Saddam Hussein is dead. Or, at least that's the official story. And, frankly, it's the story I buy because I see no compelling interest for our government to keep the man alive.
As he heads to whatever Valhalla awaits mass murdering evil dictators, bloggers like me who possess more free time and bandwidth than we do wisdom will write on the subject. And in the processing of their thoughts, many of these writers will parade words like "justice" across their blogs, in a sense demanding that the death of Saddam Hussein is a kind of balance to the scales, a kind of yin to the yang for the man who put so many of his countrymen in their grave prematurely.
I contend, however, that it is in no way justice. It is, however, a darn good way to prevent recidivism.
You see, no hangman's rope can exorcise the demons that will haunt the thoughts and dreams of the victims of this man for the remainder of their lives. No court order can ever cause these people to forget lives torn apart, family members taken away to never be seen again, or acts of violence perpetuated against their family. There is no judge on earth that can heal these peoples' pain.
For that reason, I believe that nobody's death, not even Saddam Hussein's, is to be celebrated.
What Saddam's execution did do, while not providing true justice, was just as important. It did ensure that no mother will ever lose her son to this butcher. That no child's father will never fall to the goons of this dictator. While evil men will always rise and fall and other dictators will certainly come around, as they always have, this one dictator, this one evil man will not live to see another day or torture another soul. And while it is poor compensation for the losses these millions have suffered, it is assurance for the millions more who will not.
Was Saddam's execution justice? No, it was not. But it was a badly needed ending for a country too long torn apart by war.