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Guilty

Entry 421, on 2006-11-06 at 20:08:12 (Rating 4, News)

Well the big news of the day is that Saddam Hussein has been found guilty of crimes against humanity and has been sentenced to death. I suppose we should be happy that a nasty dictator will be executed, but I find it hard to gain any satisfaction from the idea. So why not?

First, I don't believe in the death penalty. I don't believe in the idea of extracting revenge by sinking to the same depths as the person who committed the original crime. How can we claim the moral high ground by killing someone because he killed someone else? The ironic thing is that I, as an atheist, have a far more forgiving attitude than most Christians who claim to believe these ideas. Maybe they should check their own holy book in Matthew 5 39.

Secondly, there is the more pragmatic idea that executing Saddam Hussein will create a lot of resentment in factions which still support him, and in those which don't want to see Middle East leaders being removed just because it suits the purposes of western powers. Stirring up this sort of resentment will just make the terrorists' job of recruiting their followers easier.

Thirdly, if we are going to execute anyone who is indirectly responsible for the deaths of innocent people, where do we stop? How many innocent civilians have been killed as the result of orders given by the leader of the US, or Israel (just to give two examples). Should they be executed too?

And fourth, is this just a political ploy by George Bush anyway? Have a look at a graph of his popularity and it always peaks after major events where he is seen as being tough on terrorists (we all know Saddam Hussein wasn't a terrorist, but the facts are of little consequence here anyway). Is it more than a coincidence that Saddam's death sentence has been announced just before the midterm elections?

The whole thing is a potential disaster. By turning Saddam Hussein into a martyr the world will become a much more dangerous and divided place. America should step in and request (in other worlds order) their puppet government in Iraq to spare the condemned man and show some of the Christian principles they keep telling us are so important to them!

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