The Left on Saddam's Execution

You had to know it was coming. If you didn't, you know now. The Left is upset that Saddam was executed.

Robert Fisk has a column in Saturday's Independent (UK) entitled, "Saddam Hussein: A Dictator Created Then Destroyed By America." The sub-heading reads, "Hussein's execution will be remembered as a case of America destroying an Arab leader who no longer obeyed his orders from Washington."

Yes, it's official. America is to blame for everything Saddam did.

In the aftermath of the international crimes against humanity of 2001 we have tortured, we have murdered, we have brutalised and killed the innocent -- we have even added our shame at Abu Ghraib to Saddam's shame at Abu Ghraib -- and yet we are supposed to forget these terrible crimes as we applaud the swinging corpse of the dictator we created.

But Fisk isn't the only one. Eric Margolis, in his column in the Sunday Toronto Sun, takes the conspiracy route.

I always considered "President Hussein," who was hanged Friday, a sadistic bully and a loathsome megalomaniac.

No one can accuse me of sympathy for Saddam or his fellow thugs who terrorized Iraq. But I was thoroughly disgusted and ashamed by the kangaroo court created and stage-managed by the U.S. that condemned Saddam.

Iraq's deposed president, whom Osama bin Laden called "the worst Arab despot" should have faced real justice at an international legal tribunal like the UN Hague Court. That would have served warning to other despots who violated human rights and committed aggression.

The United States did right to hand over Serb tyrant Slobodan Milosevic to the Hague. But Saddam had to be silenced before he told the world about his long collusion with the United States. Dead men tell no tales. (emphasis added)

Yes, he's certainly right. Ahmadinejad and Kim Jong Il would be quaking in their boots right now, if only the UN had tried Saddam and convicted him to live out his life in a nice prison with good food and exercise.

He goes on to blame Britain, Winston Churchill in particular, for setting the precedent in Iraq of mass killings that Saddam followed. More recently, of course, it's Tony Blair, President Bush, and Donald Rumsfeld who are the evil perpetrators.

Nor has there been much reporting that under Saddam, Iraq became the Arab world's most industrialized nation, a leader in women's rights, medical care, education, and public projects.

Saddam was quite a guy.

Hugh Hewitt's post Saturday on the Left's reaction had quotes from the comments at Lefty blog, DailyKos. Here are a couple of them:

So, overall, did my life change with the execution of Saddam? Only time will tell... if South Park does a really funny episode on it that I can watch on YouTube, I think I can say yes. Otherwise, no. My life is no different in a world without Saddam.

This is so typical of people on the Left. Their world is ego-centric. The earth doesn't revolve around the sun. It revolves around them.

Why would I write an obituary for Saddam Hussein? Because he was a human being. He did some horrible things while he was alive, but he was still human. By murdering him we have become no better than he was.

I like Dennis Prager's perspective on the death penalty. People like this last commenter reveal their compassion for homicidal/genocidal dictators, but they show no compassion for the innocent dead. Prager asked on his radio show this morning, "If someone killed half of all humanity--3 billion people--would death penalty opponents still want the killer to live?" Chances are they would.

Dennis Prager also pointed out Europe's reaction to the execution. Only one European country declared Saddam's execution to have been good. All the rest condemned the execution for varying reason.

The country that approved was Poland. I like that country more and more.