The Twisted Martyrdom of Saddam Hussein
A Villain Hangs, But Who Cares?
Jeremy Grunert
Last Updated: 9/26/07 Section: Opinion
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The man being led to the gallows is tall and solemn. Dressed in a black overcoat, he has dark hair and a short, salt-and-pepper beard. Though the video is grainy and bouncy, everything one would expect from a cell-phone camera, the identity of the dark-coated man-now having a noose slipped around his neck by a pair of men in Hezbollah-like ski masks-is unmistakable. Saddam Hussein, the former "President" of Iraq, stands stoically, reciting a prayer until the end. The platform drops, and, with a crack, the life of one of the modern world's most barbaric dictators is over.
If Saddam's death brought a moment of clarity, a moment of solemn justice, a moment of morbid victory, then it was merely that-a moment. Almost immediately, the void was filled with a thousand voices of opposition. The view from Europe was practically unanimous: the death penalty is unjust and immoral in all cases. Around the world, other nations added their voices to the rain of condemnation. Even former arch-enemies of Iraq, namely Saudi Arabia, expressed opposition to the execution. In fact, only four countries offered support for the verdict of the Iraqi court: Peru, Poland, Israel, and Iran. Accusations that the United States "politicized" Saddam's trial, created a kangaroo court to try the former dictator, and even rigged the death-sentence outcome raged. But what is worse, and more contemptible, than these cries of opposition are cries of a different sort-the cries of "martyrdom."
The front-page headline of the New York Times read "Images of Hanging Make Hussein a Martyr to Many." Saddam Hussein: martyr? There it was: Sunni Muslims across the Middle East touting Saddam as the newest martyr for the cause of Islam. Even Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, was quoted as saying, "No one will ever forget the way in which Saddam was executed. They [the Americans and the Iraqi interim government] turned him into a martyr." How was this possible? How could anyone claim martyrdom for a killer like Saddam? The answers to these questions are found in the grim and twisted world of Islamic sectarian politics.
If Saddam's death brought a moment of clarity, a moment of solemn justice, a moment of morbid victory, then it was merely that-a moment. Almost immediately, the void was filled with a thousand voices of opposition. The view from Europe was practically unanimous: the death penalty is unjust and immoral in all cases. Around the world, other nations added their voices to the rain of condemnation. Even former arch-enemies of Iraq, namely Saudi Arabia, expressed opposition to the execution. In fact, only four countries offered support for the verdict of the Iraqi court: Peru, Poland, Israel, and Iran. Accusations that the United States "politicized" Saddam's trial, created a kangaroo court to try the former dictator, and even rigged the death-sentence outcome raged. But what is worse, and more contemptible, than these cries of opposition are cries of a different sort-the cries of "martyrdom."
The front-page headline of the New York Times read "Images of Hanging Make Hussein a Martyr to Many." Saddam Hussein: martyr? There it was: Sunni Muslims across the Middle East touting Saddam as the newest martyr for the cause of Islam. Even Hosni Mubarak, the president of Egypt, was quoted as saying, "No one will ever forget the way in which Saddam was executed. They [the Americans and the Iraqi interim government] turned him into a martyr." How was this possible? How could anyone claim martyrdom for a killer like Saddam? The answers to these questions are found in the grim and twisted world of Islamic sectarian politics.
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