The world has an equal number of good and bad people. No one is purely good, nor is anyone a hundred percent bad. But some people have a higher proportion of wickedness than goodness, while for others; their moral uprightness supersedes their evil tendencies. The latter always try to do good to the society, but the former do the opposite. Some of these evil people were at one time good, but the gradual frustration with their surroundings made them so evil that they lost hold of thoughts and actions, and as a result, they ended up taking extreme steps to destroy and demolish everything that came their way. Before judging others, one should try to understand why these bad people turned to be so.
Saddam Hussein was the fifth president of Iraq. He ruled for 24 years. He first became a leader of one of the political parties known as the Arab Socialist Ba’ath and later moved on to another which accommodated both nationalist and socialist views. In addition, Hussein played a major role in the 1968 coup, which was referred to as the 17 July Revolutionary, which brought the party to power in Iraq.
The Iraqi society under his regime was tarnished by tales of the abuse of human rights. Hussein’s administration caused fear because of the crude ways that the officials used in maintaining control. The methods included undercover law enforcement agents, rape, torture, genocide, assassinations, deportations, coercion into exile, and chemical warfare. The violence led to death of innumerable Iraqis.
Hussein also orchestrated the launch of several attacks on the adjacent countries of Kuwait and Iran. Iran was attacked for the abundance of resources in the nation. The conflict resulted in war between Iraq and Iran. According to Miller, many civilians in Kurdish and Habalja were killed by use of chemical weapons (37). Hussein also attempted an assassination in the town of Dujail by attacking the inhabitants with military weapons and destroying their farmland, crops and, and water sources. Furthermore, he got hold of several people and mistreated them at detention sites, where many perished. Some families were buried at an isolated compound for a long time, and those who did not die were taken to court where they were unfairly convicted and killed.
Hussein’s monstrosity was encouraged by his supporters in the United States who sponsored his fight against the Iranians in 1980. When he tried to annex Kuwait, the United States-led forces tried to stop him but it was too late to tame the monster in him. He also killed 60,000 Iraqi Shiites and Kurds after they rose up against him. No gathering was allowed unless it was meant to advance the government’s reign, and those that were held were stringently supervised. Additionally, ordinary citizens were not allowed to travel across the nation without the government’s authorization; neither could they afford to travel abroad because of costly visas.
According to Miller, cruel punishments, including amputation of limbs, burning with hot objects, and death sentence for various criminal offences was applied by the government, but the president’s and the government officials’ families were excluded from this (47) Those who had died during the 1991 uprising against Hussein were believed to have been buried in a mass grave that was discovered in Iraq.
Hussein’s administration tortured their targets by battering and bludgeoning them with wooden and metallic objects, electrically shocking their private parts, and inserting hot metal rods into their mouths. Other cases involved crushing toes and removing victims’ toe nails, submerging detainees in acidic solutions, poisoning, raping women as their family members watched, burning, breaking their bones, amputating various body parts, and rendering them visually impaired.
Cohen’s second thesis which states that the monster always escapes is true. When the United States forces tried to capture him, he eluded them for several months. Fortunately, he was eventually captured, arrested, tried, and executed. As Miller notes, it is no surprise that his first born son Udday had also taken after him, for instance, he once raped a 14-year-old girl and threatened her father with murder (56). He even went further to order the girl’s father to give him his other 12-year-old daughter as his girlfriend, thus making both the two sisters his lover. He was a dictator just like his father and always wanted situations to go his way.
Hussein’s mother gave birth to a child just like any woman but she never knew that the son would one day turn into a monster of a man. His monstrosity may be because of the difficulties he underwent as a child. Some experiences in life can change even the best of people into monsters If Saddam Hussein would have been brought up by a loving and caring parent then he would not have turned out to be a monster in making. The society should look for ways of helping the bad to change their ways and advising the good not to turn to monsters.
The image above shows the remains that were found at a mass gravesite in Iraq (Graham).
Works Cited
Graham, Christopher. “Remains at a Mass Grave Site.” Marine Corps Photo web, 7 May 2003. Photograph. georgewbush-whitehouse.archives.gov/news/releases/2003/09/20030929-14.html Accessed 28 March 2017.
Miller, Ruth A. The Erotics of Corruption: Law, Scandal, and Political Perversion. Albany, 2008.
没有评论:
发表评论