Happy New Year
Last night I'd gotten home from work with some fireworks for the kids and was sitting with Don watching the news when it was announced that Saddam Hussein had been executed. I realize that the world expects us all to be thrilled, exhuberant, etc. But I can only feel sadness. I don't feel that we really have a right to kill others - isn't that the sin that we hold him most accountable for after all? And yes, I know, if it had been one of my children killed people would expect me to feel differently. I probably would. And please, don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that what he did didn't deserve a fitting end. If he hadn't been executed, there would have been thousands continuously hoping for his return to power. (Sortof like Lucious Malfoy...) I do believe that his death was the best option.
But I still feel sadness. Not only for what he did, but for the world that he lived in. For what he became. The conditions that allowed his rise and indeed the many that celebrated it. It was heinous. But in the world that he lived in, could any other power prevail?
In consideration of the thousands he killed simply because he was afraid of their race, is he any different than our own President? I look at his actions and see a man clearly taking his fears and frustrations out on a race of people who had nothing to do with the bombing of buildings years ago. I see a man who is constantly changing his excuses for doing what he's doing. But in the end, I see a man who is trying to bully a world into following his edicts through fear. And perhaps most frightening, a world growing ever more tired of his bullying, who will - as he has - ignore the fact that innocents have nothing to do with the tyrant.
And I feel for those who live now in Iraq. For those who are happy to see the end, at last, the final breath of the regime of a tyrant. And I feel for those who are living in the regime of a tyrant who has, thus far, killed thousands more than the first.
It is my great hope that the New Year brings peace to Iraq. And peace to the heart of tyrants no matter what their background. It is my great hope that the death of Saddam has meaning to all.
But I still feel sadness. Not only for what he did, but for the world that he lived in. For what he became. The conditions that allowed his rise and indeed the many that celebrated it. It was heinous. But in the world that he lived in, could any other power prevail?
In consideration of the thousands he killed simply because he was afraid of their race, is he any different than our own President? I look at his actions and see a man clearly taking his fears and frustrations out on a race of people who had nothing to do with the bombing of buildings years ago. I see a man who is constantly changing his excuses for doing what he's doing. But in the end, I see a man who is trying to bully a world into following his edicts through fear. And perhaps most frightening, a world growing ever more tired of his bullying, who will - as he has - ignore the fact that innocents have nothing to do with the tyrant.
And I feel for those who live now in Iraq. For those who are happy to see the end, at last, the final breath of the regime of a tyrant. And I feel for those who are living in the regime of a tyrant who has, thus far, killed thousands more than the first.
It is my great hope that the New Year brings peace to Iraq. And peace to the heart of tyrants no matter what their background. It is my great hope that the death of Saddam has meaning to all.
posted by Danielle at 12:41 PM
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