The hanging of Saddam

As I fumbled with the remote this rainy Sunday morning, looking for coverage of the New York Marathon, the hidden voice of NBC told me that “some people” were pleased that the sentencing of Saddam to hang by his neck was an example of the independence of the Iraqi judiciary and therefore the success of Iraq’s brave new government.

Some things are hard to take in the morning and bullshit is one of them, but perhaps some of us with a level of intelligence above the Republican low water mark and the ability to see irony, might relish the notion that the ruling junta pretends to admire an independent judiciary. Of course being surrounded with armed, foreign troops and conducting a trial under the auspices of an occupying force intent on producing one outcome and one outcome alone isn’t my definition of independent, but then they’ve always been successful at dismissing arguments by calling them Liberal and I suppose it would work this time if my argument should happen to come to their attention.

At any rate, it’s good to know that George is protected against an independent judiciary in his own country as well as abroad, because the world he divides into “for us” and “with the terrorists” is significantly with the terrorists. Muslims around the world are warning that the hanging of Saddam will inspire a new wave of hatred against the US and many are pointing out that more people have died because of the US invasion of Iraq than because of Saddam. Whether or not this is true and whether or not many of Saddam’s victims perished because of US sponsorship of Saddam against Iran is irrelevant. Perception is the only reality and my perception is that nothing good will come of the death of Saddam, unless, like George Bush, you define good as the destruction of the world.