By Jeremy Lott on 1.3.07 @ 12:09AM
Imagine -- the anti-death penalty crowd has found a new pinup boy.
After World War II, Winston Churchill initially opposed war
crimes tribunals. He believed hearings would afford Nazi leaders
dignity they didn't deserve. Instead, the losers should be
dispatched without benefit of trial: Why not just hang the
bastards?
Time marches on, I guess. Current British PM Tony Blair spoke
out against Saddam Hussein's death sentence when it was handed down
in November after the two-year trial. Italian Foreign Minister
Massimo D'Alema used outrage over the former leader's hanging
Saturday to urge the United Nations to enact a worldwide death
penalty moratorium.
The two statesmen represent elite European consensus on the
subject. The death penalty is thought beyond the pale -- abolishing
it is a prerequisite for membership in the European Union. The
London Economist recently editorialized, "capital punishment [is] wrong in
itself, however wicked the guilty party," even the very wicked
Hussein.
It's also sort of gauche. James Fallows is a former Carter
speechwriter and an old hand at the Atlantic whose writing
represents the leading edge of respectable opinion in the U.S. His
thoughts on Hussein's capture and hanging are interesting because,
like so many Baby Boomers, he couches these judgments in the
experiences of his generation.
Fallows tells us that he is okay with "[d]eadly force as
necessary in military or police campaigns." (Made peace with
Vietnam? Check.) He is even satisfied with the bloody way the U.S.
military dispatched Hussein's two sons. However,
"calmly-administered death, via the guillotine or the noose"? That
is very clearly "something else."
"[A]t this stage of life I am flatly against capital punishment,
even for the worst of humanity," Fallows admits. When he was a younger liberal he may
have "listened respectfully to arguments about 'deterrence'" --
note the scare quotes -- "and the importance of society's being
able to administer the gravest of penalties for the gravest of
offenses," but he's put away such childish notions: "I'm in my 50s
now, and I think: this is barbaric."
Fallows also thinks that the method of Hussein's execution "will
haunt us." It was a rushed affair that Americans had tried to delay
in deference to a Muslim holiday. The executioners wore ski masks,
making them look vaguely terroristy, and they acted so boorish that
Prosecutor Munkith al-Faroon almost left the room, which would have
halted the execution.
The crowd and the guards taunted their old ruler by chanting the
name of the Shiite rebel military leader Muqtada al-Sadr, which
prompted him to tell them to all "go to hell" and challenge them:
"Is this what you call manhood?" We know this because members of
the audience smuggled in cell phones with camera technology and
recorded the proceedings. Their efforts were quickly posted to
YouTube and other public forums, which is a huge reason for the hue
and cry over the execution.
It's incredible to see a dictator's death used as evidence in
favor of ending the death penalty, but that's what's happened.
Opponents of capital punishment usually make an exception for those
responsible for mass death (i.e., Tim McVeigh). That didn't happen
this time because the crowd's misbehavior, and the old dictator's
forceful words, made an impression.
Critics allege that vengeance, rather than justice, was served
by Hussein's execution. They further charge that it served only to
inflame "sectarian tensions." It's an important argument because of
the precedent it would set: If the death penalty didn't do any good
here, what good could it ever do?
Of course, one could argue that the execution did some limited
good. Hussein's death is no "turning point" in America's occupation
of Iraq but it forever ended any hope that he would come back to
power. The audience wanted vengeance but it's hard to argue the
hanging wasn't just. They were dispatching someone who had dealt
death on a fairly massive scale. Finally, Saddam Hussein's response
shamed his tormentors, and that shame was broadcast to the world.
It was a belated plea for decency from a man whose actions had been
anything but.
topics:
Military, Iraq, United Nations, European Union
