Congratulations Mr. Bush, you got your revenge

Saddam Hussein is dead. He was murdered today by the Iraqi government with the assistance of the United States government.

Saddam was 69 years old at the time of his murder. He leaves behind a three wives three daughters and a son. Two of his sons from his first marriage preceded him in death at the hands of American soldiers.  

Why would I write an obituary for Saddam Hussein? Because he was a human being. He did some horrible things while he was alive, but he was still human. By murdering him we have become no better than he was. We did not show the compassion that he did not show those in his country. Nor did we afford him a fair and unbiased trial, but instead used his techniques of changing the judges anytime they appeared to disagree with the United States’ policy in Iraq.

Throughout the trial against Saddam, he was denied counsel on numerous occasions as well as being denied access to evidence that was used against him. There were even occasions when he or his lawyers were not allowed to cross examine witnesses against him. Even on the eve of his execution, Saddam was denied a visit from his lawyers.

We have already proven that we have run this war like Saddam would have. We have worked hard to spin the casualties on the ground to avoid the appearance of any losses that might help to strengthen the arguments against this occupation.

We have tortured prisoners under the guise of extracting information out of them, just like Saddam did to prisoners in his prisons. We have raped and killed civilians just for the hell of it and rationalized these acts as being the consequences of war. But in reality, they were only the consequences under Saddam and other evil dictators.

We have done very little to improve the overall condition of Iraq. In fact, some would argue that we have made the country more unsafe and more unstable than it was under Saddam. Many Christian relief organizations have stated that the plight of Christians is worse now than under the reign of Saddam.

Sectarian violence (aka Civil War) has made Iraq a virtual bloodbath with hundreds of Sunnis and Shiites dying every single day. United States troops die so often and in such numbers that the news reports have become numbing to most people.

I believe that Saddam was a person that needed to be dealt with, simply because of his crimes against humanity, but I do not believe that it was the United States responsibility to carry this out.

Despite George Bush’s best efforts, the truth will come out and is coming out about the war and the process that lead us to war. It has been revealed that Bush intended to go to war in Iraq as far back as 1999. He was sore over the plot to kill his father and he was determined to make Saddam pay for this act. But instead of being clear about this, Bush used the worst attack on US soil since Pearl Harbor to enact his plan of vengeance.

By doing so, Bush diverted necessary equipment and personnel from the hunt for the real masterminds of the 9/11 attacks and made it possible for Bin Laden and his cohorts to escape from Afghanistan. Thanks to this vendetta of Bush, we will likely never catch Bin Laden and we will most likely face more attacks world-wide at the hands of Al Qaeda.

So here is my question: how is killing Saddam going to fix anything? Will it end the violence on the ground in Iraq? Or will it only serve to strengthen the insurgents by giving them a martyr to rally behind?

I can say this, with the messages coming out of the Middle East today; I believe that this execution will only serve to increase the violence in Iraq and around the world.

Congratulations Mr. Bush, you got your revenge. I hope it was worth the cost.