2008 Woodie Awards
The death of a dictator
Matthew Lee
Issue date: 1/15/07 Section: Opinion
Any kid on the street will tell you that Saddam Hussein is a criminal, a horrible dictator who committed atrocities against not only his neighbor Iran, but also to his own people. The same kid would also tell you that he deserved what he received when the rope tightened and the floor gave way. Whether or not Hussein deserved to be taken out of power is not the question. The question is, was it our responsibility to take him out of power?
This question remained in my mind as I watched the footage of Hussein's hanging and could not help but think that the U.S. had done the right thing, but for the wrong reasons. What wrong reasons? The whole official reason we went to war in the first place was because President Bush told us that he had evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Weapons we never found. We were later told by President Bush that Iraq may have been harboring Al-Qaeda operatives and training centers. However, I cannot remember seeing more than a few reports of operatives being arrested in Iraq. After looking at why these reasons were wrong, I thought of all the inconsistencies involving what we were told would happen and what did happen.
In the beginning of the war we were told by several government officials that the war and insurgency would last no more than a few years, and now the United States involvement in Iraq has become longer then the U.S. involvement in World War II. We were told before the war began that we are not a nation-building country and we would only be removing a dictator and allowing the Iraqis to take over the government. Now here we are years later trying to keep a feeble democracy from collapsing into a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites.
Even if this had been a perfect war and we had found weapons of mass destruction and Al-Qaeda training centers, it was not our place to take charge of the situation in Iraq. This should have been taken care of by the United Nations, not by the U.S., Great Britain, and a few other nations no one else can remember. Now we face a destabilized country trying to push itself into civil war. So yes, it is a good thing that Hussein can no longer hurt anyone, but it was not us who should have sent him to the gallows.
So yes, it is good that Hussein has paid for his crimes, but we should not have been the ones sending him to the gallows.
This question remained in my mind as I watched the footage of Hussein's hanging and could not help but think that the U.S. had done the right thing, but for the wrong reasons. What wrong reasons? The whole official reason we went to war in the first place was because President Bush told us that he had evidence of the presence of weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. Weapons we never found. We were later told by President Bush that Iraq may have been harboring Al-Qaeda operatives and training centers. However, I cannot remember seeing more than a few reports of operatives being arrested in Iraq. After looking at why these reasons were wrong, I thought of all the inconsistencies involving what we were told would happen and what did happen.
In the beginning of the war we were told by several government officials that the war and insurgency would last no more than a few years, and now the United States involvement in Iraq has become longer then the U.S. involvement in World War II. We were told before the war began that we are not a nation-building country and we would only be removing a dictator and allowing the Iraqis to take over the government. Now here we are years later trying to keep a feeble democracy from collapsing into a civil war between Sunnis and Shiites.
Even if this had been a perfect war and we had found weapons of mass destruction and Al-Qaeda training centers, it was not our place to take charge of the situation in Iraq. This should have been taken care of by the United Nations, not by the U.S., Great Britain, and a few other nations no one else can remember. Now we face a destabilized country trying to push itself into civil war. So yes, it is a good thing that Hussein can no longer hurt anyone, but it was not us who should have sent him to the gallows.
So yes, it is good that Hussein has paid for his crimes, but we should not have been the ones sending him to the gallows.
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