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Dante Hicks · 30 Dec 2006, 09:59

I'm not going to shed tears for someone like that, no.

I don't really buy the martyr angle. The people who seem to have supported him (or who still support him in a sense, in the insurgency), are the better off Sunni's who did OK out of Saddam's regime. Obviously these things are not simple, but the Ba'ath party was much more like Mussolini's fascists (without some of the baggage maybe) than it was like Al-Qaeda. The people who are in the militia's (it's not even clear to me whether all of these people are insurgents or part of an anti-US resistance, since a good portion of their violence is direct at Shia) from that camp seem much more about defending their interests.

There has been talk about the American's changing the focus of their efforts much towards the Shia. At the same time, it's alleged the anti-Ba'ath policies of the new government (apparently any ex-member of the party cannot hold certain positions in the new system) will be quietly dropped.

Anyway, so on the whole it's not like Saddam is going to have had much religious support as far as I can see. They're the types who like to go in for that sort of martyr angle, someone fighting to ensure they don't get overrun by their neighbours ethnic group, or so that they can remain in the top 30% income / status wise....well, that doesn't seem to gel very well with the notion of "martyrdom" (I could be widely wrong here).

The trial was a bit of a joke and for that reason they shouldn't have killed him. But in principle, I've got no problem with it, as long as it's as painless as possible.

30 Dec 2006, 09:59	#2
Dante Hicks Clerk Join Date: Jun 2001 Posts: 13,940	Re: Saddams death, tragedy or great victory? I'm not going to shed tears for someone like that, no. I don't really buy the martyr angle. The people who seem to have supported him (or who still support him in a sense, in the insurgency), are the better off Sunni's who did OK out of Saddam's regime. Obviously these things are not simple, but the Ba'ath party was much more like Mussolini's fascists (without some of the baggage maybe) than it was like Al-Qaeda. The people who are in the militia's (it's not even clear to me whether all of these people are insurgents or part of an anti-US resistance, since a good portion of their violence is direct at Shia) from that camp seem much more about defending their interests. There has been talk about the American's changing the focus of their efforts much towards the Shia. At the same time, it's alleged the anti-Ba'ath policies of the new government (apparently any ex-member of the party cannot hold certain positions in the new system) will be quietly dropped. Anyway, so on the whole it's not like Saddam is going to have had much religious support as far as I can see. They're the types who like to go in for that sort of martyr angle, someone fighting to ensure they don't get overrun by their neighbours ethnic group, or so that they can remain in the top 30% income / status wise....well, that doesn't seem to gel very well with the notion of "martyrdom" (I could be widely wrong here). The trial was a bit of a joke and for that reason they shouldn't have killed him. But in principle, I've got no problem with it, as long as it's as painless as possible.