For Arab Critics, Hussein’s Execution Symbolizes the Victory of Vengeance Over Justice

[cal04]

For Arab Critics, Hussein’s Execution Symbolizes the Victory of Vengeance Over Justice

As daylight broke over the Arab world and news of Saddam Hussein’s hanging spread over the airwaves and the Internet, the execution proved just as profound for what it did not change as for what it did.

(snip)
Almost four years after United States troops entered Iraq with a broader foreign policy goal of ushering in a “new” Middle East, one built on democracy and rule of law, the execution of Mr. Hussein on one of the holiest days in Islam marked the unceremonious demise of that strategy, many Arab analysts said.

“If you compare the results to the objectives the U.S. claimed to realize, whether it was democracy or control of the region, their policies have evidently failed,” said Nawaf Kabbara, professor of political science at Balamand University in Beirut. “They were not able to spread democracy, control anything or make any serious breakthrough. It is a failure on all levels.”

(snip)
“It is evident that they were not after justice,” said Hilal Khashan, a political science professor at the American University of Beirut. “It was a political decision, because as soon as they got a sentence on him they executed him. What mattered was his death rather than finding justice.”


http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/world/middleeast/31arab.html