Death comes in threes, it’s often said, and as much as it is inherently a nonsensical statement (with all kinds of people dying all the time in inconceivable numbers) it certainly seemed to have some validity during this strange week — at least through the prism of the U.S. media. James Brown, Gerald Ford and Saddam Hussein. There’s no equivalency on any level between the three men, and yet their deaths and the ramifications thereof have swapped places in the headlines ever since Christmas Day.

So, what? Well, nothing. It’s just been odd, and I’m just saying. I guess it does also provide evidence for the theory that the dying tend to hold on till Christmas, even if it was not altogether voluntary for Saddam.

The volume of attention being paid to the minutiae of that dictator’s death seems unfortunate, in that all his many victims never had any attention paid to the manner of their dying, or the substance of their last words, or the disposition of their earthly remains. The microscope focused on the details of his execution will delight some who know how little mercy he himself ever displayed, but it will inevitably arouse pity in others. Maybe a feeling of pity can never be wrong in itself, being one of the nobler aspects of one’s humanity, but when accompanied by sanctimony and a wilful lack of perspective on the man’s crimes, it’s pretty close to being despicable.

Iraqi blogger Mohammed puts things pretty succinctly and these words might be fitting on the dictator’s tombstone:

Saddam drew his path to hell long time ago … he chose this fate the day he chose cruelty and oppression as a way to deal with his people. He built his reign with blood and terror and vowed to make death the fate of anyone who dared say no to him.

All prospective dictators ought to meditate on that. And all current ones are hopefully losing just a little bit of sleep tonight.

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