Death of a Dictator

The local paper here made interesting reading this morning. The headline was dominated by Saddam Hussein’s execution and, in a nation that is anti-American in policy, there was little surprise as to the slant of the story. There will be enough quotes from both sides of the fence to be able to justify any position on his death. The bottom line either way is that he is gone and now we face the repercussions of his hanging-positive and negative. The idea to hang him during a Muslim festival was probably taken into consideration-if not it was a pretty stupid oversight. There will be consequences both in Iraq and abroad and they will need to be dealt with, but then there are consequences to every action. It will be interesting to see just how far they will spread or wether they will fizzle out in a short time. For example, the copper price in Zambia is currently high at least partially as a result of the increased demand for weapons manufacture; should his death escalate conflict even further my northern neighbors would be most grateful. So we wait and see…