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Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Austin Bay :: Townhall.com Columnist
Saddam's conviction
by Austin Bay
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Josef Stalin died in power, and the old Communist mass murderer avoided punishment -- at least, punishment exacted in this mortal world.

Contemporary Russia still suffers from the long-term effects of Stalin's evil depredations. Unlike Germany and Japan, two other nations once run by mass-murdering cliques, Russia didn't benefit from a postwar American military occupation. Check the empirical record: Those history-breaking American endeavors demonstrably hasten a country's rise from the hell of sociopathic tyranny.

This past Sunday, former Iraqi tyrant Saddam Hussein received a death sentence for his role in the murder of 148 people in the Iraqi town of Dujail.

As these complex affairs go, the ex-tyrant got a fair trial. The overwhelming evidence of murder and mayhem made the outcome a foregone conclusion, but "foregone" doesn't automatically mean unfair.

Dictators tout some of their crimes. Saddam's Dujail murders were a public lesson similar to one the Nazi murderers laid on the Czechs at Lidice in 1942. The dictator's message: Cross me, and I'll kill you en masse and indiscriminately.

Arguably, the trial was too fair to Saddam, given his thrashing antics and political theatrics. But antics and theatrics (designed to play to sensationalist media) and murder of judges and lawyers (traditional dictator and mob boss methods) were his best ploys, considering the evidence against him.

While serving in Iraq in 2004, I asked several Iraqis what they thought of Saddam's then-impending trial and its potential outcome. My "anecdotally polled" Iraqis all knew about Dujail (as well as other big-time crimes), and they all agreed that Saddam would be convicted and killed. One fellow added: "We Iraqis should try him and not the U.N. The U.N. would never reach a conviction. Besides, he committed his crimes against us." By "U.N.," I believe the man meant the international court in the Hague.

Saddam rejected Sunday's verdict with his usual bluster, arrogance and anti-American tripe. Still, a hangman's noose may slip around his hoary neck as early as February 2007.

Iraq's Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said: "The verdict placed on the heads of the former regime does not represent a verdict for any one person. It is a verdict on a whole dark era that was unmatched in Iraq's history."

"Unmatched in Iraq's history" can be extended a bit to read, "unmatched in Mesopotamian history." Continued...
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About The Author

Austin Bay Austin Bay is author of three novels. His third novel, The Wrong Side of Brightness, was published by Putnam/Jove in June 2003. He has also co-authored four non-fiction books, to include A Quick and Dirty Guide to War: Third Edition (with James Dunnigan, Morrow, 1996).
 
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Reply # 1
Date: Nov 8, 2006 - 7:01 PM EST
Germany-Iraq
I get tired of people who insist that we can't possibly encourage Iraq to become a democracy, that we've been there too long and that the Iraqi people so resent our occupation that they'll be more likely to become a democracy if we're gone. History would teach another story.

Germany, 1942 -- we entered the war in the European theater. It took three years to win the war. How long did it take to win the peace? How long did it take to turn Germany from a former totalitarian regime and now demoralized economy and society to an independent nation.

Well, it depends on your view, of course, but Germany did not become a fully independent nation until 10 years after VE Day.

Japan was under occupied rule with carefully orchestrated democratization for six years following VJ Day.

I hope history will lead some to realize that democracy building takes time, but in the end, it's worth it. Japan has been a staunch ally of ours for a long time and Germany is more or less a democracy (even if we think they're moonbats) today. Neither of these countries had had any real experience with democracy before we forced it down their throat, but they seem to have accepted it. Why do we assume that Iraq cannot undergo a similar transformation if we are willing to remain faithful to our goals?
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Reply # 2
Date: Nov 8, 2006 - 2:16 PM EST
hntr admin
I normally agree with much of what you write, but this time I have a differing opinion.

I think the hard part is over for the whole Saddam thing, that is, actually trying and convicting him after the assasinations of counsel and judicial intimidation.

On the contrary. If the process does not end with Saddam's neck stretching in the hot desert breeze, I believe the judge and prosecutors will need to hide to keep from being lynched by their own citizenry!
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