Monday, November 06, 2006

Saddam Hussein

Well that wasn't at all surprising was it? Saddam has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity, along with 2 other senior members of the former Iraqi Presidents regime. Throughout Iraq there have been a mixture of celebrations and rioting. As a result Baghdad is now under a strict curfew until the government can gauge exactly how this news is going to sink in with the people.

The eagerness of the US and Iraqi governments to push for this trial has made it look like a show. The timing of the sentence, coming only days before the US mid term elections (in which the Republican party are expecting to take heavy losses) seems just too perfect for Bush. Or maybe I'm just being cynical.

The sad thing is that this news is almost a non-event. In the grand scheme of things Iraq is already in civil war and this sentence is not going to change that. Husseins execution will not bring some miracle to the land, nor will it ease the pain of a nation in suffering. His execution is more likely to turn him into a martyr for many of the insurgents already in control of vast swathes of the country.

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