Judgment Day

Saddam is gone.

(Unless you subscribe to an X-Files style last minute switch, and he really is on an island somewhere planning to live out his US funded retirement)

After watching the various conversations in the Bloggo-sphere its evident a wide range of opinions are well represented. Some say capital punishment is wrong in all cases. Some say its wrong to “celebrate” the death (or any death). Some say he had it coming. Some say he should have been tried in an International court. Some say he should have been held to account by his own people, yet the court that did hold him to account was a puppet court of the US. Some say a hundred other things in a hundred different styles. Some say it was all fair and square.

Some say he has now met his maker and let God sort it out.

He was judged by his peers, his friends, his enemies, his family, his God – himself. Judged by as many different methods as there are people doing the judging by whatever formulae happens to be in fashion by the people and at the place and time.

Rather unreliable method of measure if you ask me. Yet wars are fought over it, and more often than not in the name of God.

By carefully watching BBC CNN FOX DRUDGE etc etc he was not turned over to local Iraqi authorities, he WAS turned over to local Iraqi authorities, he was buried in Tikrit, he WAS NOT buried in Tikrit, he was a tyrant who deserved what he got, he was a puppet of the US and the true villains were let off scott free, and numerous other versions of the story. I’m sure the history books will sort it out.

He will be judged by history.

History will also judge everyone else.

Who does the measuring and by what standards?

When the countless hundreds or thousands of Kurdish CITIZENS of Iraq were killed by chemical weapons who did the counting and who did the holding to account and who were the ones who gave a damn? Did the Iranians say prayers, how about the Chinese, or the Russians, the British, the French, did the starving folks in Somalia or Sudan or any other State in Crises stop and pay attention and notice there was a tragedy of the World's Children in process of occurring?

Does one culture recognize tragedy in the same way as another?

I bet Mothers still cry.

I bet Fathers still cry.

I bet – every stone tree insect and bird felt the pain.

I bet the ad rates move depending on the headlines.

Has anything changed since the 1980’s?

Has anything changed in thousands of years?

Have human values changed? Is it still survival of the fittest steam roller style and the machine of civilization will roll forward un-impeded?

When does the end come, and the beginning start?

How would we measure it? Even if we were watching would we notice a shift?

I watched the clock tick past 22:00 hours EST the evening of 29 December 2006, and as the moment before and the several moments after passed, as the World Wide Web held its breath for the news services to “share” at the speed of light the snap of Saddam’s neck – the world held its breath.

In Dearborn Michigan there were celebrations in the streets.

In parts of Iraq there were celebrations in the streets. In other parts of Iraq bombs went off killing innocent civilians.

In America some Muslims said the Muslims in Dearborn were morons.

It would seem the system of measure is as it has always been.

Nothing’s changed.

Unfortunately.

On the last day of 2006, as we head into 2007

It’s business as usual for the human race.

In. First. Rate. Grand. Neanderthal. Style.

Will it ever change?

Maybe next year.