roachboy

the only possible good to have been accomplished through the execution would have been to establish some degree of legitimacy for the rickety american proxy pseudo-government that is presently in power.

that the trial was a debacle and the american proxy-pseudo-government made truly grotesque theater out of the execution accomplishes precisely the opposite of that possible good.

they fucked it up so completely that even the bush people find it necessary to distance themselves from the execution...look at the statements from the white house this afternoon: "um..we would have done it differently..."
EVEN THE BUSH ADMINISTRATION, those virtuosii in the denial of reality, are distancing themselves from it.


the death of saddam hussein was a foregone conclusion: any question of justice being served by it was ruled out from the beginning. it was going to be theater no matter what: and within that there is good theater and bad theater.
and this was very very bad theater.

like bor said above, the americans should not have bothered with the show trial.
that too was very very bad theater.
the americans should not have administered that trial. it was not in their interest to administer the trial. there is no good logic behind it: except that the americans could kill hussein and an international body would not and the americans could imagine that the war itself was not so illegitimate that a trial growing out of it could not go forward without putting the war itself on trial: and international body would probably not have done that.

another way: in any other legal scenario, any one with any legitimacy to it,
regardless of WHAT saddam hussein did while in power, the actions that resulted in his being brought to trial in the first place were so problematic that he probably would have been acquitted.

so for the americans, all other options were foreclosed. and with that out of the window went any possible advantage to putting him on trial at all. and since everone knows, everyone knew at the time that his death was a foregone conclusion, the americans probably should have simply "found him dead."--it would have been better for them, in theatrical terms. but no. like everything else about this ridiculous farce of a war, the american administration thought it through half way, and then, having thought it out half way, they proceeded to fuck up. it woud be amazing were it not by now so routine.

of course, we all simply accept it.
and meanwhile, of course, thousands of people continue to die.

nothing good came of this at all.
nothing.
personally, i think such bizarre exultation as has happened in this thread is rooted in denial. you cant look at the unbelievable fiasco that this war has become, you cant process it, so you focus on the tiny bits and break out the champagne. and why not? it's certainly easier than thinking about what's going on, and who doesnt sometimes like having a glass or 7 of a fine beverage?
but you're better off watching cartoons.
because, in a kind of foul way, you already are.

__________________
a gramophone its corrugated trumpet silver handle
spinning dog. such faithfulness it hear

it make you sick.

-kamau brathwaite