Saddam: the truth? A dignified and brave end
Saddam: the truth?
A dignified and brave end
Whatever else can fairly be said about Saddam Hussein and his many sins and vicious acts of bastardry, he went to the gallows with immense dignity and met his end bravely.
The leaked (unofficial) video and soundtrack of his hanging proves that, despite the claims by the flunky who made the official video of the hanging that "there was fear in his eyes". The only unseemly behaviour came from the animals executing him.
Naturally, Rupert Murdoch's disgusting Sydney tabloid the Daily Telegraph, given the option of two conflicting viewpoints (distributed by news agencies) from people who were present, chose to run with a huge half-page headline that depicted him as a coward:
Saddam 'showed fear'
By Glen Owen: SADDAM Hussein went to the gallows
with desperate fear in his eyes, an official Iraqi
videographer who filmed Saddam's final moments revealed.
Running with that head when you are in possession of the other viewpoint (reported waaaaay down in the story, surprise surprise) is simply a display of bias, and untrustworthiness. The video now available proves the Telegraph ran with the lie and buried the truth. But then, Murdoch's readers seem to want that.
It would be nice to think that one death could somehow hasten the end of the violence tearing Iraq apart. But it will not.
Bush is still trying to put a favourable gloss on everything that has occurred since he and his advisers arrogantly decided to ignore history and people who understand the Arab approach to life. As so many people predicted at the time, he has dug a huge hole for America and fallen headlong into it.
Whatever he hopes to achieve now by increasing troop strengths, or delaying an ignominious retreat, the only thing that is certain is that warring factions in Iraq have new reasons to continue slaughtering each other for decades to come. Some peacemaker the US has proved to be. As in so many marginal states, the Iranian strongman/despot was the centre without which the rest could not hold. If you have no-one to put in his place, don't fuck with the status quo.
Bush and his few allies went into Iraq on a lie (remember the non-existent WMD?) hellbent on vengeance and the Apearance of taking decisive action. They were willing to put their own people at risk for not very much that is worth a damn. What is the toll, so far? More US troops dead than US citizens died in the Sept 11 terrorist strikes. And that number pales beside the toll of Iraqis who have died so far. That will be Bush's legacy.