NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw on Saddam’s execution:
“…As we portray ourselves around the world as the champions of democracy and the rule of law — first of all, that began to unravel in the eyes of a lot of people in that part of world with Abu Ghraib and the great cruelties and indignities that were imposed on people there. The debate goes on here about Guantanamo and about access to people’s private records. And then to say that we are going to install in Iraq a judicial system and a democratic form of government and have something that resembled the worst kind of nightmare out of the old American West. Not much dignity. He was, he was a god awful man and he did have a trial, but not have control of the execution, and to have it really just fuel more sectarian violence at a time when we are trying to dampen that is not helpful, which is an understatement.”
How do you screw up an execution and allow it to descent into farce? If you’re the Bush administration, anything is possible and achievable.
You know you’ve fucked up when even Christopher Hitchens (one of the few who still defends the Iraq war) is disgusted by the hanging and describes Saddam as the only person with any dignity in the phone video of the hanging.
Then again, failing upwards has become a promise of career advancement in the Bush administration.
someone should tell brokaw abu graib was not america’s 1st fall from grace.
i had my re-orientation during the vietnam war. once you break the social ‘correct view’, america’s history doesn’t leave you with any notion that they are, or ever were, champions of human rights, or democracy.
in fact, they began acting like any other nation that finds itself unfettered by strong neighbors, until their borders were ’sea-to-sea, too hot-to-too-cold”.
what happened to saddam was undignified. what’s going on at camp x-ray is criminal. brokaw should visit there, then say if what he sees is counterproductive.
al loomis
http://www.tartarus.blog.com