Saddam is Dead, so what next?

Saddam is dead. Why don't I feel elated? I did when he was captured. I did when we killed his sons. I was excited to be within 100 feet of him one day as he was led to his cell. His location was the worst kept secret in Baghdad at the time.

Today I just feel like it was a cheap revenge killing. I don't think the Iraqis got enough coverage out of it. Maybe he should have been tried at an international court like the Bosnian Serbs have been in Den Hague. Maybe it should have been at the UN. For whatever reason I just feel like it was kind of rushed and amateur.

When I think of all the bad things he did I don't feel anger anymore, I just feel like it took to long to get it over with. It makes no difference now in the monster we have unleashed in Iraq. In fact, even though he was a horrible man with a horrible mind he kept the lid on simmering factions much like Tito did in Yugoslavia. Maybe some societies need a strong man to keep them in check.

Don't get me wrong. I condone nothing he did. He was a meglomanic of the 1st sort and was a threat to the entire world. He was able to scare us all and maybe his saber rattling is what did him in. He could have had a literal dynasty if he had not made huge mistakes. HUGE mistakes mixed into enormously intriging and Machiavellian moves of brilliance.

He was part of a coup attempt against the Iraqi Monarchy. It failed and he was jailed. He was part of the overthrow of the monarchy after that. He was part of the coup of that government. He was part of the assasination conspiracy of the new government leader. He took absolute power. He called out the names of "traitors" at a Baath Party meeting, They were led out and shot.He invaded Iran. The war took 8 years and cost millions of lives. He borrowed billions of dollars from Arab nations and when they called in the loans he invaded Kuwait. He was bounced out and could have just rolled up tight and stayed quiet and in power but he did not count on a steel willed Texan being placed in the White House. A man whose father he tried to assasinate in liberated Kuwait.

We joked that Operation Iraqi Freedom should have been called Operation "You tried to kill my daddy". Maybe we were not so far from the truth.

He was loved by a few and hated by many. He granted enormous power and wealth to a few at the expense of many. He was the epitome of the adage that "Absolute power corrupts absolutely". He was a loathsome figure in a loathsome regime in a loathsome part of the world

Whatever he was, he was. Was. Not is, not anymore, Dead. Killed by the hands of Iraqis after an Iraqi court tried and convicted him, after an Iraqi judge pronounced a death sentance. Swinging with a broken neck, or strangled slowly as the life left him. Maybe he went quick, maybe not but dead is dead.

He killed thousands. I am here becuase of him. Friends of mine are dead because of him. He caused untold misery and suffering and was responsible for a modern fascist state while squandering the greatest fortune every placed in anyone's hands. Why then do I feel nothing? I feel no remorse but I also feel no joy. I actually feel let down more than anything else because there was no flash bang quality to any of it.

He is gone. Good riddance to bad rubbish.