trial, execution: all in a day's work

In the United States, we love to kill people. Look no further than to put the subject of capital punishment on the ballot: it garners overwhelming support. For most people, the death penalty is mixed up in some religious sense of justice and a pop-psychological sense of receiving peace of mind after a tragedy—closure we like to call it. We think that killing another human being has some magical property that can positively affect ourselves and our community—which is no different from a ritual sacrifice.

We also are among the few wealthy industrialized nations to do it. Scratch that. We are the only wealthy industrialized nation that actively practices it. It is outlawed in the European Union, Latin America, and the Pacific. Parts of Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean still practice it—as does the Middle East.

The recent execution of Saddam Hussein was a disgusting abuse of power. There is no way that the man was ever going to get a fair trial, nor did anyone expect him to receive one—we just let the new Iraqi court system go through the motions. We detained him for his own safety, and days after his conviction, he was hanged. Not only would this never happen anywhere else in the world but Iraq, but this is the country we have created. There was no appeals process. There was no chance to make sure that his trial was fair. In fact, he died to the taunting and abuse of the Shi’ite majorities. We know this because some of them recorded these events on their cell phones.

The recent execution of Saddam was not only overly degrading, but has put the United States back into the pit it tried to extract itself from after Abu Ghraib. By allowing this brand new “democracy” that we have spent a trillion dollars on destroying and then rebuilding to act like a spoiled child is unconscionable. This act is reminiscent of the nihilistic acts of Saddam’s amoral sons—perhaps an act of retribution. Regardless of their actions, they are now the poster children for U.S. intervention in the world: our military power and the soul of our country are shining through this democracy-building adventure in Iraq. So how does it look? It shouldn’t surprise us that the soul we see is pretty ugly.