Saddam
Saddam Hussein is dead, shown no more mercy than any of his victims, his death proving as nothing in his life could that those who overthrew him were no better than he was.
We allegedly invaded Iraq because it was ruled by a tyrant who executed those who disagreed with him. Because he was a monster who killed people, we stormed in, wiped out at least 250,000 civilians and removed him from power. Naturally, to show him the error of his ways, we had to kill him. This will have shown him that killing is wrong, even when it is an execution. I think I see a flaw there, but never mind. If nothing else, at least his death will restore to life all those he killed. Ah, apparently it won't. So, although the law of this country forbids our government not only to execute criminals but also to encourage execution elsewhere, this country has supported the execution of Saddam Hussein and for no better reason than that George Bush wants him to be killed (Bush's love of executions is a matter of record and his slavering glee over the execution of a woman in his own country still sickens me).
Saddam did some terrible things, but were they worse than what we have done? Despite wild claims of a million deaths (based on bodies that were wrongly thought to be victims of his and were actually Iraqi soldiers whose bodies had been sent home from another war), he is unlikely to have matched our body count of civilians. He killed those who seemed to pose a threat to him, evil, yes, but not so bad as to kill indiscriminately. At least in Saddam's time, those who wanted to live could avoid getting involved in politics and keep their heads down. Iraqi civilians (the ones we are supposed to have liberated) say that coalition troops kill apparently on a whim and, whereas Saddam had strict laws against rape, women and girls are now constantly at risk of rape by soldiers and militia. It has long been a habit of some soldiers to view women in occupied countries as spoils of war. The women of Vietnam can bear witness there.
Whatever Saddam was guilty of, our troops have done too. Are there gallows prepared for Bush and Blair? Of course not! Thank goodness for the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who have spoken against the murder of Saddam. Any Christian who does not speak against it should be ashamed. Yes, he was evil, but who in this mess is good?
I hear Bush went to bed. He was sleeping as his will was carried out. Had he a conscience, he would never sleep again, but be haunted by the faces of the Iraqi children killed for his insatiable thirst for power and blood. I suppose a man who will allow the bombing of a maternity hospital (claiming to be pro-life at the same time!) would not lose sleep over the death of a man like Saddam. Bush pretends to be a Christian! Any Christian would have begged for mercy for Saddam. No Christian could rejoice in the murder.
Blair also claims to be a Christian, although he says it with a sneer, making it clear that he is lying. Blair said before the murder that he opposed executions but we must not interfere in the freedom of Iraq. Hypocrite! What freedom is there in Iraq since we interfered with an interference that killed 250,000 blameless civilians? Yet it is wrong to interfere to save a life. Both governments pretend Saddam had a fair trial. That is clearly nonsense. The first judge was removed because he was deemed likely to allow a fair trial. The judge who finally presided was blatantly biased and clearly under instructions from the US. Whole chunks of the trial were held in secret, notably whenever Saddam tried to defend himself.
I prayed that Saddam would be spared, that Britain and America would do the right thing and argue for mercy, that the puppet government in Iraq would have enough intelligence to resist the temptation to show themselves as vicious as Saddam himself. Now that it is too late and Britain, America and Iraq are all stained with dishonour from his murder, I can only pray that he will find his way to Heaven and that his death will be the one thing he has done to help his country, by stirring up the Iraqi resistance to keep fighting. Good comes from evil, because evil contains the seeds of its own destruction. Our act of mindless revenge against an unarmed man denied any kind of fair trial may yet see us driven out of Iraq and humiliated. This is our Vietnam and like in Vietnam, our atrocities will be remembered. As for Saddam, we used to be able to call him a monster, but now that we have sunk to his level, we cannot. The execution of Saddam only proves that we had no right to invade Iraq, because we are no better than him and Iraq is now in a worse state than it ever was before. May God forgive Bush and Blair and may Iraq soon be free of their "non-interference" which is called tyranny.
We allegedly invaded Iraq because it was ruled by a tyrant who executed those who disagreed with him. Because he was a monster who killed people, we stormed in, wiped out at least 250,000 civilians and removed him from power. Naturally, to show him the error of his ways, we had to kill him. This will have shown him that killing is wrong, even when it is an execution. I think I see a flaw there, but never mind. If nothing else, at least his death will restore to life all those he killed. Ah, apparently it won't. So, although the law of this country forbids our government not only to execute criminals but also to encourage execution elsewhere, this country has supported the execution of Saddam Hussein and for no better reason than that George Bush wants him to be killed (Bush's love of executions is a matter of record and his slavering glee over the execution of a woman in his own country still sickens me).
Saddam did some terrible things, but were they worse than what we have done? Despite wild claims of a million deaths (based on bodies that were wrongly thought to be victims of his and were actually Iraqi soldiers whose bodies had been sent home from another war), he is unlikely to have matched our body count of civilians. He killed those who seemed to pose a threat to him, evil, yes, but not so bad as to kill indiscriminately. At least in Saddam's time, those who wanted to live could avoid getting involved in politics and keep their heads down. Iraqi civilians (the ones we are supposed to have liberated) say that coalition troops kill apparently on a whim and, whereas Saddam had strict laws against rape, women and girls are now constantly at risk of rape by soldiers and militia. It has long been a habit of some soldiers to view women in occupied countries as spoils of war. The women of Vietnam can bear witness there.
Whatever Saddam was guilty of, our troops have done too. Are there gallows prepared for Bush and Blair? Of course not! Thank goodness for the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury, who have spoken against the murder of Saddam. Any Christian who does not speak against it should be ashamed. Yes, he was evil, but who in this mess is good?
I hear Bush went to bed. He was sleeping as his will was carried out. Had he a conscience, he would never sleep again, but be haunted by the faces of the Iraqi children killed for his insatiable thirst for power and blood. I suppose a man who will allow the bombing of a maternity hospital (claiming to be pro-life at the same time!) would not lose sleep over the death of a man like Saddam. Bush pretends to be a Christian! Any Christian would have begged for mercy for Saddam. No Christian could rejoice in the murder.
Blair also claims to be a Christian, although he says it with a sneer, making it clear that he is lying. Blair said before the murder that he opposed executions but we must not interfere in the freedom of Iraq. Hypocrite! What freedom is there in Iraq since we interfered with an interference that killed 250,000 blameless civilians? Yet it is wrong to interfere to save a life. Both governments pretend Saddam had a fair trial. That is clearly nonsense. The first judge was removed because he was deemed likely to allow a fair trial. The judge who finally presided was blatantly biased and clearly under instructions from the US. Whole chunks of the trial were held in secret, notably whenever Saddam tried to defend himself.
I prayed that Saddam would be spared, that Britain and America would do the right thing and argue for mercy, that the puppet government in Iraq would have enough intelligence to resist the temptation to show themselves as vicious as Saddam himself. Now that it is too late and Britain, America and Iraq are all stained with dishonour from his murder, I can only pray that he will find his way to Heaven and that his death will be the one thing he has done to help his country, by stirring up the Iraqi resistance to keep fighting. Good comes from evil, because evil contains the seeds of its own destruction. Our act of mindless revenge against an unarmed man denied any kind of fair trial may yet see us driven out of Iraq and humiliated. This is our Vietnam and like in Vietnam, our atrocities will be remembered. As for Saddam, we used to be able to call him a monster, but now that we have sunk to his level, we cannot. The execution of Saddam only proves that we had no right to invade Iraq, because we are no better than him and Iraq is now in a worse state than it ever was before. May God forgive Bush and Blair and may Iraq soon be free of their "non-interference" which is called tyranny.