Saddam Hussein Has Been Executed

Technorati Tags: Saddam Hussein, Pres. Bush, Iraq, U.S. military

Saddam Hussein is apparently dead, according to Iraqi television station Al Hurra, as reported by Reuters.

You know what? I've changed my mind about why the U.S. military insisted on holding on to Hussein until the very last minute. They said it was because they didn't want him "humiliated" by a crazed Iraqi mob tearing him apart while in transit between U.S. and Iraqi custody. I said here that I imagined the real reason was to have plausible deniability if any post-hanging violence broke out.

But now I'm sure I know the real reason. The American military authorities did not want Hussein torn apart by the mob because they wanted America to have the glory of seeing Saddam hung by his neck until dead. They wanted the good ol' United States, home of the free and the brave, to get all of the credit for the thrilling, theatrical extravaganza of Saddam Hussein being killed by the state in front of a cheering crowd.

Martin Lewis, however, thinks it was about Bush wanting to make a point about his manhood:

Some thanks are in order:

1) To George W. Bush. It only cost $354 billion (and counting) and the lives of 3,000 very expendable US military to enable the President to demonstrate to his dad that he has a bigger Dick. Or is one...

Isn't it ironic - don'tcha think? Saddam hung so that Dubya can prove that he's BETTER hung...

2) To George H.W. & Barbara Bush for raising a child with such wonderful values.

3) To Dick Cheney. If it wasn't for his remorse about his part in the "failure" in 1991 to kill off Saddam (one of the most-cherished allies of the Reagan-Bush administrations) - he might not have had his "fever" to expend thousands of American lives and hundreds of billions of American tax-payers' dollars getting Saddam this time around.

4) To Gerald Ford. For unconditionally pardoning Richard Nixon - and thus laying the path for Presidential unaccountability; for promoting the careers of Dick Cheney and Don Rumsfeld; and for having the courage to speak out against the Iraq war in June 2004 - and insisting that his criticism be held till AFTER his death. (Why risk hurting a GOP President's re-election prospects when the cost is just a few thousand American lives...) THAT'S why he deserves all the plaudits for his decency and courage.

5) To Ronald Reagan. For unilaterally deciding to end the 16-year international isolation of Iraq in 1983 and sending Donald Rumsfeld as his personal goodwill ambassador to befriend Saddam Hussein - during the exact same time when Hussein was committing the very crimes for which he was hung. Crimes that were publicized worldwide at the time by Amnesty International and others.

6) Spare a thought for Donald Rumsfeld. Tough week for him. He's just lost someone very close to him. And Gerald Ford as well in the same week...