No doubt it was a just end for a horrible dictator. However, for a government that is preaching democracy and justice, the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein should have been carried on in a more professional way.
The trial should have taken a longer time and Saddam should have been tried for other crimes he committed, not only for the killings in Dujail. He also massacred thousands of Iraqis, including Kurds and Sunnis. The fact that he was only tried for the Dujail massacre and the comments we heard on the execution video recording from Iraqi officials while Saddam was standing on the gallows made the whole thing look like Shiites taking revenge. It should have looked like Iraq taking revenge. Not the Iraqi government taking revenge. Not Shiites taking revenge. Not the US taking revenge. This is was a terrible mistake on the background of sectarian civil war in occupied Iraq.
I can find no reason why Saddam was executed on the morning of Eid. The Iraqi government could have waited till after the holidays. Why should the Arab and Islamic world wake up to images of death with sectarian overtones on the morning of its most important holiday? This lacked professionalism, showed no respect for death and no respect for the Islamic holiday and its meanings. That Saddam was a mass murderer does not change this fact. Imagine the Nuremberg executions taking place on Christmas Eve, being filmed and aired into people’s TV sets while they gather around their Christmas trees.
Finally, I wish Saddam was executed in a fully independent, sovereign and free Iraq. It is sad that until his execution, Saddam was held in custody of people who should also face trial for war crimes. If true justice is to come to Iraq, every person who has Iraqi blood on his hands should be tried. This, of course, includes George Bush Sr. and son.
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