The Lynching of Saddam Hussein

The execution of Saddam Hussein has paved yet another kilometre on the road to hell. Via the New York Times: U.S. Questioned Iraq on the Rush to Hang Hussein. Excerpt:

American officials in Iraq have been reluctant to say much publicly about the pell-mell nature of the hanging, apparently fearful of provoking recriminations in Washington, where the Bush administration adopted a hands-off posture, saying the timing of the execution was Iraq’s to decide.

While privately incensed at the dead-of-night rush to the gallows, the Americans here have been caught in the double bind that has ensnared them over much else about the Maliki government — frustrated at what they call the government’s failure to recognize its destructive behavior, but reluctant to speak out, or sometimes to act, for fear of undermining Mr. Maliki and worsening the situation.

But a narrative assembled from accounts by various American officials, and by Iraqis present at some of the crucial meetings between the two sides, shows that it was the Americans who counseled caution in the way the Iraqis carried out the hanging.

The issues uppermost in the Americans’ minds, these officials said, were a provision in Iraq’s new Constitution that required the three-man presidency council to approve hangings, and a stipulation in a longstanding Iraqi law that no executions can be carried out during the Id al-Adha holiday, which began for Iraqi Sunnis on Saturday and Shiites on Sunday.

Further to these points, blogger Glenn Greenwald explores some of the implications of the hasty and slovenly killing: Iraqis learn the art of legal "workarounds".

Nir Rosen, an excellent Arabic-speaking journalist, analyzes Hijacking Eid and Hanging Saddam.

Human Rights Watch, meanwhile, says Hanging After Flawed Trial Undermines Rule of Law, and Amnesty International agreed:

Amnesty International said it had greatly welcomed the decision to hold Saddam Hussein to account for the crimes committed under his rule but this should have been done through a fair process.

"His trial should have been a major contribution towards establishing justice and ensuring truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated when he was in power, but his trial was a deeply flawed affair," said Malcolm Smart.

"It will be seen by many as nothing more than 'victor's justice' and, sadly, will do nothing to stem the unrelenting tide of political killings."

History buffs may recall what Fouché, Napoleon's top secret policeman, said after his boss executed the Duc d'Enghien: "It was worse than a crime. It was a blunder." That judgment seems likely for this execution as well, which has managed to turn a monster into a martyr.