Confessions of a Drowning Man
[Blogger Note: What follows is another insightful, stirring, and, dare I say, prophetic post from our snowy pated theologian in residence, pastor emeritus, elder statesman, most right [winged] reverend, all around nice guy, warrior and solemn keeper of low-mid-high-folk-fine-and funk culture, Mike Braun - known more importantly to me and four others as Dad, to 12 little ones {lucky 13 is on the way!} as Grandpa.]
A flood of questions and impressions have rushed through my mind since the execution of Saddam Hussein. Saddam's departure took place on the first day of Eid al-Adha on the Sunni calendar. Eid al-Adha is a feast that commemorates Abraham's attempt to sacrifice his illegitimate son Ishmael, an attempt thwarted by divine intervention so states the Koran. Actually the ancient record of Moses recorded that the son in question was not Ishmael but Isaac. But Muhammad, the author of the Koran, rarely bothered himself with such trivial historical accuracies. It appears Saddam Hussein was not favored by divine intervention at his moment of truth, but I digress.
Was it wise to sully a "holy day" with an execution? It is not necessarily a problem. Mr. Hussein, as the NY Times often referred to him, died on the day before Eid al-Adha according to the Shi'ite calendar though all Sunnis know Shi'ite calendars are not worth the paper they're printed on. Thus while many Sunnis were busy concluding their pre-feast pilgrimage by casting seven stones at Satan, the Shi'ites were free to turn their attentions elsewhere, namely to the very non-symbolic hanging of Saddam, a real live devil, if there ever was one. By the way, it is not that Muslims really stone Satan, Islamic apologists are quick to explain, it is more a symbolic renunciation of the devil. One is mindful of the touching act of faith performed by Michael Corleone who renounced the works of the devil at his godson's baptism. Much like the Godfather, many Muslims celebrated their holy day plotting the slow and painful deaths of their enemies, particularly Jews, while ceremonially rejecting the works of Satan. Renouncing Satan while embracing the wholesale slaughter of infidels, particularly Jews, is quite harmonious with the religion of The Prophet.
It seems fitting to me for Shiites to get the privilege of supervising the execution of Saddam since the only charge the Iraqis could make stick on the old tyrant was the murder of a relatively few number of Shi'ites, 148 to be exact. (A mere drop in the Iraqi bucket!) Those unfortunate Shi'ites, all 148 of them, were few in comparison to the millions of Kurds Saddam poisoned, bombed, starved and/or shot. The capital charge also seemed light compared to the violence inflicted upon those Mr. Hussein strangled with his bare hands for exercise and the others tortured to death by his sons for his and their mutual entertainment.
Amid the necrotic predilections of Iraqi politics and religion stands Moqtada Al Sadr, whose name was heard repeatedly shouted by Saddam's executioners over the infamous cell phone recording of the event. Sadr appears to be the Shi'ite of choice in Iraq these days. He would undoubtedly be seen in vodka ads on the pages of the Iraqi equivalents to Time Magazine and G.Q. were he only to allow himself an indulgence in the finer spirits. But no, Sadr prefers Jihad, the death of all Jews, and the occasional militia kidnapping and beheading to the ingestion of liquid intoxicants. Such abstinence befits a young Ayatolah on the move. One lesson stands out in the dispatch of Saddam Hussein to his alloted virgins or plotted damnations, depending on your religious inclinations. The coalition government of Nouri Maliki may lack the muscle to put Saddam to death but Moqtada Al Sadr did not. But hey, we can't expect everything from the new government of Iraq, can we? I mean, they do, after all, with the encouragement of our State Department, promise in their new constitution universal health care for all Iraqis. And, if any nation ever needed such a benefit, it is that one whose citizens take life and limb in hand each time they walk down the streets of Baghdad.
And so, in the Tsunami of my thoughts, amid the flotsam and jetsam swirling about me, such conundrums rise up briefly then plunge mercifully downward seeking solace, it seems, in my subconscious mind. The insanity of the Islamic world meets the insipidity of the liberal Western world! The Times, the BBC, The French and all other champions of the dying West lament the barbarity of capital punishment even the well deserved hanging of Saddam. (They never miss a trick do they?) It’s hard to keep your head above water when those about you bewail the death of an evil tyrant as the obscenity of choice for the day. Even Charles Krauthammer was ringing his hands. Frankly, Charles, I'm just glad he's dead! Hang how uncivilized the ceremony was! No pun intended. I was ready to cheer lustily when Saddam finally sank from sight beneath the trap door but then CNN, NBC, et. al. began making waves over the "tragedy" of Saddam's execution. Why, Katie Couric was near to tears! I almost choked. The moaning over Saddam's execution, like the crocodile tears shed for the abused terrorists in Guantanamo, like the moral indignation for the 3,000 young heroes who have fallen in battle for their country in Iraq, has a faint odor of mendacity about it, to quote Big Daddy in Williams' "Cat On A Hot Tin Roof." That odor is starting to collectively stink to high heaven. When will enough be enough?
There was a time in our country when certain things were worth dying for. There was a time when our society used to firmly and rightly defend the Biblical judgment: "Whosoever sheds man's blood, by man shall his blood be shed." But no longer, it seems, are such things politically correct. What is going to happen when a culture who delights in cruel, indiscriminate death collides with a culture who can no longer take a solemn pride in the death of its heroes and carry out a death sentence on the wicked? Before the battle of Tours in the face of an advancing Islam, men called on God for deliverance and laid down their lives for their families and country. Again, they cried to heaven and took a costly but successful stand at the gates of Vienna against the Turks. Apparently their prayers were heard and each time the Moslem invader was turned back. I fear we can expect little divine favor for our cause today now that the West has become more civilized than its God.
posted by Pastor Erik at Thursday, February 15, 2007
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