Right Side of the Rainbow

New York Times:

The hanging death of Saddam Hussein tonight ended the life of one of the most brutal tyrants in recent history and negated the fiction that he himself maintained even as the gallows loomed — that he remained president of Iraq despite being toppled by the American military …

Reportedly, Hussein dropped at 10:05 p.m. EST: “… witnesses to his execution danced around his body.”

Cheers.

ADDED —

What arrogance! In the hours before his death, Hussein’s American attorneys filed for a stay of execution … in United States District Court!

The judge with whom the motion was filed acknowledged the obvious: “… this Court … has no jurisdiction over the Iraqi officials who will carry out the execution of an Iraqi citizen pursuant to a sentence of death issued by an Iraqi court for violations of Iraqi law …”

What’s more, said the judge, prior to his transfer to the Iraqis, Hussein was not in the custody of the United States Government:

Petitioner is not being held under the custody of the United States, and as a result, this Court lacks habeas corpus jurisdiction. Petitioner’s counsel agreed that, while Petitioner may be held by members of the United States Military, it is pursuant to their authority as members of the MNF-I [Multi-National Force-Iraq]. The MNF-I derives its “ultimate authority from the United Nations and the MNF-I member nations acting jointly, not from the United States acting alone.” As such, it is clear that petitioner is either in the actual physical custody of the MNF-I or in the constructive custody of the Iraqi government, and not in the custody of the United States. [Citations omitted.]

I’d wager heavily that Hussein’s American lawyers are liberals. Only American liberals believe that the United States is responsible for, and in control of, everything that happens at anytime, anywhere in the whole world.**

Yes, there are people with brown skin who didn’t go to Harvard; they don’t read Bob Woodward; and they don’t wind surf. Still, they have their own thoughts, act of their own volition and exist independent of you and me!

No, I am not making this up. I tell you truly: it’s not all about us. And we don’t run every goddamn thing.

Mr. Bush’s left-leaning critics are ironically right: Americans could do with more humility.

(**I am exaggerating — but not, I think, by much.)