Saddam Dead, US Guilty of First-Degree Murder

So, the Americans’ monster has been buried for good, and his monstrosity has been brought to a ‘just’ end. Now, the Americans can wrap themselves up in the cozy blanket of Saddam’s execution and ‘live happily ever after’. That’s how they wanted it to be, but, sadly, it’s not going to be that way. The US has persistently refused to learn from the past mistakes, and has never paid heed to what others had to say. It has had the tendency to lean on its own rather questionable wisdom despite an overwhelming load of contrary opinions. Drunk on power and ambitious to build its influence to unprecedented heights, the US pursued its unwise foreign policy to dangerous limits, and paid for it with a September 11.

Saddam’s execution is another feather in the blood-red American cap. This might not make Bush perspire, but would certainly make things uncomfortable for the US. Saddam’s execution has ensured that the future of the world’s most powerful nation is deep crimson. The dictator’s execution was entirely illegal and was in brazen contravention of the international law. The right to punish the dictator, if at all, was the prerogative of the Iraqis, and the Iraqis alone, no other authority was legally punished the fellow. And if he was to be punished by an international court, it was to be done following the procedure established by the international law. In this case, it was a sham procedure followed by an illegitimate court, whose judges were arbitrarily removed to suit the fancy of the occupants, and the verdict was a rush to a prearranged conclusion. This means that the entire process was devoid of legitimacy at all stages.

No matter how grave the dictator’s crimes, he deserved a fair trial. A fair trial is not actually in the interest of the one tried but the one who tried because if the trial is not fair, the legitimacy of the trial itself is eroded, which makes the tried a martyr and the court a monster. Fair trial, therefore, not as much a prisoner’s defence as that of the prosecutor and the court. The court that sentenced Saddam lacked legitimacy on all counts. The US, therefore, is guilty of first-degree murder.