Culture of Terror

---Micheal

Saddam is on trial for ordering the killing of hundreds of people in a town that upset him. Much of the western world are repelled by such acts. Saddam the criminal. Saddam the arch villain. Justice is needed.

The trouble is, Saddam is not an aberration. He's actually a pretty typical example of his culture. Insurgent groups have carried on the cultural custom of killing each other en masse.

Social apologists try to explain Saddam's tendency to kill his own people in droves resulted from the corruption of dictatorial power. The insurgents kill because they feel they have too little power. Apparently social-political power -- the having or not having of it -- is NOT the key. They don't kill for lack of wealth or social opportunity. Saddam was mega rich. Occupation or "the war" is not the key. Saddam killed thousands during "peace" time.

There appears to be a long-standing culture of killing to get one's way. Kill big to intimidate those who oppose you. Arabs will continue to kill in hopes of getting their way, whether US forces or any other forces are present. Saddam is looking less like a horrible exception, than he is as a typical example of the region's culture of terror.

We should not be fooled into thinking that putting Saddam behind bars for life will end it. If Saddam leaves, or the US leaves, it won't matter. The culture of killing and terror will remain.

No one can force the Iraqis (or the Afghans or the Palestinians) to stop killing whoever they dislike. Their own forces of civilization must get the upper hand. Hopefully, the formation of a new parliamentary government will begin the supplanting of the age-old culture of killing. There needs to be an alternative. To abandon Iraq before civilization is given a chance to get its legs, is to leave the culture of killing alive, well, and in-charge.