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Triumph of the Democratic Process

by: Dean Barker

Wed Jan 03, 2007 at 19:41:27 PM EST
Judd Gregg's

Saddam Hussein's execution is a "triumph of the democratic process" in Iraq, according to U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg.

idea of triumph.

The zoolike scenes in that dank, filthy shed... were more like a lynching than an execution.

...How could it have come to this? Did U.S. officials know that the designated "executioners" would be the unwashed goons of Muqtada Sadr's "Mahdi Army"-the same sort of thugs who killed Abdul Majid al-Khoei in Najaf just after the liberation and who indulge in extra-judicial murder of Iraqis every night and day?

...far from bringing anything like "closure," the hanging ensures that the poison of Saddamism will stay in the Iraqi bloodstream, mingling with other related infections such as confessional fanaticism and the sort of video sadism that has until now been the prerogative of al-Qaida's dehumanized ghouls. We have helped to officiate at a human sacrifice. For shame.
Dean Barker :: Triumph of the Democratic Process
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Triumph of the Democratic Process | 6 comments
Billmon lives! (4.00 / 2)
Great post.

Incidentally, I think that executions should be a triumph of the judicial process, not the democratic process, but perhaps the system they got over in Iraq is more screwy than we know....


Well, a PRODUCT of the judicial process (4.00 / 2)
Whether an execution is ever a triumph of any sort is a different kettle of fish.
[ Parent ]
Billmon's worst (4.00 / 1)
is better than most everyone's best, so I am humbled by the reference.

I refuse to take down the link for him on the sidebar until some time has gone by, in the hope that we'll see some type of return.

In the meantime, I am heartened to see that someone's been archiving him here.  Read the remarkable first post: he predicted sectarian civil war as early as 4/11/2003.

[ Parent ]
Gregg is a disgrace (4.00 / 1)
Putting aside the debate over the death penalty, Gregg obviously doesn't get the fact that the way this execution was handled will cause more resentment by the Shiites toward America, which will be taken out on our soldiers who are serving over there. 
Political; not democratic or judicial processes (4.00 / 3)
Saddam Hussein's trial was a victor's trial. That was the point of it. It was supposed to have some symbolic usefulness. It demonstrated the power of the new government, it was another turning point in the process of regime transition.

In the brouhaha over the unauthorized release of the execution video, an Iraqi official complained that the uproar over taunting Hussein and at the same time praising Moqtada Al-Sadr (Shi'ite cleric/militia leader) was undermining the objective of what was intended to be a national unity event.

The only way I can understand Senator Gregg's comment, other than taking it for the generic statement it probably is, is to  consider that he is suggesting that it is a triumph of our democratic process: the culmination of the events our country put in motion in late 2002/early 2003. If that's the case -- that he would suggest that policy that's the result of false and misleading evidence, ill consideration of the national interest, and poorly informed populism is a "triumph of the democratic process" -- then I am frightened by his conception of democracy.

Indeed. (0.00 / 0)
I think that things have degraded so badly in Iraq at this point that any Senator or Congressperson who makes a public statement that reflects White House policy on Iraq puts him or herself deeper and deeper down the path to electoral defeat.

And to think that Bush will announce a troop escalation shortly.  He really is finishing off his party, and fast.

[ Parent ]
Triumph of the Democratic Process | 6 comments
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