By Kevin ReichThe Daily Northwestern
The grainy cell phone picture I saw of Saddam Hussein in the gallows posted on YouTube by one of his Shiite captors is striking. Saddam’s history aside, the hanging of anyone is despicable. There’s something about the man who would be hanged that was inexplicable dignified. Gentle. Saddam is perhaps the only one in the room not affected by the chaos that is Iraq.
Remember, this is the picture tucked away in the pockets of the international community, the last picture millions and millions will undoubtedly see. This memorable picture is Saddam’s last act of pure genius. And lucky for Saddam, it was filmed.
The hanging of Saddam is the ultimate perversion of an even more perverted war. The government in Iraq is nearly as dysfunctional as Saddam’s, if not more so, and we’ve now proved to the world that America is incapable as a parent. Iraq is our little devil child. America is practiced in ignominy. The new government in Iraq has shown the world the high value they place on life in an image of death. The Iraqi government is the new tyrant, beguiling and illogically swift-acting, a duplicate of our very own George Bush.
With the image of Saddam’s hanging fresh in my head, I don’t remember a lot of things. I’m forgetting the occupation of Kuwait. I’m forgetting his lobbing of missiles into Tel Aviv. I’ve totally forgotten Dujail, the massacre that would ultimately determine his own end. I’ve forgotten the torture. I’ve forgotten the killings. I’ve forgotten the rape. And I’ve forgotten that he raped. Again and again. I don’t remember Dec. 29 Saddam. But I can remember him swinging on the gallows, eyes toward the heavens.
I remember progress. I remember the burqa-less women. I remember Iraqi modernization. No shari’a. No Islamic law. New roads, new industries and an ever-expanding economy. I remember his free-schooling program, and I remember the years soon after when hundreds of thousands of Iraqi women and men learned to read their first words of Arabic. I remember a better Iraq.
This is how psychology works, Iraq. We learn to forget – it’s amazing how quickly – and we conceive new histories. It’s only a matter of time before Sofia Coppola makes a new film, “Saddam Hussein,” but this time we won’t need 200 years to get over the tyranny. The young Jason Schwartzman will make a fabulous Saddam. The American middle class will easily learn to love the portrayal of Saddam’s lavish and expensive lifestyle.
Saddam still has supporters. For the Sunnis, he’s already their martyr. An image is unforgettable. The gallows and a cross are not oddly dissimilar. This is martyrdom.
At least Saddam knew how to run the place, something the new American-backed government can’t seem to get right. Keeping him alive was perhaps our last hope of controlling Iraq and restoring order. The last chance is dead. America’s impetuous foreign policy is a genetic disorder.
Saddam is hanged and America has given Iraq its sick stamp of approval. You can consider this hanging to be a “milestone” in the same way you consider cancer to be one. I commend Britain for condemning the execution as “completely wrong.” In the meantime, we must wear our scarlet letter.
Communication junior Kevin Reich can be reached at [email protected].
