Goodbye, Saddam!

Saturday, January 30th, 2006 the United States turns over Saddam Hussain to the Shiates of Iraq for execution. For the proponents of the Iraqi war, it was a step forward and validation that the Iraqi people will one day live in peace and democracy without the ruthless dictator that divided his people and sought to practice genocide on the Kurdistan people and the Shiates. Hussain was evil in many ways, if killing your own population is evil. If evil means living in the lap of luxury while your subjects live in abject poverty or maybe developing chemical warfare and dreaming of weapons of mass destruction makes this dictator dangerous and evil.
This morning's news is full of positive spin on the exection. He was handed over to his "people", he was killed by the Iraqi "government". He had a "fair trial" and was handed the death sentence as a result of that trial. We are comforted by the idea that Hussain's execution will not increase or decrease the violence in Baghdad, according to the talking heads on my TV. Then why do I have a problem accepting this news as good news?
It is not the cause of the United States to meddle in the affairs of other countries. It should never have been the intent to out and out assasinate Saddam Hussain as a goal of the invasion of Iraq. Iraq should have been a ward of the United Nations from the start. Putting Iraq up to world deliberation would have kept the Muslim world from judging the outcome of Iraq from sliding into our lap. Except for England and the United States, the "hero" status of the US for invading Iraq will come into more objective scutiniy. Executing Hussain is bound to bring even more criticism, no matter how many times we reiterate that we , "turned Saddam Hussain over to Iraqi officials."
This morning, I wonder if I am the only US citizen who feels uncomfortable with this execution. Somehow, what happened seems to have the echo of evil inherent to the act, as well! The exections has an overbearing sense of orchestration to it, with the US as the conductor.
With this thought, comes the foreboding of what will become of the civil war developing in Iraq? What will the Muslim community think of this? Even though we have slain a ruthless dictator, did we have to kill him? Did we really? I can't imajine that what we have done will declare to the world in general that we are heros. What we have done is simply an eye for an eye, only we have raised the stakes to being the nation that has acted like a Lone Ranger vigilante from Texas, who ordered a little puppet government to, "Hang 'em high!".

Lies, Promises and Delusions, The Iraqi War

Ever watch a cat play with a mouse until the mouse was dead? How about expensive crystal, shattering on a tile floor? Ever tried to join in on a game that you didn't really understand and end up the big time loser? Then, understanding where we are in Iraq is within your personal experience.
We toppled a government run by a ruthless, yet efficient dictator, replaced him with a puppet show of our scripting and stood by helplessly, as all kinds of insurgencies poured across the borders as if Iraq was the land-locked Titanic drowning in a sea of anarchy. We were held at bay from the banks of fossil fuel that we coveted to fund our seige and save all the Muslims who would be forever grateful to have a democracy in the heart of Arabia.
With a war cry of, "Weapons of Mass Destruction!", we charged forward, lighting up the Bahgdad skies with Shock and Awe. We charged down streets freeing the citizens from Saddam Hussain and the evils of the corrupt Iraqi government. It was as if the gates of the dog pound were torn down and all the dogs set free without a plan in the world of how to feed the liberated canines.
The Iraqis believe... oh, surprise, surprise.. that government should be a theocracy.. because this is the kind of government that Mohammed invisioned. They look upon the misguided Western culture as that of infidel dogs and have no mind to choose our lifestyle, our religion or our offerings that fell way short of either their hearts or their minds. So, we have failed to deliver Iraq from what they are and continue to be. We don't have the money to maintain troops at a levels that can either keep the peace or wage war.
We can only watch helplessly as the factions of Islam battle one another over the the ancient Holy ground of Babylon. We can engage in this war we do not understand, but stopping the war is not within our means. Nor is introducing democracy to a culture that has no way to interperet a viable way of runnning a country on democratic principles. Principles that the enemy of Islam engages. Civil war is rearing its head, calling to the citizens to choose thier side, their faction of Islam and defend it.
The mouse is dead, the crystal shattered, game over. We lost. We had no plan, no generals, no diplomacy. Let's bring home our troops who do not deserve to die because our country tried to force it's ideals on another people and another culture and failed. Support our troops... bring them home now!