November 3, 2006
The long awaited verdict against Saddam Hussein came just two days before the American mid-term elections. Many opponents to our war in Iraq questioned the timing. Presidential spokesman, Tony Snow, accused them of “smoking rope.” The thought that the president was somehow the hidden puppeteer of Saddam's trial is rejected out-of-hand by those of us who don't see a conspiracy under every rock. Still, noted left-wingers and enemies of the state, like former Attorney General Ramsey Clark, predicted utter chaos if Saddam were to be convicted and sentenced to death. Saddam was, indeed, convicted and sentenced to die and the violence Clark predicted would engulf Iraq immediately after the announcement did not materialize.
Of course, Ramsey Clark is known for making outrageous statements. This man, who rushed to the side of the butcher of Baghdad to join his defense team also represented another butcher, the socialist president of Serbia and Yugoslavia , Slobodan Milosevic. Milosevic died in jail awaiting his trial for crimes against humanity. Ramsey Clark described his two clients – Saddam Hussein and Slobodan Milosevic – thusly: “Both commanders were courageous enough to fight more powerful countries.” Naturally, Clark was referring to the United States , a country he loathes.
In fact, it was Ramsey Clark and the defense team's continued delay tactics that dragged this particular trial out until Election Day. Keep in mind this first trial represented only a fraction of atrocities Saddam is accused of committing. This trial was over a mere 148 murders of Shi'ites in 1982. This is when Saddam wiped out a village over an assassination attempt. We haven't even gotten to the extermination of 100,000 to 180,000 Iraqi Kurds in 1988 nor have we heard testimony of a later attempt to exterminate the Kurds. Saddam's cousin, Ali Hassan al-Majid, better known to the world as “Chemical Ali,” was asked in 1998 how he would deal with the Kurds. He responded by saying, “I will kill them all with chemical weapons. Who is going to say anything? The international community? F*** them!” He was right. He continued Saddam's tale of terror completely unabated. That is until September 11.
The terrorist attacks on America changed our entire outlook on foreign policy. Our insulation was suddenly stripped away and we lay bare and vulnerable like no time in our history. It was then that we not only began to look at the world differently from a terrorism standpoint but we also began to empathize with other peoples who had been, themselves, terrorized. Our blind-eye policy when it came to despots and dictators weakened a bit when the most powerful nation on earth witnessed first-hand the barbarism and brutality of terrorism.
Although the folks on the left have made much ado about the fact that we've found no WMDs in Iraq , they largely ignored recently declassified documents that show Saddam was “within a year” of developing nuclear weapons as late as 2002. The New York Times ran the story but covered it from the angle that the Bush administration was inept for publishing bomb-making documents on the Internet. The admission of how close Saddam actually was to developing nukes was buried in paragraph 14 and largely glossed over.
Despite his nuclear ambitions, Saddam deserved exactly what he got. He must now die for what he did but we must first be forced to relive it. If those who don't learn from history are doomed to repeat it then we must learn our lesson from Saddam. Brutal butchers such as he should not be replicated. Perhaps a swift trial and a quick trip to the gallows will do the trick.