Saddam Pleads For Peace, and an interview With Gerald Ford From beyond the grave

Yesterday on the Baath Party website, a letter was posted, written by Saddam Hussein on the day he was sentenced to death. The letter, while still quite arrogant in nature, pleads with the Iraqi people not to hate, but to peacefully coexist, adding a plea not to hate the invading coalition forces. While this seems strange coming from a man who has just been sentenced to death for his genocide of Kurdish Iraqi citizens, I still sincerely hope that his former people still listen and bring an end to the sectarian violence that is taking more lives each day in the war torn country.

Hussein goes on to say goodbye to the Iraqi people, praises God, and says, "Long live Iraq, long live Iraq ... Long live Palestine ... Long live jihad and the mujahideen". He concludes with the reason for the letter – the court refused to let Hussein give a final statement, and Saddam wanted to be heard.

I don't quite know how to react to this, to be perfectly honest. In the early 90s, during Operation Desert Storm, I was in grade school and it was pretty cut and dried – Saddam was the enemy. Three years ago when he was dragged out of a shoebox sized foxhole in his hometown, I have to admit, as much as I was glad he had been caught, I felt a little sorry for him. He looked all unkempt and disheveled such a far cry from the powerful despot in military regalia. Now his execution is less than 30 days away, and I have to hope that his plea for peace among the different factions of Iraq is genuine. Now all we need to do is make sure that every Iraqi sees it. We all know how well leaflets work, so let's shoot rockets into the leaflet factory…that might work.

As a side note, I find it really interesting that an interview with former president Gerald Ford is just coming to light in the days following his death. In the interview, from 2004, Ford is candid about his disdain for the methods and motivations behind the invasion of Iraq. He posited that diplomacy and sanctions were still viable options, and that the whole platform of WMDs was as much bullshit as we all knew at the time. Ford, even in death, and even though never duly elected president, shows more grace in one moment than Bush will ever be able to accomplish. Though he gets a bad rap for the pardoning of Nixon, I believe he will still be remembered more fondly than George W. Bush. RIP Jerry.

Currently listening: Final Straw By Snow Patrol Release date: 30 March, 2004