Saddam Hussein wrote soon after receiving his death sentence,
“I say goodbye to you, but I will be with the merciful God who helps those who take refuge in him and who will never disappoint any honest believer,” the letter said. “I call on you not to hate, because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking.” The letter, which was posted on a Baath Party Web site and received extensive coverage on Arabic TV news stations.
Being convicted of crimes against humanity for his part in the execution of 148 men and boys in the northern town of Dujail, Hussein might aim to redempt himself through this message or he simply still stive to seek sorts of justification/inevitability concerning the matter for calling out for his final revolt. Whichever reason he had in his mind at that time, he certainly seemed much more fragile and fatigued just like an ordinary old man next door. This made me wonder how putting an old man into death would bring out justice and political impacts as the majority - here, majority means those in power within Iraq and outside of the nation - wishes. I have to say I am concerned it will more or less result in the exact opposite consequences from what those in power believe because of a few obvious reasons as below.
First, he still isn't fully aware why he has to be judged by those who he doesn't acknowledge as legitimate. This means he will be unlikely cease to persuade those still following him that all his conducts were righteous and his suffers at the present is caused only because the power is in wrong hands, if not saying it should belong to him. Second, he perceived himself as a righteous martyr, this certainly doesn't help to redempt himself within the jurisdiction thereof. Third, currently leaders in Iraq, strongly backed by the U.S. want him dead badly, which can potentially make Hussein a sacrified victim by the west. Remember, the west practicalism, in particular, the American ones are not quite popular in the region. If this happens, the U.S. will only receive much more entangled hostile reactions from the indigenious people after his death, which is the last thing the west wishes to see. Having Hussein as a national hero slaugtered by the U.S. will only make it harder for the U.S. to proceed whatever they need to do in the region. In addition, now Hussein is a 70-year-old man, no where else to run, what's the point to be so hurry?
We see arguments everyday to ban the execution by law. Depriving rights to speak and move freely will probably bring about what everybody wants rather than murdering him, thereby possibly triggering backfires in already excessively complicated situations. You see, the last thing we want to see is making him remembered as a martyr died for what he believed, which will only give him a chance to live eternality.
