I shed no tears for the passing of Saddam Hussein, although I oppose the death penalty. Of course, just as disturbing has been the danse macabre in the past few days around his impending execution — what to show? how to cover? — so perhaps it’s just as well they got it over with rather than drag it out. In order to retain my sanity I won’t be checking out Fox News to see what gloating may be going on. However, the eagle eyes at SAJA note some of the first coverage in the more responsible press has been by desis. Aneesh Raman of CNN broke the news of the execution minutes ahead of MSNBC and Fox. (Trivial as it might seem to the outside world, that’s an important metric in newsland.) The coincidence that lead coverage at the Washington Post, Time.com, and CNN, has all been by desis is noteworthy in the context of our discussion, following Abhi’s post yesterday, of what professions are “traditional” or “non-traditional” for desis in America.
A list of desis working the Iraq beat (and its various spinoffs) for US media is at the SAJA website.
Um, yesterday was the start of the Sunni Eid. In Iraq, the Shia Eid starts two days later (goes back to politicking). Since this was a very sectarian decision, it makes sense that the Shia who dominate the current Iraqi govt would choose the start of the Sunni Eid to stick it to the Sunnis as it were.
It was sickening to hear someone cry out Sadrist slogans right before the hanging – so much for truth and reconciliation.
..or the meat grinder he apparently used on people according to a trial witness.
Non von Mises,
It applies to every single one of us on this planet.
Participate in ego-fuelled, malicious, and/or generally misguided activities, and you bear a serious risk of matters eventually catching up to you one way or another. Karma, human nature, call it what you will.
You’re absolutely correct, but people aren’t entirely at the mercy of their environment and upbringing etc. To some extent, yes, but we all have to take some responsibility for our own actions too (and their possible negative outcomes, if our behaviour is motivated by nasty intentions). Certain actions will have certain outcomes in certain environments, and if your own behaviour isn’t motivated by sincere intentions and is also morally dubious — with horrible ramifications for innocent parties who are on the receiving end of your actions — then you’re initiating a chain of events which may well ultimately backfire on you.
MoorNam,
By “the next life”, I was referring to what will happen to him (or, as I said before, has possibly already happened to him) when his soul is “put on trial” by God. However, obviously I was also referring to his next life here in the material world, which is a notion some people here may or may not believe in, depending on their particular religious beliefs. And of course, some people from the Abrahamic faiths will believe in the concept of hellfire, damnation etc. I don’t want to belabor the point because it feels corrosive and distasteful to excessively analyse and speculate about what will happen to another individual in such circumstances, especially as Saddam’s fate is already sealed and is now in God’s hands. Again, depending on one’s religious ideas, “Saddam” as a distinct personality may not even exist any more.
Anyway, personally-speaking, I am against the death penalty for two reasons: Firstly, because I believe it’s cowardly and inhumane to kill anyone who is unarmed and handcuffed (regardless of the circumstances), and of course state-sponsored executions fall into this scenario (you could even term them “state-sponsored lynchings”). Secondly, executions do now allow the prisoner the opportunity for remorse, reconciliation and redemption, even though this may take many years and possibly may not even happen at all.
However, some would say that life imprisonment is more cruel than executions are — as such incarcerations with no hope of release are a form of indefinite, life-long psychological torture — and I have to admit that there is some merit in this argument too. I’m fairly ambivalent about the whole thing and can see the pros and cons in both sides (ie. incarceration vs execution), but in the final analysis I have to say that I personally don’t believe in the death penalty, even though there are certain crimes where I would indeed veer dangerously close to supporting it.
Dam(n) the world’s Sad And be happy Stay behind the Bush And be happy Be happy That the world out there is irretrievably bad Be happy That the world out there is incorrigibly mad Be happy That you are not singed By the burning wings Of a distant desire The gasoline fields of perpetual fire Be happy that you are only sinned Against and not really sinning The proof of your piety is That you are always ‘winning’
Posting from India. It is incredible how much coverage there is here about Saddam’s desi connection. He was politically a great friend of India, and quite supportive of the Indian diaspora/expatriate population in Iraq (unlike so many of his Arab brethren).
As much as I believe it was a tactical blunder to kill him and, as a political Indian, miss a man who was once a great counterweight to the mullahs and Taliban generals across the border, let’s cut the hypocricy and outrage.
The reason he was executed, and executed on Eid, was because the Shi’ite ruling party wanted him dead. And spare me the outrage because its not the first time brown men kill other brown men, nor the first time someone in an Arab country was killed on Eid, nor the first time an Arab head of state was executed (see Prince Faisal II of Iraq) and its certainly not the first time there has been a public execution. Saddam was a butcher and a b*stard and whatever your view on the Iraq war or the death penalty, no one should be sad to see him go.
Thanks, SP, I hit the button without reading my post, and had meant propose/initiate, not condone, but you straightened me out either way. I bet the US mikitary didn’t want to have custody of him for very long in the interim either. This is truly a diabolical manipulation of peeps/pops.
Are you telling me that other Muslim executions don’t happen on Eid. Are you telling me that Saddam could in any way be considered a man worthy of the Muslim fate, Let’s be happy the fat Bastard is gone. Let’s be sad at the sheet incompetence of the American invasion of Iraq. But lets not be hypocritical about something that’s very much in the ordinary course.
And as a supplicant to the great Hashemite kingdoms of yore, I resent Tariq Ali’s craven characterization of King Abdullah.
Hurry Hurry Hurry no doubt no worry the “fat” is ugly a bit “bastardly” His death gladdens your hearts ohoi! Hari Om namah Shivaai Hari Om namah Shivaai
For all those saddened by the “racism” of the timing, the left-leaning NYTimes has some news that should make you feel happier:
U.S. Questioned Iraq on the Rush to Hang Hussein
Thanks LK. Glad to know I’m not the only person living in the West to be (inexplicably) upset about this. Red Snapper said it best – no matter what your opinion this, you’ll feel morally grubby.
There is something politely cowardly! Something definitely communal! The responses are simply frightening.
Panini, anyone who has a different opinion than you either frightens you or depresses you. I personally can’t believe that Saddam Hussein’s death has inspired you to write no less than three poems about it! Here, watch this, you’ll feel better.
Yehi to problem hai, bhai mere! Your training in the Universities of the US of A has endowed you with a supremely confident and self-righteous air to misread the other. Go back and see for yourself. The three poems are not about Saddam Hussain’s death but about the desi responses – self-serving pussilanimy – to the event.
Whereas your response appears to be gibberish. Your point is what exactly?
Why, you want some education in language now? You cannot stop the likes of Hari abusing the “fat” – and it is not just an exception. The Desi-yankees have internalized this callous attitude where their own faults appear to them as naturally ordained virtues. The problem with you is you are neither here nor there.
Pan Pot:
The majority of responses expressed various degrees of sadness and revulsion to the execution, war, and occupation. Now I can see how you could view my response is frightening (pro-war), cowardly (not serving), and self-serving (I own XOM and HAL), but what exactly is your objection to the majority?
WTF?