When I heard the announcement that Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, I was filled with mixed emotions. As the words from a childhood parody, "Joy to the world, Saddam is dead," danced around in my head, I wondered if justice truly was being served.
In December of 2003, when coalition forces finally caught up with the former Iraqi President and proudly proclaimed, "We got him!" I was caught up in the sweep of patriotism that carried the nation, and I was sure that we, the world, were doing the right thing. Hussein had become a poster-child for terrorism and violence in the Middle East.
Once he was out of the way, all of the fighting would stop, right? Or so we thought.
The war in Iraq is still simmering while our country's morale has mellowed back down from it's patriotic high. It's obvious that anti-war sentiments are becoming more and more prevalent. Take for example the UB Anti-War protest this past Tuesday, showing that there are hundreds of people on campus that feel quite strongly about our country's involvement in Iraq.
I find myself riding the fence on this one.
The American, Yankee Doodle side of me wants to shout "hooray!" that Hussein will finally face the consequences of his crimes against humanity. This was a man who had led violent campaigns against the Kurds in northern Iraq during the Iran-Iraq War, and had put down revolts by the Shiites in the south in 1991 and 1999. He built alleged weapons of mass destruction and wouldn't let the United Nations inspectors do their job.
In the American mind, Hussein ranks up there with Hitler and Mussolini, and justice requires him to face the consequences of his crimes.
The other side of me - the deeply religious and occasionally philosophical side - feels that Hussein's death sentence leaves something lacking. It's a bittersweet "ending" to something that has been going on for decades. I can't help but ask, is hanging Hussein going to stop the war? He's been imprisoned for almost three years, and the fighting has raged on. What is his death really going to accomplish? Is it serving as some special, magic band-aid that will put to an end all of the violence and turmoil?
I remember when I was five years old, in kindergarten, as the Gulf War was just starting to boil over and unfavorable sentiments for Hussein were reaching new peaks. I cannot recall exactly where I picked it up, but I explicitly remember being chastised by my mother for repeating the song that kids at school were singing "Joy to the world, Saddam is dead / we barbecued his head! / What happened to his body? / We flushed it down the potty, / and round and round it goes, / and round and round it goes, / and round, and round, and round it goes."
As a five year old, I had no idea what exactly this horrendous carol meant, who Saddam was or exactly why my mother was so offended by it. Now I cringe as I type out the words I sang so carelessly, and I see their blatant cruelty and inhumanity. I wish I could remember who taught them to me so that I could ask why.
While I understand how justice works, I have difficulty swallowing the act of condemning another human being to death. My faith leads me to believe that mankind does not determine ultimate justice. If it were up to me, Hussein would be sentenced to serve an infinite number of community service hours, forcing him to see the consequences that his actions have left on the people of his country on a daily basis.
But justice works in ways that we don't always understand, and I guess that death sentences exist for a reason.
I understand that the ultimate decision made by the Iraqi Special Tribunal was the result of many months of careful consideration and investigation, and my limited knowledge of the situation does not put me in a position to decide his fate. However, I keep thinking that "death by hanging" is just a little anti-climactic.
If and when Hussein is hanged, we need to see it as a beginning and not an end. It should mark an era of new ideas and new methods, not simply the termination of the enemy. Eradicating evil accomplishes nothing if it is not replaced with good.
Will there really be joy in the world with Hussein gone?
