After watching the videotape of her father’s physical by U.S. troops, Saddam Hussein’s daughter said the tape was intended to “break the spirit of Arabs.” Last Wednesday, a senior official to the pope said he felt pity for the deposed dictator after viewing the same video played the world over. These two have something in common: they agree that the tape showed by the U.S. Defense Department was not the best of ideas. I agree.
Showing the tyrant in a humble and menial light may have been what he deserved, but as far as convincing anyone of anything it does very little except show that we had him, a task easily accomplished through other means. Although most did not sympathize with Hussein during his moment of capture, it showed him in a very human way. You could see the fear in his eyes, and the tape associates human characteristics with a most unhuman beast. Better would have been to show video of Saddam’s torture victims, not images that give the anti-Bushies out there reason to criticize.
Personally, I have no problems with the video. But for those that do, it’s too easy a criticism of the administration, and something that could have been easily avoided.