So long, Saddam

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Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, on Sunday, by the Iraqi High Tribunal Court for crimes against humanity in the deaths of 148 Shiite Muslims in the city of Dujail during his rule of Iraq.

Of course, Saddam is expected to take advantage of the justice system and appeal his sentence, where those judges are entitled to take as much time as necessary in order to decide whether or not to block his sentence.

Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by hanging, on Sunday, by the Iraqi High Tribunal Court for crimes against humanity in the deaths of 148 Shiite Muslims in the city of Dujail during his rule of Iraq.

Of course, Saddam is expected to take advantage of the justice system and appeal his sentence, where those judges are entitled to take as much time as necessary in order to decide whether or not to block his sentence. However, once that time is passed, Saddam will face his punishment within a 30 day period. It is most likely he will see his end within a few months.

The international community witnessed Saddam’s rise and fall from power, beginning in the 1960s and continuing until 2003 following the allied invasion of Iraq. The course of events that has brought Hussein from his elaborate palaces to a spider-hole in a desert to a military prison and, eventually, the gallows that he will be hanged from has been an interesting, if not surreal, end to the rule of a dictator. It’s also one of the first that will have been witnessed from beginning to end by an entire generation through the media.

It can be said that Saddam’s success as a dictator was in part due to the Cold War – both the Soviet and American influences in the region ultimately helped put many men like himself into power as a way to assert absolute control in the case of all-out war. The United States supported Hussein during his conflict with Iran in the 1980s, as well as many other unsavory characters in that time. However, our nation’s past actions in the realm of international influence were due to the great conflict with the Soviet Union, where the balance of power was what mattered for the existence of the free world. Those times are behind us now, and the Soviet Union no longer exists. Our priorities have changed.

The period following the collapse of the Soviet Union should be marked with peace and growing international cooperation. Part of the responsibility of the West is rendering infective the ability of these installed dictators, which both sides had installed to garner influence in their quest for dominance, to negatively influence the developing regions around them. Saddam crossed the line when he invaded Kuwait, and his failure to adhere to United Nations resolutions in the interim period were sufficient reasoning for his removal from power.

It has been reported that the combined majority of the Shiite and Kurdish population, those who suffered most under Hussein’s rule, see the use of the Iraqi Court to try to sentence Saddam as a positive step in a hopeful return to normalcy. Because of poor preparation and unexpected resistance from various militias and terrorist groups, the period following the invasion of Iraq has been a time of great tribulation for the Iraqi people without the benefit of a strong central authority to enforce the rule of law and to punish insurgents who seek to reinforce sectarian violence and hatred.

Unfortunately, how the story that is the Iraqi occupation will end is not known. What we can be assured, however, is that a terrible chapter has been concluded in this tale, and that the people of Iraq will be better off when the death of this dictator is finally behind them.

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