Justice for Saddam Tainted by Revenge

by Mark Luedtke

25 million Iraqis can sleep easier at night. That may seem an odd statement given the violence in Iraq, but their very real boogie-man, Saddam Hussein, who tortured them in life and in their dreams for 30 years, is dead. No chance for escape. No chance for parole. No chance for a political deal to free him. Saddam can never come back to take revenge on Iraqis for being free. All those Iraqi fears were laid to rest along with the ex-dictator.

Americans can't know the fear the Iraqis had for Saddam Hussein, but we can agree on the punishment he deserved. 82% of Americans supported the death penalty sentence for Saddam. Even a majority of Europeans supported it. The trial and execution of Saddam was great justice in Iraq, more justice than Saddam ever allowed his victims, and the best justice that could be had for him. But we should never compromise our system based on what we saw in Iraq.

Saddam's trial was the big top of circuses. Americans think the OJ Simpson trial was a circus, but the magnitude of the crimes and the courtroom chaos can't be compared. Iraqi judges quickly allowed the trial to turn into a stage for Saddam to perform rants and tirades like a caged clown in a tiger suit. Judges had to be removed. Violence surrounded the proceedings, including the murder of defense lawyers and witnesses. All this overwhelmed the evidence of Saddam's crimes, and allowed the deposed tyrant to dominate the venue over his victims and their families.

If Saddam dominated his circus trial, the execution was orchestrated into a personal and sectarian act of revenge by Moqtada al Sadr. After the appeals court upheld Saddam's verdict and sentence, the murderous Shiite cleric and his ally, Prime Minister Maliki, arranged Saddam's execution, and in doing so, managed to turn the world's most evil man into a martyr.

Saddam, a Sunni, had executed al Sadr's father decades ago. Saddam had sentenced Maliki to death in 1980, and Maliki had been forced to live in exile. Maliki and Sadr joined forces when the U.S. invaded Iraq, and together, these two circumvented Iraqi law and orchestrated the government sanctioned revenge killing.

Some argue there's no such thing as execution with dignity, but we all know the difference between justice and revenge. Maliki broke Iraqi law, which demanded the signatures of the President and two Vice Presidents to order the execution. That law was in place specifically to prevent government sanctioned sectarian executions. Iraqi's President, a Kurd, had not signed the execution order, but Maliki pushed forward anyway.

Iraqi law forbids executions on religious holidays. Saddam was executed on the first day of the Sunni version of Eid al-adha, rushed so it fell one day before the Shiite version of the same holiday. The taunts by the executioners, chants of “al Sadr,” and the secret cell-phone video highlight the sectarian revenge nature of this execution.

It has been reported that both Moqtada al Sadr and Abdel Aziz al-Hakim, another Shiite cleric who considers Saddam a personal enemy, attended the execution. Saddam's lawyers charge that the executioners abused Saddam's body after the execution.

This rush to vengeance also stole Saddam away from another genocide trial. The families of Kurds who Saddam wiped out will never get their say in court. Justice was stolen from them by al Sadr and Maliki.

This failure of the rule of law falls on America too. With the U.S. ambassador gone, Maliki tried to force lower-level American officers to surrender Saddam without proper procedures. The Americans refused, and the matter was referred to Washington, where support was divided. Condoleezza Rice reportedly green-lighted the transfer of Saddam for execution knowing that it broke Iraqi law. In the Bush administration's weighing of law and Iraqi sovereignty, the law lost. This doesn't bode well for the future.

Justice was served, but the taint of revenge has consequences. Turning Saddam into a martyr will inspire even more violence. But memory of Saddam's crimes should outlive his botched execution. Reflecting on the murder, torture, mutilation, and devastation Saddam wrought on the people of Iraq, I hope the Iraqis demonstrating against Saddam's execution recognize the irony of their actions.

If America has anything to learn from Saddam's execution, it's that we are correct in following the rule of law and allowing every possible appeal for those sentenced to the death penalty. Every legal avenue should be explored to insure a just verdict and sentence. Circumventing the appeals process increases the possibility that mistakes will be overlooked, and justice will not be served.

But there is no need for the interminable delays between appeals. A thorough review of a case does not take years at each level. The families of victims would be better served by timely appeals.

I hope tyrants world wide are losing sleep after Saddam's execution, but I also hope the rule of law makes for better justice than Sadr and Maliki provided to Iraqis.