I believe that people would be alive today if there were a death penalty.
-Nancy Reagan
Wise words indeed.
Well yesterday was a queer, sultry summer day, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York. Wait, not quite. It was a winter day, and they hanged Saddam Hussein, and I knew exactly what I was doing in Las Vegas. Sylvia, you failed me once again!
Saddam has been dead for a day now, and I'm not sure how I should feel. Evil tryant gone, woopee!, right? But then again, the death of any human shouldn't be celebrated, as it is always a sad occasion. We're all the same in death: lifeless corpses.
Now I support the death penalty, and I believe that his trial was, for the most part, fair and justice was served to an evil man (it was unusually speedy, though). But still, someone's dead, and that's sad. Video of the execution is already online, and I have no real intention on seeing it anytime soon, I had enough after the Nick Berg execution (Wikipedia gave me a nice surprise by showing me a picture of Saddam lying there with his neck broken, that sure made me feel good). First James Brown, then Gerald Ford, now Saddam Hussein. It must be a good week to die! I wonder what that says about 2007. Maybe those three are the lucky ones.
International reaction to the execution has been mixed, to say the least. At the optimistic end is the leaders of the U.S. and Iraq, that practically proclaim that God's in his heaven and all is right in the world. In Iraq itself there are mixed feelings. The Shi'a are party-hardying, the Sunni are mourning and blowing things up. Outside Iraq, opinion is even more mixed. It seems that all of Europe is backing the European Union's belief (along with the Vatican and human rights groups) that capital punishment is wrong, though a good number of countries have went so far as to say that they respect the judical processes of Iraq. Brazil, Cambodia, India, Malaysia, and Sri Lanka were blatantly against the whole execution. Palestine's Hamas party went even further to declare the exectution "a political assassination" (http://www.middle-east-online.com/english/?id=18985), and Gaddafi's Libya declared a three-day mourning period for the fallen Sunni hero.
But who's the biggest supporter of the execution, after the U.S.? Iran! Oh the irony, the irony feels so good. Here is a statement from Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Hamid Reza Asefi:
"With regard to Saddam's execution, it amounts to a victory of the Iraqi people as they were the winners of his fall [...] Saddam's regime was overthrown because the Iraqi people did not support him. It is crystal clear that the United States should not misinterpret his fall and take the credit to itself" (http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2006-12/30/content_5550896.htm).
What a wacky world we live in, huh?
J.C.
P.S. And James Carville gets to live. How do you like that?
P.P.S. Happy New Year everyone. :]
