Before Execution, Saddam Was Handed One of His Own Red Cards of Death
Like all good fascist states, Saddam’s regime had its paperwork. The most dreaded document produced by Ba’athist bureaucracy was the “red card” — a death decree signed by a judge and printed on red paper. Guess what Saddam got a few hours before he was hanged yesterday:
Iraqi officials say as Hussein stood on the gallows he was handed a red card; the official order for his death, signed by the chief judge. The card was symbolic, as it was a staple of the many state-sponsored executions under the Hussein regime in Iraq.
Aside from giving him a taste of his own medicine, the red card was also meant as a symbol that it was the the Iraqi government, not the Americans, who tried and executed Saddam Hussein, thus making it less likely Saddam’s dead-enders will elevate him to martyrdom.
Even though the Saddam loyalists are probably smart enough to see through the “red car” ploy, they are not a particularly potent force in the insurgent wars today. Saddam probably lost a lot of his followers, and any chance of restoring his tyranny, when the Americans and British released photos showing him in very bad straits after his capture. First there was video of a doctor checking Saddam’s mangy beard for lice, followed by glamour stills of a beardless Saddam in his tighty-whiteys.
It’s hard to regain the adulation and fear of your subjects after they’ve seen you in your BVDs.
