Author: Gregorious Copyright © 2006
Location: London, UK
Saddam, backwards reads, maddas (mad ass). Is he really mad? Or, is he just a person under so much pressure from the US that he has lost his head?
Right for those that don’t know, he was apparently trained by the CIA in order for him to run Iraq. There was an assassination attempt on him in the Kurdish town of Dujail in which he responded with unscrupulous anger through the destruction and death of all of this simple town’s citizens. He killed them all, 148 to be precise. These were Shi’ite Muslims in the year of 1982. Now this was a stronghold of the Baath Party, who the US stated (in the current occupation are his followers). How is this so?
In 1957 at the tender age of 20, he joined the Pan-Arab Baa’th Party, and turned out to be quite the revolutionary! Che’ Guevero? Yes but no, totally different ideas for totally different economies and cultures, but still the same principle.
He was imprisoned in 1964 but escaped in 1967. He quickly became a leader of the Ba’athist Party leading them to social status. He was even awarded a 4 Star general’s award, yet he never was a war veteran!
In 1972 he had a hold on Iraq’s oil and implemented his power in 1973, while the rest of the world was going through an oil embargo. He made an unbelievable profit from this. (Trust me this kind of money can save a full continent!)
In 1976 he was behind the scenes getting rid of communism and helping Iraq onto its feet to be an economic power. On July 16 1979, he with the help of Syria became the ruler of Iraq; later having 68 people put on trial for treason and 22 of them being put to death.
In his new role he made unprecedented rule of Abbasid (“…when Baghdad was the political, cultural, and economic capital of the Arab world. He also promoted Iraq’s pre-Islamic role as Mesopotamia, the ancient cradle of civilization, alluding to such historical figures as Nebuchadrezzar II and Hammurabi. He devoted resources to archaeological explorations. In effect, Saddam sought to combine pan-Arabism and Iraqi nationalism, by promoting the vision of an Arab world united and led by Iraq”.) Would this be accepted in the Arab world?
He then went on to portray his upbringing as a Bedouin, wearing what he grew up in, but also wore full Muslim dress and prayed towards the Ka’baa, yet wore Western style uniforms to signify his status!
He signed many things in the years between and was not looked at as “a threat” to the West until he signed with the USSR. He then invaded Iran for their oil and moved on to invade Kazaksthan yagshemash, and declared this as Iraqi soil!
He held a high prominence of power in an autocratic government from 1980-1988 during the Iraq-Iran war. He was reveled as a war hero for standing up to Israel and stopping the Jews from Israel taking more than what was not even theirs in the first place!In 1990 he invaded Kuwait and took it in two days! This was, however, taken away in 1991 with the US’s help. It left a tank grave yard. In 1998 the town of Halabja was attacked by poison gas by Saddam’s order. The numbers of deaths are unknown.
I do not wish to go too long about him as he will surely be deceased in the next year or so, but he has been put up on charges of death for his crimes. He will be hanged, my point is, is hanging to death the correct order of persecution for this man? Or, should he be held in prison with no chance of reprimand? If he is held in a prison, then I feel someone will try to break him free, but killing a man by hanging . . .
For myself, I feel that anyone who has killed, raped another human, or messed about with children or women should be put in stocks (this is a Medieval thing where your legs and arms are strapped into a way of sitting, where the public can decide your fate. It should be for a set time line and the person must be guarded so as the people canot kill him/her). Ok the stocks are gruesome, but when this person, or any person, commits such a crime as related above, it is just the same, if not more horrific!
Tony Blair, and the UK in general, does not believe in the death sentence, unlike of course the US, but fundamentally should we really have the right to condemn a person to death no matter how heinous their crimes? Surely a greater punishment would be to let the person live (ok this will cost money), but their conscience (we all have one) will give Saddam the time to realize his atrocities and possibly apologize and try to repent!
