Mideast Dispatches

In just a couple of days, the secretly recorded video of Saddam Hussein’s execution has become one of the most widely viewed items on the Internet. It’s spreading like wildfire on cell phones across the Middle East and beyond.

And for those who can’t stomach watching it, vivid descriptions are provided by journalists and others who have seen it: Second by second accounts of what was said, how Saddam responded; and what his eyes looked like when the trap door was finally thrown open.

The two-and-a-half-minute clip, probably captured by a mobile phone, is the very definition of "high impact" video. It is startling, disturbing, but also informative. It would seem to prove beyond a doubt that the former president is indeed now on the other side.

That’s important in a part of the world where conspiracy theories abound. There are many who would not believe Saddam was dead unless they saw it with their very own eyes.

But simply by its sheer existence, the video also goes a long way to demonstrate the state of affairs in Iraq’s fledgling — and troubled — democracy.

The fact that it was allowed to be made at all — and that some of those present were permitted to taunt Saddam in the way they did, invoking sectarian slogans and telling him to go to hell — speaks volumes about the attitude of the executioners. That is everyone from those masked men who did the deed, all the way up to the officials who hired them.

Some have suggested the remarks made, including the chanting of Shia leader Muqtada al-Sadr’s name, and the insults hurled at Saddam, illustrate just how much pain the former dictator had caused.

Others say they might have also served to illustrate something far more sinister.

Caught on video

Video of extraordinary moments in real life can sometimes provide insight into societal trends. One example that comes to mind is the Rodney King video, captured by George Holliday, a private citizen who looked out of his window while Los Angeles police officers were beating King.

At face value, it was a happenstance recording of an awful incident. But when shared with the world, it became a significant turning point in the history of race relations in the U.S.

The 19 seconds during which King was brutally beaten aired again and again and sent shockwaves through the African-American and minority communities in the city, groups which had long had concerns about racist elements in the police.

But, more than that, the video was also a visual representation of what many vaguely knew: That there was still a widespread problem deeply afflicting the U.S. — racism. No one could now deny it.

In small but significant ways, Saddam’s execution video could have a similar effect. (For clarity, I’m limiting my comparison to the effect of the video. I am not drawing any parallels between any of the people involved in the two, widely different incidents.)

Saddam's last moments

The taunts, coming from Shia guards during Saddam’s final moments, suggest that the execution was not about justice as much as it was about revenge. It would serve then as an illustration of what many Sunni Iraqis already suspect: That the government that leads them is Shia first. And they would conclude from this that the government’s acts are motivated by sectarian sentiments above all else.

Whether they are or not depends on whom you ask in Iraq. The jury is still out on whether the country, under its new, Shia-dominated government, and in the midst of an ongoing cycle of violence, can be an inclusive place where sectarian considerations are disregarded.

But even before Saddam’s execution, many Iraqi Sunnis were already certain that their new government, the new Iraq, had no place for them.

It’s true that Iraqi Sunnis — some of whom also disliked Saddam and suffered under his rule — have been sidelined in the new Iraq. It was bound to happen. Saddam was a Sunni, and the bulk of his political elite was as well. Under Saddam's rule, the minority Sunnis dominated a huge Shia majority.

Naturally, with the toppling of his government, the power shifted to the long marginalized, and until then, powerless Shia majority. The Sunnis took on the unfamiliar role of being outside the ruling class.

But Sunnis say the situation has deteriorated further than that. They say the current environment has become so hostile to Sunnis that even government forces are attacking them.

In the wake of brutal attacks by largely Sunni insurgents against Shia targets, Sunnis suffered reprisal attacks. And they allege that the government’s apparatus is partly to blame for these.

Accusations have surfaced that Shia militias, which have grown in size and influence, have infiltrated certain government forces, particularly the security apparatus where they formed so-called death squads to target Sunnis.

Some Sunnis report being tortured in government prisons, and that they’re likely to be picked up simply because of their sect. Many, now, not only feel politically marginalized by their government but also targeted by it.

The way Saddam was treated before he died will probably reinforce the view among Sunnis that the new government is waging a sectarian war against them. The fact that militia slogans were permitted in the room, with government officials looking on, appears to support that view.

The accidental video of Rodney King’s encounter with the L.A. police, and the horrific riots that ensued when the officers were first acquitted, forced America to openly confront and discuss its problems. At the very least, it stopped cold any denial that racism continued to exist.

In the wake of the execution video, Iraq may no longer be able to deny its own problems either.

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