And so he is dead.
A mere four years after we preemptively “liberated” his country, Saddam Hussein was executed by a kangaroo court of the puppet government we set up in his place.
Despite what the breathless headlines tell us and regardless of how awful life was for many under Saddam Hussein’s rule, very few Iraqis are better off today than they were under his dictatorship.
The thousands of Iraqis that have died, lost limbs, have been maimed, lost parents, siblings, children and loved ones cannot feel much joy as they struggle to survive under the incompetence of an occupation that has no control over anything other than unbelievable spin.
As Donald Rumsfeld sits at home this New Year, polishing his medals and licking the wounds from his humiliating dismissal, there is no one on the planet who really thinks that the harsh reality of life under the United States control is sweetened by the long-ago faded stain of a purple-inked finger.
I wrote this rhyme below in February 2003, before we attacked Iraq, pretending diplomacy still stood a chance. Osama is still at large.
Enemy of the State of the Union of the Enemy
By George W. Bush
The more I see Saddam Hussein,
The more we need this drama
The war will help us all forget
We cannot find Osama
The weapons mass he surely stashes
The ones we sent, as if that matters
A war for oil’s fine you see,
If you want to drive your SUV
He’s hiding soldiers among his own
Human shields, the evil drone
As if we’d spare them anyway
We’ve bombs to drop and bills to pay
But back to the basics, yes it might seem insane
Osama is Saddam, Osama Hussein
Saddam bin Laden, I’m more sure than before
And so should you too, it’s why you’re going to war.
