Der amerikanische Präsident tastet sich im Interview mit PBS an die Wirklichkeit heran:
MR. LEHRER: How do you feel about the way the Iraqi government handled the hangings of Saddam Hussein, and now more recently, two of his top aides?
PRESIDENT BUSH: You know, I was pleased with the trials they got; I was disappointed and felt like they fumbled the – particularly the Saddam Hussein – execution…. It reinforced doubts in people’s minds that the Maliki government and the unity government of Iraq is a serious government, and – which makes it harder for me to make the case to the American people that this is a government that does want to unify the country and move forward. The Saddam execution, however, was an important moment in some ways because it closed a terrible chapter and gives the unity government a chance to move forward. In other words, there’s people that were around Iraq saying, well, I think he may come back. And that obviously is not going to happen. But I expressed my disappointment to Prime Minister Maliki when I talked to him the other day.
MR. LEHRER: Message not a good one about the government?
PRESIDENT BUSH: Well, the message is that it’s a confusing message. It basically says to people, look, you conducted a trial and gave Saddam justice that he didn’t give to others. But then, when it came to execute him, it looked like it was kind of a revenge killing.
Der große kommende Konflikt im Nahen Osten ist der innerislamische Kulturkampf/Bürgerkrieg zwischen Schiiten und Sunniten, wie die New York Times analysiert. Und die Hinrichtungen im Irak werden diesen Konflikt antreiben.
Beunruhigender Weise stimmen arabische Kommentatoren dieser Analyse zu.