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Saddam Hussein Hospitalized Due to Hunger Strike

The world was greeted Monday with the news that former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein had been hospitalized due to the hunger strike he had been holding himself to. Over the course of his war crimes trial in Baghdad ? his former capital, now the capital of an unstable, yet increasingly democratic, Iraq ? the ?Butcher of Baghdad? has often denounced the trial as invalid, having no jurisdiction. Three years after Hussein was toppled, he still hasn?t reconciled himself to the defeat: He still refers to himself as the President of Iraq.

If Saddam Hussein were to die as a result of his hunger strike, would that be a good thing or a bad thing? Well, for the thousands ? maybe hundreds of thousands ? who suffered directly on his orders, it would be a form of justice. For others, who wish to see the Iraqi dictator formally punished, especially executed, such an event would likely be seen as the Butcher?s last laugh, escaping punishment for his crimes against humanity. And for the United States, and fragile Iraqi government, the death of Saddam Hussein due to a hunger strike, and not an execution, would likely be an event to both silently celebrate and deplore.

Earlier this year, former Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic died in his prison cell at The Hague, in the Netherlands. Milosevic was on trial for his actions in the Balkans during his rule, especially during the wars which resulted from the breakup of Yugoslavia, including the mass murder and ethnic cleansing of Kosovar Albanians. Many saw his death as having cheated the Balkans of justice, and should Saddam Hussein willingly die it will likely stir up echoes of Milosevic?s escape from justice himself. To force feed or not to force feed? What a question.