Dec. 30, 2006 โ Saddam Hussein was hanged in Baghdad.
The Iraqi High Tribunal convicted him of crimes against humanity for the 1982 Dujail massacre after a failed assassination attempt. Appeals failed. The sentence was carried out before dawn on Eid al-Adha. Officials confirmed it. Then the leaked video of the hanging took over the story.
He had ruled Iraq for 24 years: secret police, the IranโIraq war, the invasion of Kuwait, sanctions, and mass graves. For a lot of Iraqis that morning was overdue. It did not settle the country. Sectarian violence got worse after he was gone, not better.
The debate that stuck was never only โdid he deserve it.โ It was who ran the trial, who filmed the noose, and whether killing a dictator on a holy day closed a chapter or just handed the next one a grievance. Justice and aftermath are not the same thing.