Lights out of Saddam Hussein

A dictator meets his destiny

TOPE ORIOLA STAFF

The Nov. 5, 2006 sentence passed on erstwhile dictator and generalissimo of Iraq Saddam Hussein by a five-judge panel in Baghdad had been long awaited. In a melodramatic and highly theatrical trial, Saddam Hussein was eventually sentenced to death by hanging specifically for the Dujail village massacre of 148 Kurds in his country with the use of chemical weapons in 1982 after a botched coup plot against him. Thanks to one of his sons-in-law, nicknamed “Chemical Ali,” that crime against humanity was splendidly executed. Hussein and his boys left tears and wailing in their trail. There are other enormous criminal charges against Saddam Hussein, but at least the wounds inflicted on the collective conscience of a nation for 24 years have been partially assuaged.

Saddam Hussein will be best remembered for a number of unrelated reasons. First, his love for exquisite palaces, the handwork of his overpaid architects of world-renown; building a mini-military industrial complex cum near-self-perpetuating personality cult dynasty from scratch; his war against Iran in 1982, invasion of Kuwait in 1990; his glaring secularist posture in a deeply religious country and, worst of all, impoverishing and making life intolerable for the people of one of the world’s leading producers of crude oil.

Greg Kehoe, an advisor to the tribunal that charged Hussein, stated on Fox News after the sentence was passed that Hussein has requested to be executed by firing squad, rather than dying by hanging as the sentence indicates. Hussein’s request is didactic and should be granted. It reflects the state of mind of an individual who, as sovereign, killed anyone under the vaguest suspicion, including the husband of one of his own daughters. Part of his leisure was shooting sporadically in the air in the full glare of the public. Metals and bullets should not miss the rare opportunity of sending “home” one of their own.

Despite his almost limitless bravery in his younger days, Hussein appeared to have grown cowardice alongside grey hair. A man of valour who knew a definite end had come would not have allowed himself to be picked up like a rodent near his hometown the way Hussein did. Hussein loves life even though he took pleasure in snuffing life out of others while at the apogee of his glory.

While Sunni Muslims, especially within and around Tikrit in central Iraq, have been reported to be unhappy with the sentence, the Shiites and Kurds are reported to be ecstatic according to the Washington Post. In such a rancorous atmosphere, building avenues of understanding amongst the people of this divided nation must now be an imperative. How many of those demonstrating against the sentence and their communities had a good life during Saddam’s atrocious reign? Iraqis have to create a common creed for the first time devoid of primordial ethnoreligious sentiments.

As Iraqi prime minister Nouri al-Maliki, a veteran of the struggle against Saddam Hussein, said, the damage on Iraq has been done and requires more than Hussein’s possible

death to repair. The onus is on the Iraqi people, government and those who wish them well to pick up the pieces of their nation and rebuild it — this time around enduring institutions and not individuals. Theirs and theirs only is the responsibility of ensuring that the ongoing civil war there does not consume them all. America’s departure, of course, is a matter of a couple of years at most. Iraqis need to nurture their nascent democracy and ensure the rule of law as opposed to governance by the whims, caprices and idiosyncrasies of one man. The world needs to give them every necessary support. At the moment, Iraq and indeed the entire Middle East are the insignia of the failure of humanity.

As the light goes off the stage of life for Saddam Hussein, I hope everyone, particularly budding “Masters of the Universe” will bear record of this event. Those who are rejoicing are as wrong as those who are protesting against the sentence. This should be a time for sober reflection for the politically inclined. Power is ephemeral, transient and intoxicating. When you fulfill your destiny, do not deprive others the opportunity to fulfill theirs through totalitarian governance. As Saddam Hussein declared after hearing the sentence, “Long live the Kurds, long live the Arabs!” Indeed, long live the people! There goes a dictator, whence cometh another?

Tope Oriola is comment editor of the Manitoban and a graduate student in sociology.