Saddam's hanging will not quell the current violence he helped to foment in
the aftermath of the U.S. invasion in 2003. This adds to the importance of
the decision President Bush will announce in a few days regarding the next -
and possibly final - effort to stabilize Iraq so the elected government
might function. Part of that stabilization must include a new vision of
Iraq's God, his disapproval of the sectarian killings and the deaths of so
many innocents at the hands of insurgent terrorists. Since the West is
regarded as the home of "infidels," a religious leader inside Iraq who has
more than his own petty interests at stake will have to step forward and
effectively call for an end to the turmoil. If such a person exists, he is
unknown to the world.
Who will mourn Saddam's death? Probably not his family members, an estimated
40 of whom he either ordered murdered or personally dispatched. He even
murdered his own son-in-law, who defected to Jordan and then returned to
Iraq on Saddam's promise he would not be harmed.
In a letter addressed to "the Iraqi nation" shortly after his sentencing in
November, Saddam demonstrated his self-delusion was complete: "Many of you
have known the writer of this letter to be faithful, honest, caring for
others, wise, of sound judgment, just, decisive, careful with the wealth of
the people and of the state."
That one will bring some laughs among his fellow despots in Hades, just
before the letter is consumed in the fire.