Hussein Executed: US Soldiers in More Danger
by James Buchanan
Much like a sadistic child pulling the wings off a fly and then finally killing it, George Bush and the neocons have had their little sham kangaroo court trial for Saddam Hussein before having him executed. Some naive folks may say that the Iraqi government put Saddam on trial, but the truth is that the puppet regime in Iraq doesn’t get up in the morning unless they get permission from the US.
Killing Hussein will almost certainly cause a backlash. Dozens -if not hundreds- of additional US deaths will result because of Hussein’s execution. It would have been best for our troops if Hussein were executed after the last US troop was withdrawn. Killing Hussein was not even necessary and at best a hypocritical action by the Bush regime, which has caused the deaths of far more Iraqis than Hussein is accused of killing. At worst, executing Hussein through a puppet government is yet another war crime by the neocons.
George Bush and the neocons DON’T support our troops. They have sent our troops into an unnecessary war. They didn’t supply our troops with adequate bullet proof vests, and they didn’t even have armor for the Humvees. Bush and the neocons never fought in any wars themselves and couldn’t care less about the lives of US soldiers. The execution of Hussein is just one more sign that Bush couldn’t care less what happens to our troops. George Bush didn’t even have the courage to meet with the mother of one of the dead soldiers, Cindy Sheehan. Instead, Bush and Karl Rove had the neocon talk show hacks smear Mrs. Sheehan rather than have Bush meet with her and have to answer her questions about the Iraq War.
Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced to death for executing 148 Shiites in a village, which had rebelled against Hussein’s government in 1982. Curiously, the US was fully supporting Saddam at this time and for several years afterwards. The famous picture of Saddam shaking hands with Rumsfeld took place in 1983, a year after Hussein put down the Shiite rebellion for which he was just executed. Rumsfeld and the US government did not even consider Saddam’s actions in 1982 worth mentioning let alone worth disturbing the good relations Iraq and the US shared at the time.
The decision to execute a foreign leader for suppressing a rebellion is a uniquely hypocrital one, but we are supposed to accept this without question. Never mind the fact, the US government killed hundreds of thousands of Southerners in the Civil War, who wanted nothing but a sovereign government of their own. And don’t think about the hundreds of thousands of German civilians murdered by the US government while fire bombing German cities during World War Two. And pay absolutely no attention to the murders of Sam and Vicki Weaver in Ruby Ridge, Idaho, while Bush Senior was president or the massacre of 96 Branch Davidians while Bill Clinton was president.
If we want to condemn Saddam Hussein for invading Kuwait in 1990, don’t forget that Hussein literally asked the American ambassador April Glaspie if the US would respond if one Arab nation invaded another and she said “No.” Hussein was literally given a green light by the US to invade Kuwait. Bush Senior then betrayed Hussein and pushed for a war against Iraq. The war against Iraq was something the Israeli Lobby wanted and something Bush’s Big Oil friends wanted.
The First War on Iraq did not ensure “the free flow of oil” as Bush Senior had promised, Instead, that war constricted the flow of oil and raised the price of gas, which is exactly what Bush Senior and his Big Oil friends desired. Several stories have emerged from US veterans that the massive oil fires in Kuwait were set by American special forces troops. The Kuwaiti oil fires further constricted the flow of oil, making Texas oil that much more valuable. By blaming Saddam for the fires, Bush Senior hoped to further demonize him. After the war, Iraq was only allowed to sell oil for food, ensuring that American consumers would continue to pay an inflated price for oil long after the First Gulf War.
After twelve years of restrictions against Iraq, it was feared by the Big Oil lobby that Hussein might be allowed to sell Iraqi oil again without restriction. Meanwhile a cabal of neocon Zionists had infiltrated the Republican Party demanding a second war against Iraq. Very few Congressmen were willing to challenge the neocon lies for fear of angering the Israeli Lobby. Congress voted to give George W. Bush a blank check for war, which Bush cashed after several more months of lies and slander.
Israel got to see their arch enemy, Saddam Hussein, toppled from power. The Big Oil lobby got gas prices raised to three dollars per gallon. And the American public got stuck with the bill. More Americans have died in Bush’s illegal and unnecessary war in Iraq than were killed in the 911 attack. 655,000 Iraqis have died in a war that was caused entirely by George Bush and his lying neocon buddies. Instead of George W. Bush and the neocons going on trial for mass murder and waging a war of aggression, the person who went on trial and was executed was Saddam Hussein.