Yesterday was the holy day of "Vaikunta Ekadasi". Hindus believe that the gates of Heaven are opened on this day and people who die on earth on this day ascend to Heaven. Saddam Hussein was executed yesterday.
How cruel the world is! Even people who were against Saddam must have felt for the man yesterday when video clippings of his last moments prior to his execution flashed across T.V's the world over and the Internet. Saddam seemed so calm, clutching the Holy Kuran in his hand. When the executioners were explaining things to him he was looking at things as though he was visiting some exhibition were things were being explained to him. When the black collar was placed under his neck he patiently complied as though his waiter was adjusting his suit. It was difficult to watch the proceedings. I wonder what was in his mind in those last moments. I really felt for the man yesterday.
I am not trying to justify the things Saddam did in his life but haven't people who committed more heinous crimes got away with them, many still at large and many even living free. Several of the Khmer Rouge seniors are still alive and free, having massacared thousands. Several other criminals who indulged in genocide live and die even without going on trial.
Unfortunately America today has earned more of the wrath, this time of the supporters of Saddam by initiating the incidents that has lead to Saddam's death. America's war casualties in Iraq now number in excess of the lives that were lost in the 911 incidents. Who is going to be tried for these American deaths in Iraq?
Asianet the Malayalam T.V channel also telecast a short special about one Mr. xxxx.Nair who served as a cook for Saddam Hussein and his guests for 7 years. Saddam had personally given him a watch with his image inside it, a certificate and posed for photographs together with Mr. Nair. Mr. Nair was choking and hardly could speak on camera about the execution that took place yesterday.
May Saddam's soul rest in peace.
Sunday, December 31, 2006
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3 comments:
I did feel sorry for the man, and I wondered what must have been going through his mind as well. It was scary to watch. It just seemed so barbaric.
Anger is a powerful intoxicant. I wonder: If I were someone who lost a loved one at the hands of Saddam, could I have watched that same video and been joyful?
Sadly, I believe I could have. That's the way human nature works. We can use emotions like anger to bury a more connected part of our souls.
I'm no fan of Bush's. But, in my mind, I don't have to equate Bush with being a murderer, or the US with being an inciter of violence in order to deal with the disturbing feelings I have when I watch this video. I just accept what I'm seeing as the animal side of human nature.
It gets down to a deeper question of how you feel about the death penalty. It's interesting to me that Israel does not have the death penalty. I believe they executed Eichmann, but that may have been the only one. It impresses me that they can maintain a civil sense of justice in the face of all the hatred shown towards them by almost every last one of their Arab neighbors.
Watching this video, I just get the impression that this is a very bad neighborhood--the Mideast--without alot of respect for the sanctity of life. What a gruesome way to exact justice from someone.
Maybe I'm naive. Maybe hanging is the only way to deter abominable human beings like Saddam....
Hello anonymous,
Your comment is well written. I didn't know Israel does not have the Death Penalty. That is something to think about despite what they have been going through at the hands of their Arab neighbours. Does just abolishing the "Death Penalty" make them a lover of the human race when they have been making all the latest weapons of mass destruction on a huge scale for many years?
Like you wrote what if I had been an unfortunate victim of Saddam's regime? Certainly angry but after a long while doesn't time heal things? Justice coming so late is no justice at all. Many of the Khmer Rouge seniors are senile and almost counting their final days. What justice can be done if they were to be tried or executed now for crimes they did three decades ago.
The other thing I feel is that Saddam might have even been a scapegoat. If the U.S has been fighting in Iraq for searching for Weapons of Mass Destruction and maybe Osama? Where are they?
All i can say is that what you sow, so shall you reap..
Sadaam sowed death in many, death sowed him eventually..six feet under.
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