Monday, January 01, 2007
Saddam and Satan
As the news of Saddam Hussein’s impending hanging started making the wires and the cable networks Friday night, many of us in the newsroom started planning for the possibility.
None of us was really surprised that his death was coming so quickly. For days, we’d been hearing it could happen by the weekend, and now that appeared so. As we planned for the nightly newscast, we talked about the impact his death could have. One of our reporters headed to Madison to talk with a soldier who was bound for Iraq the next morning. He was obviously worried about how insurgents would react to the execution. When I saw his interview on tape, I couldn’t help but worry about his wife. I can’t imagine how difficult her new year will be, without him safe at home by her side.
It’s at times like these when the news is grim that the newsroom takes on a strange personality. We tend to make jokes to lighten the mood. To an outsider listening it, it might seem odd, even cruel or dispassionate, but it’s our way of coping. Day in and day out, the barrage of bad news can wear you down. A good, sick sense of humor can keep you afloat.
This was one of those nights.
We got into a discussion about Saddam’s eternal fate. Was there a welcome party waiting for him at Satan’s house that night? If so, who would be invited? John Wayne Gacy? Ted Bundy? Don’t forget Mohamed Atta and Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. And what about MaryBeth Tinnen, she poisoned nine of her children. Eileen Wuornos was a possibility. Jeffrey Dahmer seemed to be a shoe- in but then one of my colleagues pointed out, he accepted Jesus Christ before he died. As a Christian he would surely be spared such an invitation. We didn’t think he’d mind missing this party.
As the news of Saddam’s upcoming hanging became more real and our 10 p.m. newscast drew near, the jokes stopped and we got to work. Just after 9 p.m. word came down…Saddam was dead. I can’t tell you exactly what went through my mind at that moment, I was too busy to react, but I can tell you the event was on my mind the rest of the holiday weekend. I couldn’t stop thinking about it.
I’ve never taken a strong stance on capital punishment, one way or the other. I’ve always been able to see both sides. Over the years, I’ve cried many tears with families of victims. Mothers and fathers, sisters and brothers who have lost a loved one at the hands of some one evil. I can never begin to understand their pain or that hunger for revenge.
On the other hand, as a compassionate person, I struggle with the idea of taking someone’s life to justify what they’ve taken from others. Capital punishment seems somewhat barbaric. I wonder what good it really does? I’ve met too many people who coulnd’t find forgiveness in their hearts and spent the rest of their lives eaten up with hate and revenge…never to find peace. I can’t believe that’s a good life.
Saddam’s execution hasn’t changed my position on capital punishment. I’m still on the fence, I still struggle with the issue. But I can tell you, for the first time in my life, I didn’t feel a tinge of pain when I heard a killer had been executed. I didn’t think about his family, his wife or the impact on his children. All I could think about was the thousands, hundreds of thousands of people he tortured and killed in his lifetime. Many lost forever in unmarked graves.
If anyone ever deserved to be executed, it was Saddam Hussein.
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