Three dictators died before the 2006th birthday of Jesus Christ-Pinochet, Turkmenbashi and Saddam Hussein. The world, however, paid more attention to Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein who was executed in Baghdad. Of course, he could have been killed through the means accepted and respected during Medieval Times, for example, by tying him to the tail of a horse and letting him go in one of the prairies of Iraq. Perhaps that would make the cameraman’s job more difficult, but the shots would be much more impressive. Bringing people to justice could be done by applying fresh ideas and throw Saddam into, let’s say, an aquarium of sulfuric acid; he would gradually disappear in front of the billions of people following up on the verdict. However, as the official Washington justifies, it was the people’s wish and that’s the Iraqi culture of the death penalty, which, in this case, preferred execution.
The decision of the West in defense of democracy, human rights and dignity and the carrying out of the execution were probably not as predictable as how unpredictable the restoration of the execution institute in the 21st century was; much less on practically live television. The executor kindly explains to Saddam Hussein that before tying the rope to the neck, it is necessary to wrap the black tie around the neck. That helps ease the pain of the execution and the mark left on the rope is not that apparent. The executioner’s assistants tie the rope around the executed and stretch it very carefully so that it won’t press him too hard. Saddam didn’t agree to having a black bag covering his face so that he won’t see the process of the execution. For the last time, Saddam, who had gone from being an assassin dictator to a victim, screamed: “Long live Palestine, long live Iraq.” Then the tactful cameramen turned off the camera. The technique of the continuation of the execution is clear to those who have seen the film “Dancer in the Dark”-after the rope is tied around the neck, the ground beneath the executed opens up and his already dead body is seen in a cell one story below. There’s no doubt that the scenes of the death penalty following the news reports on holiday celebrations shocked people used to seeing bloody scenes. It’s not how fair the judges were or how guilty the dictator was; rather, it was the fact that, as I mentioned above, the penalty was carried out with a medieval tool and right before one of the most significant and most symbolic holidays of mankind. The announcements made by the U.S. Pentagon, claiming that the death penalty of Saddam Hussein was one more step towards democracy didn’t sound too convincing and honest because they failed to keep the European and Western values on the road towards turning feudal Iraq into a democratic country and gave way to revenge and cowardice. New terrorists acts taking the lives of hundreds of innocent people followed the death penalty of Saddam in Iraq. However, the U.S. can’t be instigated. Speaker of the White House Tony Snow was practically offended and asked why the world focused on the last two minutes of Saddam Hussein’s life and forgot about his previous 69 years. Executing Saddam was the way of justice (better yet revenge) by which a dictator presented himself as a martyr and the justifiers as dictators. This all started when they pulled out a dirty and unshaven, old Saddam from his hideout and then once again the military doctor examined his bloody mouth, humiliating him in front of the whole world.
The U.S. justice decided that a Saddam sentenced to life in prison and alive was much more dangerous than a dead Saddam and that’s why he was executed. In one of Bodler’s well-known books, a young man commits suicide by hanging himself. The father, desperate and faithless after the loss of his son, is sitting in the middle of the room and is asking himself how he is going to continue living without his beloved child when suddenly someone gently knocks on the door. It was his neighbor who had heard that even a piece of the rope used to hang oneself can bring happiness and success and had come to ask his father to give at least one small piece of his son’s rope. Trusting the camera of the skilled cameraman, we can claim that the rope used to execute Saddam was rather long and could have brought happiness to each member of Bush’s administration and as a whole. However, if I’m not mistaken, that tradition has expired a long time ago.