Saddam now faces genocide charges

The citizens of Iraq who were forced to stand-by and watch helplessly as friends and family were tortured and killed at the hands of Saddam Hussein finally received ustice today. Bloomberg reports that Hussein has been charged with genocide for the 1987-1989 Anfal campaign where over 180,000 Kurds were murdered senselessly. The results of Hussein’s trial were announced today in Baghdad. Now Hussein’s case will be referred to the Iraqi Special Tribunal, which will determine the charges Hussein will face for committing atrocities against mankind. The date for his genocide trial is as of yet undetermined.

During the Anfal campaign, some 4,500 villages were destroyed which led to "mass deportation, concentration camps, firing squads, and chemical warfare." Hussein and a handful of other members of the Baath Party are currently awaiting trial for another massacre, which took place in 1982, where 148 Shiite Muslims were killed in Dujail. Iraq’s new president, Jalal Talabani, told reporters that Hussein will be tried for all crimes that he has been accused of before any of the verdicts are applied and carried out.

While I am happy that Hussein is finally receiving his due, I also recognize that he faces many more chrages, most of which threaten the death penalty, and trials which will undoubtedly be time-consuming. What is the point of trying him for all of his crimes when it only takes one sentence to bring about the desired results? Is it to see him further humiliated? To justify the atrocities which were performed to the survivors? Chances are, at Saddam's age, he will die before every charge he faces is brought against him. Personally, I would rather see him die of the death penalty versus the short painless death natural causes will eventually bring about. Maybe that seems heartless. But I cannot bring myself to feel sorry for him in anyway. Did anyone feel sorry for Hitler, besides the other members of the Nazi party? I highly doubt it.

Picture courtesy of the Associated Press.