The Iraqi government's decision to execute Saddam Hussein is backfiring on them, big time.
Saddam was executed at the beginning of the Eid al-Adha holiday, on the day that the Sunnis were to begin the observance. Further, he was taunted by Shiite executioners in his last moments. Enraged Sunnis in Iraq and across the Arab world took to the streets and that anger isn't going away. It's worsening.
The taunting was inappropriate and the timing was simply terrible. Sunni and Shiite branches of Islam consider the other heretics, and this merely reinforces that belief.
By executing Saddam, they denied his other victims--living and dead--and their stories to be told in an Iraqi court of law and in Saddam's presence. They were all robbed of justice--all but 148, for whom Saddam was executed.
It's more likely that non-combatant Sunnis will join the fight against the Shiite government because they don't trust it, believe it's behind the attacks on the Sunni population, and doesn't respect their religious beliefs.
It's safe to say that Iraq is in more danger of fragmenting now than it was before the Iraqi government decided to be hasty and execute the former dictator, though he was causing no harm while he was in U.S. custody.
Was what the Iraqi government did justice for ALL of Saddam's victims, or could they have benefited by keeping this man tied up in court for years to come? The full scope of this man's reign of terror will never be fully explored now.
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