Cause and Effect World

The rush to execution

When I heard that Michael Savage was wondering why the execution of Saddam Hussein was done so hastily, I was surprised, because I had been wondering the same thing and Mike and I are not on the same page about a lot of things.  Why did the execution have to take place within 30 days?  And, why so soon, even within the 30 days?

And then, there is the difference between the official reports of the execution and the unofficial video and audio recording that was ‘released’ afterwards.  Then, reports that it was not ‘legal’ by Iraqi standards, given that it was on a religious holiday (okay, technically, it was a few minutes before sunup).  Then reports that the Americans were trying to slow down the process and intervening to make sure the law was followed.  As reported in the New York Times January 1, 2007:

“Iraqi and American officials who have discussed the intrigue and confusion that preceded the decision late on Friday to rush Mr. Hussein to the gallows have said that it was the Americans who questioned the political wisdom — and justice — of expediting the execution, in ways that required Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to override constitutional and religious precepts that might have assured Mr. Hussein a more dignified passage to his end….The issues uppermost in the Americans’ minds, … were a provision in Iraq’s new Constitution that required the three-man presidency council to approve hangings, and a stipulation in a longstanding Iraqi law that no executions can be carried out during the Id al-Adha holiday, which began for Iraqi Sunnis on Saturday and Shiites on Sunday.”  New York Times: U.S. Questioned Iraq on the Rush to Hang Hussein

Talk about a thankless job for those Americans trying to slow things down.

Was this the thoughtful, impartial system of justice that we prize in America?  Or was this the victory of Shiites in the war between Shiites and Sunnis? 

If we were wondering whether a civil war has started and how things are likely to proceed from now on, the speedy execution may be a hint.  Shiites may have viewed this as the last chance they have of executing Hussein because the Shiite-dominated government may not be in power long.