Execution of Saddam

What can be said about the execution of Saddam? So much has been written and much will be written. Here are just some random thoughts.

1. Whatever your view of Saddam, his last moments were, in the circumstances, dignified. He died with courage and fortitude. Others would have cracked. This contrasts with the attitude of his executors, whose appalling behaviour- reminiscent more of those who torment Western hostages than servants of the state carrying out due process- could have far reaching consequences. The tyrant has, in his last moments, won many admirers- which could make him more dangerous in death than he was in jail.
2. The hasty execution will strengthen sectarianism. Those who think that the execution will mark a new beginning for Iraq are clearly deluded. To Sunnis in Iraq and elsewhere, this was an act of sectarian vengeance, not justice, made possible by the US. It will strengthen sectarianism and anti-Americanism.
3. Why wasn’t there a fuller enquiry into Saddam’s crimes? How about because it would have disinterred some uncomfortable truths about the days when relations with the US were cosier?
4. What message did the Iraqi government wish to send to Sunnis everywhere by executing him on the day they were celebrating Eid?
5. There is, finally, a thought about what moral and logical principle can be derived from Saddam’s execution. Perhaps that those who kill innocent people should be executed? Surely he was not just killed because he was a dictator- but because he was a brutal one? What is the decisive factor, that he was a dictator or that he killed innocent people? These are actually more difficult questions than you think (from the point of view of the US and its acolytes), because if you start to generalise, then the net may be cast wider than you want, as the US has killed many innocent people and some of its closest allies are tyrannies (and have also killed many people). How to devise a principle which captures only those who harm US interests? But then you move away from conventional morality into the dubious territory of neo-con/ New Labour morality.