Execution of Saddam Hussein

Due to my decreased vision stemming from recent eye surgeries and having new stitches three days ago, it is a bit difficult for me to write in the blog. I will attempt to correct any typos and some may get through, but I feel I must comment on the execution of Saddam Hussein.

The news services are reporting that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging before dawn Saturday in Iraq, which was just before 10 p.m. Friday EST. As we all know, Saddam was convicted of murder in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from an Iraqi town where assassins tried to kill Saddam in 1982.

I was reading through many of the news service announcements of the death of Saddam and one thing that struck me was the amount of quotes from various Iraqi citizens who had lost loved ones under the rule of Saddam. Here is one that I gleaned from a CBS News article.

"Now, he is in the garbage of history," said Jawad Abdul-Aziz, who lost his father, three brothers and 22 cousins in the reprisal killings that followed a botched 1982 assassination attempt against Saddam in the Shiite town of Dujail.

Many of the Iraqi citizens are openly celebrating the death of the former dictator, while insurgents, loyal to Saddam are still determined to show they have weapons and are not afraid to use them. Of course, our military is on high alert, ready to deal with any problems which may arise as a result of the execution, but the fact still remains, Iraq is in a state of chaos.

Personally, I do not feel any headway into reform will be made while the present Iraqi government is in control, it is evident they do not want our troops anywhere near their soil. Someone needs to remind these people that they are a conquered nation, the only rights they have is what we give them, nothing more. .

We sent our brave men and women into harm’s way and told them we are not a conquering force, but a force of liberation and this is biting us in the butt every day that we are standing on their soil. When the truth to the matter is, we have our military protecting the very government wanting us to back off. This is a huge pile of bovine excrement and we need to make changes or nothing will ever be accomplished.

History will be the judge of our invasion into Iraq and we can only hope it is not too cruel in the portrayal of our country’s mistakes. Whatever the outcome, we need to make changes now, this very moment, or we will lose the opportunity to do so.