for now, the only certainty is we can close the chapter on ol' Saddam and I can use the life and death of Saddam to muse if it's possible to kill a caricature without killing the human it was drawn on.

[The Traveler]

1. Nicely written

Very.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

2. What I'm wondering about is the timing

happening on Eid and during Haj is, to some, a major insult from a man who is perceived by many in the Middle East as being, at the very least, indifferent to Islam and at the most a crusader out to convert Muslims to Christianity. I've posted about this elsewhere, and been poo-poohed about the importance of this. But there are consequences...we may wish to let the dead bury the dead, but when an executioner yells long live al Sadr, one wonders if there will soon be a greater bloodbath between Sunni and Shia, one with many more dead.

[ninkasi]

4. I don't mean this to be insulting

but the important thing is not so much whether the timing of the execution was meant to be an affront to many Muslims, but rather whether they perceive it to be an affront. We can debate this, and claim that the Iraqis decided the execution date, but we know that at this point, Iraqi will, regarding the Iraqi government, is a reflection of Bush's will.

There are too many Iraqis with legitimate grievances against Americans, and our heavy hand in their country, for this death not to have some kind of effect. We should not meddle in countries we don't bother to understand. We should not be invading other countries, period.

[Gatchaman]

5. Bush took advantage of the ascendency of Saint Ford

to slip this through, just in case the Iraqis are as incompetent as he is. Do you really think anyone thinks all this Ford crap is appropriate? Ford himself would have been the first person to stop it.

[ayeshahaqqiqa]

6. Absolutely

the PERCEPTION is what is important here. What I fear is that certain elements in Iraq will use the timing of the execution as an excuse to stir up matters. The ones I'm worried about are the innocent Iraqis caught in the crossfire and the American troops, who I fear could become sitting ducks.

[DrDebug]

3. The President of Iran, Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, loved the hanging

Bush is not the only evil cruel guy and as long as the US doesn't attack Iran - and I don't think that there is time for that anymore - the whole War in Iraq would have been to their advantage as well.

And Putin is already dreaming of all the weapons he can sell to the insurgency. The war is great for the Russia weapons industry.

"I sleep soundly"
- Mikhail Kalashnikov

Just like George W. Bush

[smirkymonkey]

7. Well done!

You have put my exact thoughts into words:

"but I can't seem to shake the feeling that something about this execution was so very wrong... so far removed from right it's not even on the same planet."

I really didn't expect to react to Saddams execution the way I did, but there seems to be something very heavy going on in its wake. I am not sure what it is yet, but time will tell.

[stillcool]

8. well what to do you know...

a thought provoking post. What troubles me is taking a snapshot in time, and spinning a life out of it. No texture, no shadow, no periphery. Stark, flat, and unrevealing. Seeing only what the camera wants you to. If nothing else, my life has taught me all about shades of gray. To me, we are all teachers and students, and never know which role we are playing. Some people teach more through their life, and some teach more with their death. I've never known a mass-murderer, but I have known people who killed...went to jail, and came out of it with a lot to teach. I can not even remotely fathom who these people are who order the deaths of hundreds of thousands of people, and so...I do not understand enough to judge. I just don't get it. There are presumably 'great men' who have taken the lives of many more people. They did not sit for judgment, nor swing from a rope. So, I would presume to some, the reason behind the sword, may be more important than the sword?

[mikelewis]

9. There was once a 'great man' named Ozymandias...

I met a traveler from an antique land
Who said: "Two vast and trunkless legs of stone
Stand in the desert. Near them, on the sand,
Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown,
And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command,
Tell that its sculptor well those passions read
Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things.
The hand that mocked them, and the heart that fed.
And on the pedestal these words appear:
'My name is Ozymandias, King of Kings:
Look on my works, ye mighty, and despair!'
Nothing beside remains. Round the decay
Of that colossal wreck, boundless and bare
The lone and level sands stretch far away.

http://www.aggieband.com/poems/ozamandias.html

[stillcool]

10. wow...took me a while...

I'm not familiar with English lit. It's kind of like language usage these days...meaning other. Thanks for putting me on the scent...

On a Stupendous Leg of Granite

We wonder,- and some Hunter may express
Wonder like ours, when thro' the wilderness
Where London stood, holding the Wolf in chace,
He meets some fragment huge, and stops to guess
What powerful but unrecorded race
Once dwelt in that annihilated place.

In Egypt's sandy silence, all alone,
Stands a gigantic Leg, which far off throws
The only shadow that the Desart knows: -
"I am great OZYMANDIAS," saith the stone,
"The King of Kings; this mighty City shows
"The wonders of my hand." - The City's gone, -
Nought but the Leg remaining to disclose
The site of this forgotten Babylon.