Justice, Closure and a Message

Austin Bay has appropriate thought on Saddam's execution. (bold my emphasis)

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The next to last thing Saddam ever expected was a hangman’s noose. The last thing he expected, of course, was a fair trial.

The Strong Man expects to die in one of two ways — with a nine millimeter ballot (ie, assassination) — or old age. That has certainly been the case in the Middle East. A public, legal trial followed by court-sentenced execution? That isn’t going to happen unless…unless a democracy replaces a tyranny. This is astonishing news — history altering news. For centuries the terrible yin-yang of tyrant and terrorist has trapped the Middle East. In 2003 the US-led coalition began the difficult but worthy effort of breaking that tyrant’s and terrorist’s trap, and offering another choice in the politically dysfunctional Arab Muslim Middle East.

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In Spring 2005 the democratic project in the Middle East had momentum — and we (the US) didn’t follow through by sufficiently supporting Lebanese democrats. But let’s not draw arcs on canvas. History is fits and starts and often three point nine steps back for four forwards. It’s a fight. “War is a series of catastrophes that results in victory” (Georges Clemenceau great line).

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I don’t like capital punishment but I support it. (I do believe all life is sacred.) I think war is wrong but I’ve waged it. To say the least, this world isn’t an easy place. That obvious case stipulated, in my opinion dictators like Saddam don’t understand mercy. (For the megalomaniac it’s all about me.) Tyrants like Saddam are self-absorbed and narcissistic. Show them mercy and at best they interpet mercy as a recognition of their own superiority– a reinforcement of their ability to survive. Mass murderers like Saddam are the men who have earned execution. Execution is their one moment of enlightenment. Read the Newsweek article. Saddam quaked. And the whim of another Strong Man didn’t do him in; he went through a legal process, where he had his say.
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That's right. He quaked. He was scared. He was helpless. He was powerless. And nothing can be more foreign or more freighting to a dictator.