Quick thoughts on the execution of Saddam Hussein

[Federally-mandated "I don't like Saddam either" disclaimer*]

Not that Saddam Hussein deserves any sympathy but...

[Start actual blog entry]

I ran across a story on the execution of Saddam Hussein this morning and upon seeing this accompanying photo couldn't help but notice how familiar it looks.



Is there anything about this image that significantly differs from any of the other snuff videos we've seen coming out of Iraq?

What is this? Is this the "New Middle East" we've been hearing so much about? As an image it's a lot less inspiring, shall we say, than the watching that wall come down a few years ago.

Is this the kind of process worthy of the sacrifice of thousands of American servicemen and women and hundreds of thousands of Iraqis?

While you ponder that, check out Joshua Hollands' take on the handling of Saddam's trial and execution at The Gadflyer.

* - Only in today's thoroughly corrupted media enviroment could it even be necessary to make such a disclaimer but, unfortunately, because of the disturbing prevalence of right-wing brain poison and the desperately shreiking legions of Bush freaks out there who drink it up by the gallon, every columnist seems to think it's actually necessary. It is in that spirit that I too do so, if only this intentionally-snarky way.


UPDATE: Robert Fisk has two articles out on the Saddam execution that very much sheds the proper light on the subject:

A Dictator Created Then Destroyed By America

"Our masters will tell us in a few hours that it is a "great day" for Iraqis and will hope that the Muslim world will forget that his death sentence was signed - by the Iraqi "government", but on behalf of the Americans - on the very eve of the Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice, the moment of greatest forgiveness in the Arab world."

"But history will record that the Arabs and other Muslims and, indeed, many millions in the West, will ask another question this weekend, a question that will not be posed in other Western newspapers because it is not the narrative laid down for us by our presidents and prime ministers - what about the other guilty men?"

He Takes His Secrets to the Grave. Our Complicity Dies With Him

How the west armed Saddam, fed him intelligence on his 'enemies', equipped him for his atrocities - and then made sure he wouldn't squeal.

For good measure, here's another Independent article from Rupert Cromwell:

How Washington and London Helped Create the Monster They Went to War to Destroy

"When they hanged him, he was America's vanquished foe, likened to Hitler and Stalin for the murderous evil of his ways. What is forgotten is that once, for more than a decade, Saddam Hussein was staunchly supported by the US."

And finally:

Shaking Hands with Saddam Hussein

National Security Archive
George Washington University