Why Not Just Kill The Messenger?

In a “shocking” [strike that] “startling” [no, not really, strike that too”…oh well..] “significant” development, following the broadcast of video footage of the execution of Saddam Hussein, the Iraqi government announced that arrests were made respecting the unofficial depiction of misconduct by Iraqi officials handling the execution. The arrests, however, were of the persons accused of exposing the misconduct to the public. No charge has yet been publicly lodged that the persons being arrested were actually perpetrating the disrespectful and disgraceful taunting that preceeded the hanging or the cheering over Hussein’s dead body. While it may yet be revealed that the cell phone video footage was taken as a “souvenir” by Shiite attendees hoping to brag about their “final conquest”of Saddam Hussein, all that we know for certain is that the persons accused of revealing to the public the shoddy behavior and the disgraceful handling of what should have been a serious and official event have been arrested and accused of unlawful conduct. Since there was an Official Government Video of the event, any misrepresentation of the proceedings in the bootleg video could easily have been demonstrated. But the iraqi government has not disputed the accuracy of what was reported, only the public revelation of the truth.

In a better world, we might have hoped for the official response to focus on the perpetrators of the misconduct and the officials responsible for managing the execution with civility and due respect. However, in the current environment of cynicism and official corruption the response of attacking the messenger does not seem at all unpredictable. At least the public attention drawn to the matter, for whatever motives, will expose the baseness and inhumanity to which Iraqi society [and the international community] has sunk.

Perhaps the incident will also open the eyes of the US Congress to the obvious fact that the situation in Iraq has deteriorated into a civil war that no US military force can “win.” The continuing bloodbath is clearly no longer about defeating an insurgency. It is a power struggle, carried out in bloody street warfare, over control of territory and resources in a deeply divided and chaotic country left with a leadership vacuum because of the bungled US invasion and subsequent occupation. Since our misguided President seems determined to pursue the absurd mission of “winning the war”in iraq, only the actions of Congress can intervene to limit further unnecessary loss of US military personnel. Whether by cutting off funding, except under a specific plan to withdraw forces, or through impeachment (if necessary), Congress must act to restore some sanity to US policy respecting Iraq.