Saddam is Still Dead

In today’s New York Times the editors continue to anguish over the execution of Saddam. The Times is joined by Chris Hitchens. Let’s skip all the usual refutations of this superfluous and dissolute hand-wringing; Saddam’s treatment after his capture does deserve criticism but of a totally different kind.

Saddam never surrendered, never issued orders to surrender to his fighters, never signed surrender documents, and continued to claim he was commander-in-chief of Iraq. He claimed he was illegally detained, illegally held, and illegally tried. He continually postured as a victim while rallying his fighters to the cause.

Saddam should never have been tried – he should have been summarily shot for refusing to surrender and refusing to issue orders to his fighters to surrender. For the Sunni factions backing Saddam the war was never over. One does not hold trials during a war; one kills one’s opponents unless they surrender. Saddam remained the leader of insurgent Sunni fighters until the moment he died.

The trial was ill advised. It turned into an “O.J.” circus giving Saddam a platform to posture and re-establish his popularity among the faithful. His pathetic capture and dejected sulking gave way to a defiant and, in the minds of his supporter, heroic fighter. He never earned the dignity of a trial. Only his surrender and his call to his fighters to do the same would have earned him that dignity.