IraqiGeek's Blog

End of an era

Watching TV this morning, I saw both the footage broad casted on Al-Iraqeya TV of the final preparations before Saddam’s execution, and later, the footage shot with a camera phone showing Saddam dead after his execution. As an Iraqi, it really felt like an end of era in the history of Iraq, and in human history in general. I don’t think history has seen as many men as Saddam was. Even Hitler, with all his atrocities, had a dream, a vision, for his country. All Saddam had was a hallucination that he could build an empire where the people praised and worshiped him like a god.

Despite all the things he had done, I still didn’t want him to be executed. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for capital punishment, but in this case, I don’t think this was the proper course of action. I think he should have been imprisoned for the reminder of his life. For someone like Saddam who has a greatness complex, living imprisoned where everyone has the power to control his activities would have been much worse. He was so full of himself, and so used to being on the top and having everyone obey whatever he said that keeping him imprisoned would have been like torture. By executing him, I think the Iraqi government did him a huge favor.

Anyway, his execution marks the last chapter in the history of a regime that will be forever known for destroying what once was one of the most civilized and most developed countries in the region.