Most of the world's dictator-killers escape such a reckoning. Stalin and Mao died in their own beds. Hitler escaped the hangman by committing suicide, while Nicolae Ceausescu was shot by a vengeful mob after a perfunctory trial. Idi Amin and Pol Pot were ousted from power but lived into old age without punishment. Slobodan Milosevic made it to trial but died before a verdict could be rendered. Others -- Castro, Kim Jong Il -- live on in power, terrorizing their countrymen to this day.
Saddam may not have been history's worst murderer, but he was an accomplished one. He began as a Baath Party assassin, rose after a 1968 coup to become Iraq's feared vice president and intelligence chief, and consolidated his power in 1979 with a videotaped purge of his enemies, nearly 500 of whom were soon dead.
There followed the invasion of Iran, the gassing of the Kurds, the looting of Kuwait, more slaughter of Kurds and Shiites, an attempt on the life of a former U.S. President, and support for international terrorism. The precise number of Saddam's victims is impossible to know. But add the Iraqi estimate of 400,000 bodies found in mass graves to the casualties during his wars with Iran, Kuwait and the U.S.-led coalition, and his death total may equal two million.
There would surely have been more. Never mind that no stockpiles of chemical weapons were found in Iraq after 2003. Saddam was the only living national leader to have ordered the use of chemical weapons -- twice. Were he still in power today, does anyone doubt he would be racing with Iran to obtain a nuclear bomb?
Laura, Yo estoy de acuerdo con vos. No te preocupes, a Bush ya le va a llegar s turno. Lo mismo que a Blair.
ReplyDeletesera la mesma difunta?
ReplyDelete