THE ANGEL OF DEATH WORKS ON BELTWAY TIME

Then, just like all those years ago when the U.S. administration gave Saddam an ultimatum which expired at midnight to withdraw from Kuwait; it was déjà vu all over again with the time and place of execution and the flurry of conflicting reports about the what and when. Saddam was handed over to Iraqi officials, Saddam had not left U.S. custody, Saddam would be handed over to Iraqi officials any moment now. Just as all those years ago, former President Bush Sr. and his cronies forgot to specify which time zone the ultimatum was in, here too they seemed to be operating on the assumption that hanging Saddam before the Eid meant “according to DC time.”  Never mind it would be the start of Eid in Baghdad time. That he was executed as the dawn call to prayer ran out over Iraq, signalling the start of the Feast of the Sacrifice.

There was concern you see, in light of both religious precedent and Iraqi legal code that no executions be performed during an Eid. And here we were, waiting for the latest news as the calendar drifted into Eid that Saddam’s execution was imminent. The jokes and oneliners began piling up. The plot mechanics creaked along to their scripted end.

When the first hygienically-sealed images sans sound were released, most of us knew, somehow, there would be more to follow. When less sanitized footage appeared, captured on a cell phone, we were suddenly face to face with what we thought, felt or believed about capital punishment. Even those who support the death penalty had a queasy moment as Sadr supporters taunted the former dictator on the gallows, moments before his death. The sudden finality as the trapdoor released.

And the pictures still come in. The latest ones have Saddam’s corpse on a gurney, complete with broken and lacerated neck. I doubt many are downloading that one though. The climax is past, the media sated. Most people leave theatres when credits start to roll. This time though, we really should stick around and watch the credits. See who produced and directed this fornlorn reel so we know who to blame when the mire thickens and the civil war reaches critical mass. There are a couple more executions in the dockets, but none of those men were posterboys for a regime, or a self-proclaimed demigod. Even the feeding of Chemical Ali to lions in a coliseum would probably get less coverage than the images of Saddam on the gallows. Very few debate whether Hussein was an iron-fisted tyrant and a despot. Many, however, are debating whether the trial and subsequent hanging had any basis in international law, judicial ethics or human rights. What could have been an electoral year powerhouse – a real trial in an impartial venue like the Hague – turned  awry and came to resemble the kind of black humored proceedings one might find in Catch 22 or Dr. Strangelove.

By the time sociologists and researchers get to the subject, it may be too late to document the damage these proceedings caused. For those of us in the Middle East, though, the effect is tangible already; the promise of blowback certain. Notice the spike in news reportage centering round the words “Shia Crescent.” Notice the man on the street mumblings which tend to curse America and by extension immortalize Hussein. News dispatches from Iraq have resurrected the words “death squad” for extremist militias on both sides of the Islamic divide. As Iraq continues to split along sectarian lines, I find acquaintances in Amman who were marginal Muslims a year ago, suddenly turned militant Sunni. Or at least Sunni in the sense of NOT Shi‘a. Much of the political crisis in Lebanon at the moment also falls conveniently along sectarian lines. The immediate effects of such  tar and feather justice has already begun to filter down to the streets throughout the region.

You begin to wonder whether DC puppetmasters are really that clueless, or whether its their tongue in check way of saying “We’re in control here and we don’t care what you think.” Could it be that their overweening arrogance is matched only by the deadliest and most entrenched callowness? Whatever the reason, it will once again be the Iraqi people and the thousands of benighted foreign troops who will pay the price.

Fade to black. Roll credits.

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JIBRIL HAMBEL is former Managing Editor of Islamica Magazine and presently a freelance writer based in Amman, Jordan.