The Legacy of Saddam Hussein

Saddam Hussein will undoubtedly go down in western history as one of the most immoral men to ever walk the planet. Saddam’s demise is now imminent, as the Iraqi government plans to execute the former dictator at the gallows early Saturday morning (Iraq time). Saddam was captured by coalition forces in the early morning hours on December 13, 2003 in an emergency bunker near his hometown of Tikrit.

This seemingly unromantic capture of a man who murdered thousands of his own citizens while in power best sums up the last few years of his life. “W” made it a priority to capture this man, who in retrospect never did anything specifically against the United States. Many have criticized “W’s” father, George H.W. Bush for not subduing the dictator while he had the chance in 1991 after Iraqi forces were defeated in the first Gulf War. Saddam received a simple slap on the wrist for his actions in invading Kuwait and was left in power. Basically, if the U.S. and their UN allies would have deposed Saddam in 1991, we would not be going through this second tirade in the Persian Gulf.

The irony behind Saddam’s rise to power is that he received help from our very own Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) in 1964. He was even trained by the CIA in an attempt to help overthrow Abdul Karim Quassim, the leader of Iraq at the time. Quassim evidently began to make stronger ties towards Communist big wigs in the USSR, which in turn led the U.S. to support the Ba’athist party, which Saddam was apart of until his demise in late 2003. By 1967, Saddam was the strongman of the Ba’athist party, as he was known to have a wicked temper and would not hesitate to slay any opponents of the party. He stayed loyal to the party and assumed his role of the number two man in the country. On July 16, 1979 Saddam succeeded al-Bakr as president of Iraq after he forced the ailing Bakr to cede him the presidency.

From there Saddam would begin his reign of terror that would last for more than two decades. Soon after taking power, Saddam began a war with Iran that lasted until 1988. During that time he ordered the use of nerve agents and a variety of illegal chemical weapons to be used on the Iranians and even his own citizens. This use of chemical weapons led to his conviction of crimes against humanity on November 5, 2006. He was charged with the killings of 148 individuals with illegal chemical weapons that occurred in 1982. This case falls within the top twenty of the alleged 500+ times Saddam committed crimes against humanity.

There is no doubt that Saddam was an evil man and this is one of the first times since the Nuremburg trials after WWII that a leader(s) of a belligerent regime will be executed with the help of the west. Saddam’s legacy as one of the worst people of the twentieth century will not doubt travel on through the ages of history. Personally I believe that executing him is the best solution to the problem, as even if he were left alive, the high level of violence would still continue in Iraq. He must pay for his crimes, as many former totalitarian leaders never did in the 20th century. It is well known that I disagree with the legitimacy of the war in Iraq, but people like Saddam Hussein have no place or right to kill thousands upon thousands of their own people just because they disagree with the current state of affairs in a country. May the Lord have some sort of mercy on Saddam’s soul; he’ll need it.