Waiting For The Impact Of Saddam Hussein’s Death

And now the prevailing question becomes: what will be the impact of Saddam Hussein’s hanging? Will the Iraqi populace’s lingering images be of the guy in that photo with the seeming glint of fear in his eye as they put the noose around his neck?

Will it be the dead-and-hung Saddam, lying on his side? Will it be the Saddam of the video (which will most assuredly show up in full on the Internet or on some network newscast sooner or later, showing him swinging from a noose)?

Will it be the Saddam as described in some reports, a Saddam who seemed to “give up” at the end and go quietly to his death? Or will it be the image of what is now coming out in this New York Times piece:

Saddam Hussein never bowed his head, until his neck snapped.

His last words were equally defiant.

“Down with the traitors, the Americans, the spies and the Persians.�

The final hour of Iraq’s former ruler began about 5 a.m., when American troops escorted him from Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport, to Camp Justice, another American base at the heart of the city.

There, he was handed over to a newly trained unit of the Iraqi National Police, with whom he would later exchange curses. Iraq took full custody of Mr. Hussein at 5:30 a.m.

The Times recounts the events, and the background. And the relevant parts continue with this:

The small room had a foul odor. It was cold, had bad lighting and a sad, melancholic atmosphere. With the witnesses and 11 other people — including guards and the video crew — it was cramped.

Mr. Hussein’s eyes darted about, trying to take in just who was going to put an end to him.

The executioners took his hat and his scarf.

Mr. Hussein, whose hands were bound in front of him, was taken to the judge’s room next door. He followed each order he was given.

He sat down and the verdict, finding him guilty of crimes against humanity, was read aloud.

“Long live the nation!� Mr. Hussein shouted. “Long live the people! Long live the Palestinians!�

He continued shouting until the verdict was read in full, and then he composed himself again.

When he rose to be led back to the execution room at 6 a.m., he looked strong, confident and calm. Whatever apprehension he may have had only minutes earlier had faded.

And:

The room was quiet as everyone began to pray, including Mr. Hussein. “Peace be upon Mohammed and his holy family.â€?….
…..Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq’s national security adviser, asked Mr. Hussein if he had any remorse or fear.“No,â€? he said bluntly. “I am a militant and I have no fear for myself. I have spent my life in jihad and fighting aggression. Anyone who takes this route should not be afraid.â€?

Earlier reports after the execution suggested that Sadaam had been submissive and basically given up. But the Times piece gives a different version. Such as:

One of the guards, though, became angry. “You have destroyed us,� the masked man yelled. “You have killed us. You have made us live in destitution.�

Mr. Hussein was scornful: “I have saved you from destitution and misery and destroyed your enemies, the Persians and Americans.�

The guard cursed him. “God damn you.�

Mr. Hussein replied, “God damn you.�

…

Mr. Hussein was led up to the gallows without a struggle. His hands were unbound, put behind his back, then fastened again. He showed no remorse. He held his head high.

The executioners offered him a hood. He refused. They explained that the thick rope could cut through his neck and offered to use the scarf he had worn earlier to keep that from happening. Mr. Hussein accepted.

He stood on the high platform, with a deep hole beneath it.

He said a last prayer. Then, with his eyes wide open, no stutter or choke in his throat, he said his final words cursing the Americans and the Persians.

At 6:10 a.m., the trapdoor swung open. He seemed to fall a good distance, but he died swiftly. After just a minute, his body was still. His eyes still were open but he was dead. Despite the scarf, the rope cut a gash into his neck.

So there you have it. In one day, two varying accounts of how the dicator died.

A key unstated goal of the execution is to show that Hussein in the end was flesh and blood, a man who also goes to the bathroom [although given the fact he lived in a spider hole suggests a) it was so and b) you wouldn't have wanted to visit him underground] like anyone else. Someone who in the end would crumble, or go out like a meek lamb.

But with accounts such as this now floating around the world — most assuredly to be carried on the Internet and reproduced in papers in Iraq and throughout the Arab world — the question becomes whether Saddam is more likely to wind up being used as a martyr.

So which version will prevail?

Will the execution of Saddam a year — or more — from now be seen as the closing of a chapter, as an important milestone in an end-game?

Or will it prove to be a kind of political boomerang…stirring up resentments against the United States (even though the execution was clearly carried out with great rapidity by a impatient Iraqi government)?

Will his execution prove to be the death of a dictator or the birth of a kind of political urban legend?

It’s truly too early to tell now.

But the initial accounts this morning of a seemingly-stunned dictator meekly going to his death now have some competition in the court of clashing Iraqi public opinion. That wasn’t the case at 10 o’clock this morning. Now there’s another version out there. And in the end it isn’t just perceptions that will be at stake, but numbers of lives..