Dispair

day 85 – Saddam’s execution has haunted me all day.
My TV is set to wake me in the morning; it is a more gentle way to wake up than the insipid beeping of an alarm clock which, as well as waking you, induces a coronary heart attack.
This morning I woke gently to the news that a man had been executed. At 6am Iraq time Saddam Hussein was hanged. I couldn't quite believe it had happened. I sat up and watched the continuous report on BBC news and all I could think of was that one more person had lost a life.
Saddam, from what little I know, was not a nice man. He was directly and indirectly responsible for literally millions of lost lives. His regime tortured and brutalised a nation and his legacy continues to infect what was once the centre of civilisation.
This presents me with a moral problem. I just can not condone capital punishment. It is a brutal way to carry out justice and no one, and I mean no one, deserves to die in that manner. But in taking that stance I am asking for mercy and compassion for a man that showed none to his victims. I have to admit I briefly thought that his death was a good thing but I quickly retracted that thought. In a modern society we should not execute people. Let’s face it, there is no punishment that befits genocide and mass murder and another death does little to help.
The other disturbing thing about this event is the display of the execution on TV. I remember the uproar when terrorists executed Kenneth Bigley by beheading him. They then distributed the video over the Internet. The world was outraged. Are we any different presenting Saddam’s execution? We need to take a step back and think about what we are looking at. I heard someone say “Oh the hanging is on the Internet, Can I look?” I said “Why?” The reply was slightly chilling “Oh I don’t know. It might be interesting, might be fun.” I was taken aback at the thought that someone I know well could actually see the death of another human as entertaining.

I wonder if we will ever learn.