EDITORIAL – Message to mass murderers

The verdict was expected; Iraq’s former strongman Saddam Hussein was found guilty in Baghdad yesterday of crimes against humanity. He is entitled to file an appeal, but no one, least of all Saddam who has questioned the validity of his trial, expects the verdict to be overturned. Within 30 days upon the resolution of the appeal, Saddam will be executed by hanging. Sentenced to die along with him were his half-brother and former intelligence chief as well as the head of a kangaroo court that ordered the massacre of 148 Shiites in Dujail in 1982 following a failed assassination attempt on Saddam in the village.

The executions will send a powerful message to those who use genocide as an instrument for perpetuating despotic rule. For those who suffered from the brutal reign of Saddam, the death of their former oppressor will bring closure to a horrific chapter in their lives. Whether that closure will help bring peace to Iraq is another story.

There were scenes of rejoicing among Shiites yesterday as the sentences were read from the courtroom. But Baghdad and two neighboring provinces were placed under indefinite curfew as the verdicts were handed down and supporters of Saddam took to the streets in protest. Their fallen leader remained defiant to the end, initially refusing to rise for the verdict and yelling after it was read. One of Saddam’s lawyers, former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, described the trial as a "travesty" shortly before the verdict was handed down.

Sectarian violence between Saddam’s Sunni minority and the larger Shiite population is tearing the country apart. The civil strife has been exploited by Islamic extremists, who are using the country as a training ground for sowing terror around the world. US troops are bogged down in the mess, unable to extricate themselves from the country without risking a full civil war between the Sunnis and Shiites, with the vastly outnumbered Sunnis expected to be the loser.

The conviction of Saddam and his execution will serve as a warning to mass murderers that there is a day of reckoning for crimes against humanity. Unfortunately for the war-torn nation, no one can predict whether Saddam’s day of reckoning will contribute to the return of normalcy or plunge Iraq deeper into chaos.