And so we have learned that under George W. Bush, 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue contains enough ghouls to populate a George Romero movie.
Within minutes of receiving word that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been executed, White House sources announced that the administration was expecting a bump in the polls following his death. Shortly after that President Bush chimed in from his ranch in Crawford, Texas saying that the Iraqi despots’ death was "he kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime."
Talk about irony. Recall that when the President was still governor of Texas, he never met a death sentence he didn’t like. Uh isn’t that the same sort of justice that cost Saddam his life? I’m sure Saddam oversaw plenty of trials in which the accused were found guilty and then executed. Under the strictest definition, those deaths would be considered executions, and not murder, simply because they occurred under prevailing Iraqi law – no matter how warped that legal system was.
Now let’s move on to other body counts. Saddam’s regime was found guilty of killing 148 Shiite villagers. The purpose of those deaths reportedly was to suppress insurrection. (By the way, let us not forget that this result came about as a result of a pledge made our current President’s father. George H. W. Bush reneged on his promise and so the Shiites died needlessly.)
Now let’s turn our attention to Iraq as it stands today. Most estimates place the number of Iraqi casualties – even those not associated with the military – at somewhere in the neighborhood of 150,000. This number makes Saddam look like a piker.
And as we enter the New Year US casualties in the war in Iraq are within a hairsbreadth of the 3,000 mark. That’s more people than died during the attacks on 9/11, not that the Iraqi’s had anything to do with the loss of life on that black and tragic day.
"We are fighting them over there so we don’t have to fight them over here," has been the repeated battle cry from this administration. In reality, we saved terrorist a long, tiresome commute so that they can exterminate American citizens in the terrorist own backyard.
And again, the number of American deaths dwarfs the number of deaths Saddam was convicted of.
Now let’s look to the future. The execution of Saddam is going to be widely viewed as martyrdom. Even though the former rulers death was conducted in accordance with new Iraqi law, all aspects of Iraqi government bear Uncle Sam’s unmistakable fingerprints. No matter what had happened to Saddam the outcome was going to be suspect.
And what if Saddam’s execution does not quell violence but instead fuels it? Under US law if I come across a burning building with people trapped inside, I am obligated to try and extinguish the blaze and rescue what people I can. If I instead spray gasoline on the blaze I am guilty of depraved indifference in adding to the likelihood of those people’s demise.
So when does the President go on trial?