Tuesday, December 26, 2006

Saddam reaches dead end

It's no longer "Will Sadddam be executed". It's "When will he be executed."

Today's decision of an appeals court -- to uphold an Iraqi court's sentencing of the overthrown Iraqi dictator on Nov 5 for massacring 148 Shias in the town of Dujail in 1982 in retaliation for a failed assassination bid -- comes as no surprise. If Saddam had got a reprieve that would have been stunning decision.

This is just another chapter in a saga that has played out over the last four years. Ever since the first indications in 2002 of the White House plotting to attack Iraq -- in a new tactic called 'pre-emptive strike' -- events have unfolded with little surprise.

The case for weapons of mass destruction, the inevitability of an attack on Iraq even though the hypothetical premise for it couldn't be sustained, the UN debates, the ultimatums, the deadlines, the shock-and-awe strike, the street battles, fall of Saddam's statue and its symbolism, the "We've got him" declaration by Paul Bremer, the trial, the conviction and the sentencing... Looking back it looks all so predictable.

When Saddam kept taunting Bush, one wondered if he wasn't aware of what he was bargaining for. Definitely it wasn't beyond him to see the writing on the wall.

After 9/11, the attack on Taliban was a retaliation. But following up with one on Iraq carried little conviction, even in Europe, barring England. No, we will not wait to be attacked again in order to eliminate enemies lying in waiting, President Bush had said and proceeded on a plan of action with clinical precision. Bush has admitted that victory hasn't been achieved: just another way of saying, "We have failed so far."

It's no one's case that Saddam is an angel, not even his. He sounded quite a realist, when he said, he is ready to be executed, though by a firing squad. Probably he knows the saying: those who live by the sword, die by it.

Few think gallows for Saddam will improve the situation. Ironically, sparing him would neither. As Iraq slips from bad to worse, the world seems to wonder if the worst has been reached... so that, at least then things would get better.

4 comments:

  1. the comment above does not justify US entering Iraq but surprisingly does their aggression in Afghanistan. Where lies the difference the two cases. Was 9/11 justification enough for US attack on Afghanistan, if so India had umpteen reasons to attack Pakistan and so too many more countries. We need to realise , though too late, that there defenitley is no reason to justify aggression on another country especially by a stronger one. Whatever Bush or his cronies would say there defenitely stands no concrete reason which would justify the barbaric acts of US. Lets forget what is happening and what had happened to Iraq and its ruler (why call him a dictator).

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  2. Newsman.... Bush went a bit too far by attacking Iraq; he could have tackled the case much better....

    Suresh.... Bush's justification carries not weight... He forgets about other victims of terrorism like India.

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  3. somehow talking about reaching the worst...i feel saddams death sentence is well justified but unfortunately i still fail to understand (even after following it up so closely) if it is a punishment or revenge...there is a lot of political connotation to this issue.
    oh btw i like the saying- "living wid a sword..." its really relevent!

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  4. Again talking about reaching the worst , Hope things will end with his execution and Iraq wont be thrown into another civil war betweeen Shias and Sunnis after the execution of Saddam :(.Western Media is of the opinion that the worst is yet to come and will happen after Saddams death

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