Saddams Execution; US culpability and hypocrisy; and the Tyrant Storage Tax

This is all I want to say about the sacrifice of Saddam Hussein:

There are three important points to be made and I will start with the least important.

I dont want to start with the illegality of this war and occupation or even our support for Saddam during the times when he committed the crimes that he was now killed for. I want to start with colonialism itself. The violent and brutal way in which states were created – like Iraq was at the end of WW1 – has an important role in why Iraq was the state it was.

It was this foreign intervention that played a direct role that lead to Saddam’s rule. Of course it was no coincident that Saddam’s worst and main crimes were committed under our approval, support, auspices, etc. There is no need to go over all of this. It is so well documented and established that to be redundant would be pointless.

1) The legal aspect. So from colonialism to our support for Saddam, the legal aspect leads to the fact that not only was the war and occupation illegal, so was the tribunal we created. We constructed it. We appointed the judges. The puppet government constantly interferred. Most human rights and legal organizations noted that the trial was not a fair trial despite that Bush’s White House claims that it was.

Also, the claim that the triubnal was a testament to Iraqi law is bogus. The tribunal announced itself to be above Iraqi law and killed Saddam anyway. Their constituion calls for the President and two Vice Presidents to sign off on executions. This did not happen. The President is an open opponent to the death penalty.

2) The moral aspect. It is immoral to claim that killing someone for being a killer is justified. Considering his crimes that we killed him for were crimes that we shared responsibility for is repugnant because we were not held responsible. It was our economic, military and political support that permitted these crimes to be made and for us to hold him to justice stinks of hypocrisy.

3) The consequences. Considering that we claim we want stability it makes no sense to do something that most recognize as something that will make things worse. Some say Saddam was a killer. That’s a moot point. Why be blood-thirsty and pretend to care for his victims if killing him will certainly cause more death and suffering of others?

Saddam has no sympathy for him but when the legal, moral and effects of killing him create nothing but more problems, instability and suffering it becomes obvious that killing him was a mistake.

He should have been handed over to the ICC along with George Bush as one of the chief prosecutors from the Nuremberg Trials, Benjamin Ferenccz, said.

I would love to pay a for all of our criminal leaders to be locked up. Call it the Tyrant Storage Tax.