Saddam Execution

The execution of Saddam is the first of its kind in the 21^stcentury as no other head of state has been executed in this century before him. As the start of 1991 Gulf War was the first war to be transmitted live, his execution, because of its kind, was the first to be televised around the world.

Whether the execution was justified, legally or politically, remains open to debates as each side has opposite views of Saddam. Many were shocked just by seeing Saddam brought to the gallows as for them that was a reminder of the Middle Ages in which people were beheaded or hanged in public.

The execution of Saddam is likely to fuel anti-American feelings among a large section of Muslims around the world. He will be seen as the martyr of the American crusaders who are in Iraq to fight Islamic movements. The sympathy he drew was because, in their views, he was murdered by the American Administration. This eclipses his alleged atrocities for which he was tried.

Saddam in his life succeeded in being dramatic since he came to power. As in a Shakespearean tragedy, his ascent continued until the wheel of fortune brought him from zenith to nadir, from the highest-ranking authority in his country to the fall in the gallows.

From the humiliating exposure of him on his capture in a cave, to his being brought chained to court for trial and then thrown in the gallows, these images remain vivid in the eyes of many as no other head of state misfortunes were so closely followed and transmitted. It may be true that power corrupts but the steep descent from authority to being paraded in public must be very humiliating.

Saddam execution was swift. But it is not the magic stick needed to change the situation in Iraq from bad to good. He will remain a martyr for many who will see him as a true patriot who devoted his rule for the glory of Iraq in face of US threats he defied to the last moment of his rule and then his life.