Posted by
Scott Keys on Friday, January 05, 2007 9:19:58 PM
Why all the navel-gazing and hand-wringing over the treatment of Saddam just before his execution? It was probably a manifestation of the Iraqi culture and we're not supposed to voice a negative opinion of what may very well be their traditional way to treat the condemned. Who are we to say that it was "wrong" to taunt him on the gallows? Maybe taking a cellphone video of it is just sort of a high school prank kind of thing. Happens all the time, ha ha, wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Let's try not to be so judgemental in the future.
Seriously, I wouldn't have blamed the Iraqis if they had put him in an open ox cart and paraded him down the main thoroughfare in Baghdad, allowing people to spit and throw things at him. Maybe not our idea of the proper procedure but I thought were supposed to be relativistic when it came to value judgements of other cultures. I wouldn't have participated necessarily but, then again, I didn't lose a mother, father, or other close relatives to one of his torture squads. Not sure how I would've reacted in that case. Enough already; the guys dead and good riddance. Get over the entirely rational albeit slightly naughty behavior at the hanging. Sheesh.