OCR Text |
Show A5 WWW.NETXNEWS.NET TUESDAY • JANUARY 16 • 2007 Opinions special Death of a dictator ^ ,-ss Two writers share their views on Saddam Hussein's recent execution One person's opinion Saddam's court battle: fair trial or farce trial? Good morning, UTA Jack Jared Waters Opinions Writer Taking the bus Justin Ritter Opinions Editor mi m ¥1 Gone are the days when Mommy and Pops dropped us off at school, and when we waited for them to pick us up at the end of the day, listening for the familiar honk of the family minivan. Nowadays, we have to find our own way to school — and many of us here at UVSC have found that driving a car isn't the most appealing way. The traffic on University Parkway, the reckless drivers and the parking lot with a waiting line longer than a Communist soup kitchen all put the damper on driving. For those living far away from campus, it's a necessary evil; but for those who . j>< live closer, there is an alternative — the UTA bus. Of course, not all is peaches and cream when dealing with the busses. They don't always come at the most convenient times, and the nearest bus stop may be a long walk from the apartment. And of course, there is the infamous bus stop just south of campus, which smells strongly of rotting sewer sludge—certainly not UVSC's sin, nor UTA's, but Orem City's, and a detractor nonetheless. Ft? That said there are many benefits to riding UTA, if it's feasible. For instance, by riding the bus, you avoid having to deal with the snarl of early morning traffic. Since that responsibility is left to the bus driver, you'll have some free time on your hands. If 8 a.m. is too early to,wake up—or if 11 a.m. is, for that matter— the solution is simple: take the bus and get a little extra sleep. If you're a workaholic, bring your laptop and do some homework. And if you're new to Utah County and have never seen the breathtaking stretch of strip malls along University Parkway, bring your camera and check out the scenery. Speaking of scenery, you may have recently noticed a yellow-grey smudge against the mountains: the annual inversion that has descended upon our valley like a rotten egg fallen from last year's nest. Riding the bus is a good way to reduce the amount of exhaust we put into the air every day, especially during the winter. The fewer fumes that join the foul, roiling yellow cloud above us, the better off we'll be. Taking the bus also allows you to avoid the parking lot; the bus driver can drop you off right outside the :;•:; college, a la Mommy and Pops— ."|< though he or she probably won't ;.; kiss your cheek and hand you a p sack lunch when you get off. It also £ saves you money; a yearlong bus £ pass from UVSC costs a mere $5. :'? That's nothing compared to the fat j wad of cash you'd spend on gas for V% a semester. For those who live reasonably close to UVSC, UTA is the way to go. It's cheaper, stress-free, aids the environment and gives you extra time. For those who live farther away, all I can say is good luck finding a parking space. 1 1 • - ' I m m m m The recent execution of Saddam Hussein indeed closed a dark chapter in Iraq's history. Saddam was hanged in Baghdad for his role in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from Dujail in 1982. But was the legal trial of Saddam fair? President Bush thinks so: "Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial." Bush, even in all his power, can't make a trial fair by simply declaring it fair. Amnesty International, a leading human rights organization, saw the trial differently than Bush. They called the trial "deeply flawed and unfair." They cited '*the grave nature of the flaws," including the following: "The court failed to take adequate measures to ensure the protection of witnesses and defense lawyers, three of whom were assassinated during the course of the trial." "Saddam Hussein was denied access to legal counsel for the first year after his arrest, and complaints by his lawyers throughout the trial relating to the proceedings do not appear to have been adequately answered by the tribunal." This marks a missed opportunity in establishing a fair and just precedent for Iraq's court system after a long period of injustice. Saddam Hussein was a mass murderer on a gigantic scale. Bui even he deserved a fair trial. Trials need to be looked at in a vacuum, without bias or sentimentality. For example, if these same proceedings happened in a trial of a loved one, one wouldn't be so quick in calling it fair and just. It was as if he was as convicted in the courts as he was in everyone's minds, before the trial even started. Saddam was rightly prosecuted, but the end should NOT justify the means in a trial. The verdict sets an example for future cases. Look how often trials and lawsuits refer to past cases to get a "fair and just" verdict. If trial "rules" slide once, others can use that case to help theirs, creating an unjust trial again— but this time finding strength in the reference of the former case. It is like cheating in a math class. Answers are found in the back of the book, so they are copied down. For the "problem solving," meaningless chicken scratches are produced on the page. The teacher notices, saying, "I know the 'outcome' is correct, but the 'means' in arriving at this 'conclusion' are not in accordance with the proper laws of mathematics. No points are awarded, because cheating was the 'means' to the 'end' or the answer." The task was accomplished (guilty verdict), but the means (trial) was not fair or just. The path traveled to a destination is almost as important as the final destination itself. The trial could've ended the same way if it took the legal and fair route. Bush uses one of his favorite constructions anytime the U.S. kills someone he believes is a terrorist. He says that the person has been "brought to justice" —whether that person was killed by a bomb, by an extrajudicial killing or by a kangaroo court, which was the case of Saddam. Bush does not venerate our great system of jurisprudence, which guarantees due process and habeas corpus. He's shown that numerous times with his insistence on the right to torture and with his Military Commissions Act, which allows the use of evidence that is beaten out of a defendant, and deprives any non-citizen whom Bush deems an "enemy combatant" of the right even to see a judge. He simply has no appreciation of the meaning of American justice. Bush's idea of justice is "rough justice," or "cowboy justice." If he calls it justice, it is justice. If he deems it a fair trial, it is fair. The trial was a missed opportunity to give the world a good example of civilized behavior in dealing with a savage and uncivilized man. This highly celebrated death was unable to create a standard for dealing with dictators and oppressors. The execution: hanged, one and done Jeremy Pettersson Opinions Writer Sometime over the New Year's weekend, the former dictator and/ or president of Iraq, was executed by hanging. Refusing a hood and clutching the Qu'ran, this once bold and mustachioed leader in the Middle East appeared on television as a wearied and bearded old man about to meet his Maker. Watching the unauthorized and disturbing cell phone video of the execution, broadcasted on YouTube, seeing the noose tightened around his neck, one might imagine what he might be thinking. He must have known it was the end; he must have seen it coming. Justice was about to be served, but how can any man prepare for his own death? He must have known why he was there. The whole world knew his crime and the charges levied against him were explained in detail. He must have known that his life was being taken away, just as freely as he took away the lives of countless others. Maybe he considered escape, one way or another. The world's most infamous dictator, Adolf Hitler, took the coward's way out by committing suicide as his empire crumbled around him and life entered into his death camps. Maybe he had hoped to die of old age before the trial ended, much like current dictators who passed away before being brought to justice. Known as the "Butcher of the Balkans," the former Yugoslavian leader Slobodan Milosevic passed away while on trial in The Hague. Chile's Augusto Pinochet, who was acquitted once—due to a form of dementia—of charges of multiple and mass secret murders and tortures committed during his time. During a second trial for charges of money laundering, he suffered a major heart attack and died early in December of last year, before any sentencing could take place. This will never make up for the suffering of those who lost family or friends, much less for forcing many patriots to flee their country querida (beloved) to places such as Sweden and Canada. But such options were no longer available for the Iraqi dictator. The noose was tight around his neck and the floor beneath him about to give way. Did he think of his victims? Did he believe he would be going on to a better place, or would he be tortured forever for the brutality committed in his life time? Perhaps the world will never know, because as he fell so did the rest of the sordid history of his doings and as they say, the man had (literally) come to the end of his rope. Some in the world reacted with disdain. The Associated Press reported the Vatican denouncing his death penalty as "tragic," the Dutch Deputy Prime Minister Gerrit Zalm referring to it as "barbaric" and former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi calling it "a step backward in Iraq's difficult road toward full democracy." But how could they say that about a man who had been proven to have killed a number of Muslim Shiites, Sunnis and Kurds? If they understood the true meaning of justice, they would have agreed with the sentencing. Simply put, justice is treating others as we would like to be treated and in some cases, having this golden rule enforced by law. It is a two-edged sword: on one hand, if one freely chooses to take away the lives of others, they should expect to have their lives taken away freely. On the other hand, if one gives or improves the quality of life, they should gladly expect the same for them. Justice is not blind; she sees the evidence, hears the testimonies and enacts a judgment, whether good or bad. Like Damocles's Sword of Greek legend, justice has always dangled precariously over the heads of ruthless dictators by a single horsehair. Finally, someone had the sense to snip it. Despite the possible negative outcomes of this act, such as increased violence in Iraq and fodder for Muslim extremists, the AP quoted British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett as saying that Saddam had "now been held to account for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed against the Iraqi people," and President Bush as saying that Saddam Hussein received "the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime." I whole-heartedly agree. Come what may, justice has been served. Got an opinion? Put a stamp on it! * E-Mail letters to uvscopinions@hotmail.com ,; , * The NetXNcws room is located on campus in SC220, * All letters become property of NetXNews and may be edited for content, specifically clarity, length or other concerns at the discretion of the Opinions Editor. * Letters between 50-250 words are encouraged and those letters marked by their succinctness are more likely to be published. * Letters must be accompanied by full name, address, and phone number for verification purposes (contact information will not be published). • -• . |