Requiem
Normally, I wouldn't do anything remotely resembling this, but someone needs to speak for the dead sometimes, even if they are what we could consider evil and that their death will be the catalyst for more of the same. Please bear in mind that I don't think he was a great guy, far from it. The oppression of the Iraqi people is clear, as any ex-pat of that nation will tell you. Removing him from power was a good thing. But all stories have truth to them, and sometimes we need to know the truth so we can know the full story. Even Saddam Hussein has people mourning him this morning. And we must all remember that that is what connects us as a people - we were someones son or daughter, father, husband or wife, grandparent, sister or brother and friend, and wen we pass, someone should take the time to speak the truth for us. Saddam was a bad man, to be sure, don't ever let me give you the impression otherwise. But Orson Scott Card was on to something when he wrote of Ender speaking for the Bugger civilization he destroyed and the naturalists on the Piggie homeworld. You may be the only ones to read this, and that is as it should be. I just needed to get a few things off of my chest.
Citizen Saddam Hussein was executed tonight around 10 pm, nearly 6am in Baghadad, in a traditional execution before dawn. The execution is the result of a "War Crimes" tribunal that could only be considered less than stellar, given the fact that so many attorneys wound up dead and so many judges trying the case crossed the bench. The crime he was convicted of, the murder of Iraqi Kurds from February to September 1988 in the town of Afnal. This is the crime he is "officially" executed for, for putting down an insurgence in his own country brutally and utterly, as bad as any anti-Jew pogrom the Tsar ever perpetrated or any murder done by George Custer on the Washita. The TRUE crime, the unofficial one, is escaping control of his handlers in the American Intelligence community.
We started the war 3 years ago on the pretense that the Republic of Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, namely chemical and biological weapons that have been outlawed by most of the "civilized" after the horrors of WWI. What is not so public is the fact that we sold it to him, through the good will of such men as Donald Rumsfeld, to help fight the Islamic Fundamentalist nation of Iran during their war. We sold it to them because we were on better terms with Iraq, they had never taken our people hostage and were willing to die to put an end to Khomeini's totalitarian regime. Indeed, we did find the WMD's...in the original packaging written in plain English.
He became an enemy of the state in 1991 when he threated the nations ally of Saudi Arabia, the nation from which we get such a large portion of our petro-chemicals for fuel, a nation that itself suffers under an oppressive shia law that requires women to wear the burkah and not even to drive. Indeed, if a Saudi woman wants to drive a car, she must travel to Bahrain to do so, because the law does not allow it. They cut the hands off of thieves and the heads off of dissenters, much in the way the Taliban of Afghanistan did before we ran the off to the mountains. Because we do so much business with the House of Saud and King Faisal himself, we look the other way when he oppresses his people.
But is should be noted that the Republic of Iraq never had designes on Saudi Arabia, they have their own oil field, and a large port at Aqaba (now controlled by the UK). In fact the invasion of Kuwait was in realiation of the ministers of that nation telling them to "Fuck Off" (to sorta quote) at a meeting of Isalmic nations that summer. True, there were atrocities aplenty in that war, most of them were perpetrated by the Republican Guard, but we did not go into the first gulf war to free a democractic nation. Indeed, our goal was the polar opposite: to restore a hereditary monarch to his throne so that he might continue to oppress his people. Why? Because he has a large oil deposit.
It was after this war that the plot to assassinate president G.H.W. Bush (41) came about. Bush had had dealings with Saddam when he was director of the C.I.A. He knew full well what his former puppet at his fingertips. It should also be noted that Saddam did use gas on our people in Kuwait, Gulf War Syndrome is the result, and because our government does not want to admit that they have lied to our people for 15 years, and they don't want to have to pay disability for it. Assassination is a time-honored tradition in the Muslim world. You want to rid yourself of a rival? You have him offed. It is no surprise that Saddam wanted the same for 41. He had insulted him, broken his word and imposed sanctions that eventually broke his nation. He was the leader, even if he had taken power in a bloody coup.
For 10 years, he sat as his nation was pounded by our planes in the "No Fly" zones. Economic sanctions imposed by the UN denied the nation the ability to buy medicine. True, he was allowed to sell oil yo do such things, but he had to ask the UN as a supplicant. A nation that was almost a cosmopolitan example to the others decayed from the inside. The economy collapsed and the nation became what would be a hotbed of terrorism.
Yes, he gassed Kurds, they were in revolt. The US had even promised to help these people overthrow their government, but much like Bahia de Perquos, we backed out. The retaliation was swift and brutal. Had we as a nation had the chance, we might well have done the same to Japan for Pearl Harbor or Bataan, or Georgia for Andersonville. Very little divides barbarism from rationality in a war. Such is the sad truth of it. I don't defend him for this, because it's unconsionable. Both of my great grandfathers who went to France in 1918 lost lungs because of the Kaisers mustard gas. I know what it can do, and I know it's not a fit way to die. Don't mistake my words here for a glorification or answer for his deeds.
Fianlly, came that day over 5 years ago now, when the planes stopped flying and we began to live in fear. The dark time and the rise of a renewed imperialism swept over us. We were a model of those things we once despised, and patriotism was judged by the size of ones flag. It became apparent that it was a group of Saudi extremists, not Afghans or Iraqis committed the crime. We ran the Taliban out of power, a much needed shift for Afghanistan though they have yet to stabilize. However, Rumsfeld, Richard Cheney and George Bush (43) decided it must have been Saddam who committed it. They claimed he had weapons of mass destruction poised to strike at us. If the missles he fired in 1991 were any indication, they would have fallen somewhere in Iraq. They claimed he had a nuclear capability. The Israelis took care of that in the 1980's. "He tried to kill my dad" said Bush. That one sentance said it all. It was revenge...
We began our war in 1993 to liberate Iraq. We destroyed its infrasturcture. They only have 40% of their utilities back even now. Rebuilding funds have been misappropriated. Our national defense is worn thin, men coming home and killing themselves rather than go for a second or even third tour. We installed a puppet regime, but it is on the verge of collapse. Civil War looms on the horizon despite the words from the halls of power. Iraq, a secular nation once despised by fundamentalists has become a breeding ground for terrorism. We did that, us...the "good guys."
We captured Saddam in a hole over a year and a half ago. We tried him for war crimes, and tonight, we had him hanged. His knowledge of our complacency in his own regime died with him, and with it history can once again be re-written to fit the party model. In many ways, Orwell has come to pass and we are all willing participants in he never-ending war, myself especially, as I serve a government I do not believe in for a pittance of a check-the ultimate in mercenary because I honestly don't care about anything but a few of my associates and my bottom line.
Tonight, we sleep safely, knowing that we have done good work. But we haven't, friends. What we have done this morning in Iraq is state-sponsored assassination. I wonder, as he mounted the scaffold, if Saddam thought of the bitter irony of it all. To be publically assassinated for trying to do the same thing. I wonder, when he arrives to his punishment, if he knows what his death will do.
As of now, more people have died as a result of our invasion of Iraq than on the 11th of September, 2001. More still are maimed for life. All are victims of an uncaring regime that refuses to acknowledge the deaths publicaly. He attends no funerals, he allows no images to be shown and he goads us with false patriotism and ideas that we are right. But we aren't. Tonight, we as a nation become guilty of war crimes. Tonight, we sink to the level of the petty tyrant, such as Peron, Castro, Kruschev and Hussein. Tonight, my friends, the violence will escalate and it will become much more worse for my brothers and sisters on the ground in Fallujah, Baghdad, Aqaba and all the locations that we are in that no on talks about. Tonight, we become that which we despise. And it's unclear whether we will ever recover ourselves and put ourselves back on the proper road, as a model to those nations that live in fear of its government. We have that chance in 2008. Will we as a nation be brave enough to accept the challenge?
Citizen Saddam Hussein was executed tonight around 10 pm, nearly 6am in Baghadad, in a traditional execution before dawn. The execution is the result of a "War Crimes" tribunal that could only be considered less than stellar, given the fact that so many attorneys wound up dead and so many judges trying the case crossed the bench. The crime he was convicted of, the murder of Iraqi Kurds from February to September 1988 in the town of Afnal. This is the crime he is "officially" executed for, for putting down an insurgence in his own country brutally and utterly, as bad as any anti-Jew pogrom the Tsar ever perpetrated or any murder done by George Custer on the Washita. The TRUE crime, the unofficial one, is escaping control of his handlers in the American Intelligence community.
We started the war 3 years ago on the pretense that the Republic of Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, namely chemical and biological weapons that have been outlawed by most of the "civilized" after the horrors of WWI. What is not so public is the fact that we sold it to him, through the good will of such men as Donald Rumsfeld, to help fight the Islamic Fundamentalist nation of Iran during their war. We sold it to them because we were on better terms with Iraq, they had never taken our people hostage and were willing to die to put an end to Khomeini's totalitarian regime. Indeed, we did find the WMD's...in the original packaging written in plain English.
He became an enemy of the state in 1991 when he threated the nations ally of Saudi Arabia, the nation from which we get such a large portion of our petro-chemicals for fuel, a nation that itself suffers under an oppressive shia law that requires women to wear the burkah and not even to drive. Indeed, if a Saudi woman wants to drive a car, she must travel to Bahrain to do so, because the law does not allow it. They cut the hands off of thieves and the heads off of dissenters, much in the way the Taliban of Afghanistan did before we ran the off to the mountains. Because we do so much business with the House of Saud and King Faisal himself, we look the other way when he oppresses his people.
But is should be noted that the Republic of Iraq never had designes on Saudi Arabia, they have their own oil field, and a large port at Aqaba (now controlled by the UK). In fact the invasion of Kuwait was in realiation of the ministers of that nation telling them to "Fuck Off" (to sorta quote) at a meeting of Isalmic nations that summer. True, there were atrocities aplenty in that war, most of them were perpetrated by the Republican Guard, but we did not go into the first gulf war to free a democractic nation. Indeed, our goal was the polar opposite: to restore a hereditary monarch to his throne so that he might continue to oppress his people. Why? Because he has a large oil deposit.
It was after this war that the plot to assassinate president G.H.W. Bush (41) came about. Bush had had dealings with Saddam when he was director of the C.I.A. He knew full well what his former puppet at his fingertips. It should also be noted that Saddam did use gas on our people in Kuwait, Gulf War Syndrome is the result, and because our government does not want to admit that they have lied to our people for 15 years, and they don't want to have to pay disability for it. Assassination is a time-honored tradition in the Muslim world. You want to rid yourself of a rival? You have him offed. It is no surprise that Saddam wanted the same for 41. He had insulted him, broken his word and imposed sanctions that eventually broke his nation. He was the leader, even if he had taken power in a bloody coup.
For 10 years, he sat as his nation was pounded by our planes in the "No Fly" zones. Economic sanctions imposed by the UN denied the nation the ability to buy medicine. True, he was allowed to sell oil yo do such things, but he had to ask the UN as a supplicant. A nation that was almost a cosmopolitan example to the others decayed from the inside. The economy collapsed and the nation became what would be a hotbed of terrorism.
Yes, he gassed Kurds, they were in revolt. The US had even promised to help these people overthrow their government, but much like Bahia de Perquos, we backed out. The retaliation was swift and brutal. Had we as a nation had the chance, we might well have done the same to Japan for Pearl Harbor or Bataan, or Georgia for Andersonville. Very little divides barbarism from rationality in a war. Such is the sad truth of it. I don't defend him for this, because it's unconsionable. Both of my great grandfathers who went to France in 1918 lost lungs because of the Kaisers mustard gas. I know what it can do, and I know it's not a fit way to die. Don't mistake my words here for a glorification or answer for his deeds.
Fianlly, came that day over 5 years ago now, when the planes stopped flying and we began to live in fear. The dark time and the rise of a renewed imperialism swept over us. We were a model of those things we once despised, and patriotism was judged by the size of ones flag. It became apparent that it was a group of Saudi extremists, not Afghans or Iraqis committed the crime. We ran the Taliban out of power, a much needed shift for Afghanistan though they have yet to stabilize. However, Rumsfeld, Richard Cheney and George Bush (43) decided it must have been Saddam who committed it. They claimed he had weapons of mass destruction poised to strike at us. If the missles he fired in 1991 were any indication, they would have fallen somewhere in Iraq. They claimed he had a nuclear capability. The Israelis took care of that in the 1980's. "He tried to kill my dad" said Bush. That one sentance said it all. It was revenge...
We began our war in 1993 to liberate Iraq. We destroyed its infrasturcture. They only have 40% of their utilities back even now. Rebuilding funds have been misappropriated. Our national defense is worn thin, men coming home and killing themselves rather than go for a second or even third tour. We installed a puppet regime, but it is on the verge of collapse. Civil War looms on the horizon despite the words from the halls of power. Iraq, a secular nation once despised by fundamentalists has become a breeding ground for terrorism. We did that, us...the "good guys."
We captured Saddam in a hole over a year and a half ago. We tried him for war crimes, and tonight, we had him hanged. His knowledge of our complacency in his own regime died with him, and with it history can once again be re-written to fit the party model. In many ways, Orwell has come to pass and we are all willing participants in he never-ending war, myself especially, as I serve a government I do not believe in for a pittance of a check-the ultimate in mercenary because I honestly don't care about anything but a few of my associates and my bottom line.
Tonight, we sleep safely, knowing that we have done good work. But we haven't, friends. What we have done this morning in Iraq is state-sponsored assassination. I wonder, as he mounted the scaffold, if Saddam thought of the bitter irony of it all. To be publically assassinated for trying to do the same thing. I wonder, when he arrives to his punishment, if he knows what his death will do.
As of now, more people have died as a result of our invasion of Iraq than on the 11th of September, 2001. More still are maimed for life. All are victims of an uncaring regime that refuses to acknowledge the deaths publicaly. He attends no funerals, he allows no images to be shown and he goads us with false patriotism and ideas that we are right. But we aren't. Tonight, we as a nation become guilty of war crimes. Tonight, we sink to the level of the petty tyrant, such as Peron, Castro, Kruschev and Hussein. Tonight, my friends, the violence will escalate and it will become much more worse for my brothers and sisters on the ground in Fallujah, Baghdad, Aqaba and all the locations that we are in that no on talks about. Tonight, we become that which we despise. And it's unclear whether we will ever recover ourselves and put ourselves back on the proper road, as a model to those nations that live in fear of its government. We have that chance in 2008. Will we as a nation be brave enough to accept the challenge?