Seeing as anti-capital punishment activists in America succeed--through frivolous appeals and demagoguery, in rendering our death penalty ineffective, I'm hoping the speedy review of Hussein's conviction and sentence bodes well for the future of Iraq and is not an indication that civil rights will get only lip-service in this new democracy. That being said, I was impressed that the execution was going to happen within 30 days, but I thought 4 days appeared hasty. (One Lib blogger commented recently that this was all a plan by Bush to "silence" Hussein before he started to "talk").
But I've been reading reports that Saddam Hussein's executioners (dressed in ski masks and stylish street clothes!) began chanting slogans which were pro-Moqtada al-Sadr (the Shiite cleric and militia leader) and pro-Shiite just before the floor dropped on Hussein. Judging from pirated footage of the incident, it was pretty raucous in there. I really worry that Iraqis have little appreciation for "rule of law" and I'm not convinced that Islam is a sufficient basis for such a value.
Incidentally, after starting this post, I came across this report that Iraqi officials have launched "an inquiry" into the whole situation.
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7 years ago
2 comments:
"I really worry that Iraqis have little appreciation for 'rule of law' and I'm not convinced that Islam is a sufficient basis for such a value."
They appreciate the "rule of law", only it is "God's" law that they are concerned about. Besides, its not our "Christianity" which makes our executions more solemn occasions...it's our liberalism. Christianity used to be intertwined with Government in Europe, and when they had executions people would throw items and invectives at the condemned.
I've heard many a Conservative Christian call for the return of the public execution and the gallows. Let's not pretend the morbid fascination with killing people is only a Muslim one.
Sean,
"Rule of law" doesn't mean "law and order," so don't jerk too quickly at its mention. It is not "rule of law" to use the system simply to terminate the life of an old adversary, which is what the chanters seemed most interested in.
And just because the dominant system of belief in Old Europe was "Christianity" doesn't mean that Old Europe reflected Christian values or beliefs.
And someone may certainly think that execution can serve as a great deterrent without having a morbid fascination with killing people.
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