Home | Hindi | Kabir | Poetry | Workshop | BoloKids | Bolography | Writers | Contribute | Search | Contact | Share This Page!      Shop Online

   Prepaid International Calling Cards                                                                                                                                          Advertise Here!

News of Jan 4, 2007
Oh my God, They actually Hanged him!
by Mayank Chhaya

Details of frenzied behind the scene efforts by American officials in Baghdad to delay the hanging of former president Saddam Hussein by a couple of weeks underscore how much disarray the Bush administration is in over the Iraq affair. Now that the very public and scornful execution of Hussein is threatening to become an albatross around Washington's neck, news stories are being leaked about the length to which the Bush administration went to ensure that the execution was not just legally and morally unimpeachable in reality but in appearance as well.

The unauthorized phone video recording of the macabre event, which has been widely distributed on the Internet, has exploded any semblance of sanctity. Notwithstanding the debate whether a tyrant of Hussein's brutality deserves any sanctity in death, the civilized world increasingly sees the execution as a powerful example of the rot in Iraq. The disclosure that the phone video may have been recorded by a person no less than the country's National Security advisor Mowaffak al-Rubaie is symptomatic of the societal malaise in Iraq.

With the Sunni Muslim world quickly condemning the hanging as a sectarian lynching by a Shiite mob and implying that at the very least the US connived at it, the Bush administration is scrambling to project an image of moral and legal rectitude. The New York Times carried a detailed story on how the Americans tried to prevail on Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki till the last moment in order to postpone the execution until after the Id holidays.

The choice of the Times by the Bush administration to put out the story suggest the extent of disquiet within the government over how the sordid affair is being viewed in the deeply divided Iraq. Not known for forthrightness over Iraq and other controversial issues, the administration appears to have gone to extraordinary length to put across its own spin via the Times, a strident critic of the administration.

The US opposition to the hanging has several layers of concern to it, including whether the Maliki government had circumscribed due constitutional process in rushing through the killing of an arch foe. Of course, the Maliki government had indicated to the Americans its serious concerns about the consequences of delaying the execution, including possible kidnapping of children as a bargaining chip to free Hussein or attempts by Hussein himself to bribe his way out. While the security concerns expressed by the Maliki government may have some truth to them, on balance the hanging has thrown open the lid on deep-seated Sunni- Shia animus rather than bring a closure to a merciless era under Hussein.

Although Hussein's enforced death was a fait accompli the day the US invaded Iraq, it is possible that the top leadership in Washington never really believed that the end would be sordid and so public. Some blog writers have even suggested that President George Bush and Vice President Dick Cheney may not have actually hoped that Hussein would actually be put to death.

Writing on a popular blog site the Huffington Post, blogger James Boyce said, "It's kind of like when a kid goes fishing but then actually catches one, they freak out and get all wiggly and nervous. Bush / Cheney etc really are nothing more than school yard bullies - "hey, we got that bastard Saddam, swing him at dawn, yeah, hang him high." They then high five each other and giggle. But wait - you mean he's actually going to die? Without a hood? On TV? Oh yes. What exactly did you think was going to happen when you sentenced him to death? He was going to retire to Tikrit?"

A lot of people are incredulous at the fact that Washington is incredulous over the turn of events in Baghdad. To expect any outcome other than Hussein's violent death is something lost on a lot of people. In a region thirsting to settle centuries- old scores and where heads are severed without any compunctions, Hussein's hanging amid scorn, mockery and sectarian taunts is quite in keeping with the way things are. The only question is why did Washington not anticipate the level of hatreds and antipathies. To believe that a delay of two weeks would have added some extra sanctity and to the execution is to demonstrate unnerving ignorance.

(Mayank Chhaya is a US-based journalist and commentator. He can be reached at chooki6@yahoo.com

News of Jan 4, 2007  

Top | News