Iraqi gov't reports Hussein hung for war crimes

By Art Shimko
shimko_7@hotmail.com

-- According to the Iraqi government Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was hung on Saturday after being convicted for his role in the murder of 148 Shiite Muslims in 1982 who lived in a town where assassins attempted to kill him.

Hussein was said to surrender and not resist following receiving the death pentalty, he asked for nothing and held a Quran as he was lead to his hanging. Iraqiya television news also reported that two others were hung along with Hussein, Barzan Ibrahim (Hussein's half-brother) and a former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar but three officials dispute that saying only Hussein was hung.

Meanwhile people were celebrating in the streets of Baghdad joyful and happy to see Hussein get what many saw he deserved for a very long time, President Bush referred to Hussein's execution as "the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime."

I was at a party this evening and believe it or not there was a bit of a mixed reaction when hearing of Hussein's execution. Some didn't even want to discuss it, maybe one reason being that a discussion would encourage an unnecessary debate and others reacting positively and celebrating the death of someone, even if it was a remorseless and brutal human being who reeked havoc to say the least upon the people of his country.

Many times I carry the "eye-for-an-eye" standpoint when it comes to these situations, and yes, Hussein was responsible for many deaths beyond the ones he was convicted of in this case leading to his demise. Though the historic value this execution cannot be denied, I'm not real happy about this, and not because I had sympathy for the fucking sonuvabitch. On one hand you have one more despicable evil presence wiped off the face of the Earth, yet at the same time what the hell does it really matter?

Okay, the Iraqi citizens feel justice has been served in seeing Hussein executed but in hindsight it won't change the fact that there's still a war in progress, we are sending more troops overseas to help fix Iraq with what seems to be no end in sight. Not that I expect an overnight resolution for this war and fixing a mess we got involved in; after about a week of celebration the reality will set in that Iraq is still in shit shape and we're still picking up the pieces.