A Travesty, Indeed

Charles Krauthammer is a wise man. He displays his wisdom in an op-ed in today’s WaPo titled “The Hanging: Beyond Travesty.” A few quotes:

Of the 6 billion people on this Earth, not one killed more people than Saddam Hussein. And not just killed but tortured and mutilated -- doing so often with his own hands and for pleasure. It is quite a distinction to be the preeminent monster on the planet. If the death penalty was ever deserved, no one was more richly deserving than Saddam Hussein.

For the Iraqi government to have botched both his trial and execution, therefore, and turned monster into victim, is not just a tragedy but a crime -- against the new Iraq that Americans are dying for and against justice itself.

[…]

Finally, there was the motley crew -- handpicked by the government -- that constituted the hanging party. They turned what was an act of national justice into a scene of sectarian vengeance. The world has now seen the smuggled video of the shouting and taunting that turned Saddam Hussein into the most dignified figure in the room -- another remarkable achievement in burnishing the image of the most evil man of his time.

Worse was the content of the taunts: "Moqtada, Moqtada," the name of the radical and murderous Shiite extremist whose goons were obviously in the chamber. The world saw Hussein falling through the trapdoor, executed not in the name of a new and democratic Iraq but in the name of Moqtada al-Sadr, whose death squads have learned much from Hussein.

The whole sorry affair illustrates not just incompetence but also the ingrained intolerance and sectarianism of the Maliki government. It stands for Shiite unity and Shiite dominance above all else.

We should not be surging American troops in defense of such a government. This governing coalition -- Maliki's Dawa, Abdul Aziz al-Hakim's Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq and Sadr's Mahdi Army -- seems intent on crushing the Sunnis at all costs. Maliki should be made to know that if he insists on having this sectarian war, he can well have it without us.

Mr. Krauthammer makes the point that there were numerous missed opportunities where bringing Saddam Hussein to justice is concerned, and his larger point that the hanging was a travesty cannot be ignored. Mr. Krauthammer’s points have been simmering on the back-burner of my consciousness ever since I watched the video of the hanging this past weekend. Like Mr. Krauthammer, I was appalled at the way the hanging was carried out, not by the deed itself. And I am not alone. It is beyond “unfortunate” Hussein’s execution was handled in such an outrageous manner. Like Mr. Krauthammer says: it was a crime. The execution is likely to be viewed as THE a watershed event in future narratives on the subject of “Who lost Iraq?”

I’m beginning to wonder if there is a solution to this situation.

(Note: I looked for other comment on Mr. Krauthammer’s op-ed. There’s precious little to be found, other than a couple of Lefty “I told you so!” sort of posts, including one from ersatz conservative Andrew Sullivan. I predict there will be a lot of comment on this op-ed by the end of the day.)

Update: I changed "The execution is likely to be viewed as THE watershed event in future narratives on the subject of “Who lost Iraq?” to "a watershed event..." "THE" is way too strong; the execution is having, and will continue to have, an impact throughout the Middle East for a long time to come. The great majority of Americans, including those who make and implement policy, are likely to say "So?" and move on.