Friday, December 29, 2006

Saddam Hussein


It is reported that Saddam Hussein has been executed. I am against the death penalty, but don't know how to reconcile that belief with my feelings that he deserves this. A tortured soul no doubt.

How will he be reborn?

Well, it is 10:10 PM EST and Iraqi state television is reporting he has been executed. A friend of mine in University put it in perspective once - he said "people die everyday". I guess somehow it put a numbers/biological spin on death. It makes me a number too.

The U.S. was complicit in his power - he attacked Iran in an era of the U.S. Embassy being attacked, and so the U.S. supported his government - to make both parties fight it out and tire themselves out. But that doesn't make his crimes any less heinous. That the U.S. behaved in an immoral manner does not make Saddam's crimes less immoral.

If I am to believe Karma (the kind beyond our lifetimes) exists, then I can put some meaning to the banality of his evil. If I am to believe only in the Karma that exists during our lifetime, then this world is so much sadder.