Outbursts in gallows typify unrestrained factionalism in Iraq

In an Op-Ed in Thursday’s Washington Post, Jim Hoagland denounced the behavior of onlookers during the execution of Saddam Hussein last week.

Hoagland stated that Hussein’s executioners – some of whom shouted out in praise of radical Shiite cleric Moqtada al-Sadr during the hanging – turned the event “into an occasion for settling 30-year-old scores”. Hoagland argued that the behavior in the gallows was indicative of the Bush administration’s failure to get Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki to sever ties between his Dawa Party and Sadr. More broadly, the outbursts were also emblematic of the inability of both the U.S. and the Iraqi administration to engender national unity in the war-torn and fragmented country.

Bringing 30,000 more U.S. troops to Iraq is not the solution, Hoagland said. Iraq must be allowed greater autonomy. In this vein, Hoagland supports turning over control of the protected Green Zone to Iraqi authorities.

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