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<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Robert Frank, City Editor frank@heraldnet.com   Published: Saturday, December 30, 2006 Local residents differ on execution's impact By Jeff Switzer and Jim Haley / Herald Writers EVERETT - The execution of former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein will either be a pivotal moment in history or will be lost amid wartime turmoil. Former military commanders downplay the effect of his execution, while troop supporters said it will turn around the Iraq war effort and help bring peace. Millions of Iraqis will be free of the terror they've felt of Hussein for decades, said Kevin Moeller of Snohomish as he paced at the corner of Hewitt and Colby in downtown Everett. He's there every Friday in support of troops in Iraq. "This is a Saddam hanging party today!" Moeller said as he hefted a flag on a 12-foot pole. "The sooner Saddam is dead and buried, the sooner the scared Iraqis will be willing to assist Americans in getting rid of the terrorists." Cecil Chapman was optimistic as he waved an Iraqi flag while sharing a corner with Moeller on Friday. "Hopefully having Saddam Hussein brought to justice will help the healing process," said Chapman, 70, of Mukilteo. "I think he's committed a lot more murders than what he was convicted for, but he has only one life to give." Like the deaths of World War II dictators Benito Mussolini, Adolf Hitler and Hideki Tojo, the execution of Saddam Hussein will lead to greater freedom and peace, Chapman said. "I think it's been well worth the lives we lost if those people can be free," he said. As Hussein faced the gallows, the Starr family of Snohomish thought of their son, Marine Cpl. Jeffrey Starr, killed in Iraq in May 2005. "Here's a 'vicious dictator,' in my son's words, and somebody who will probably join the ranks of the most evil people in our history," said Brian Starr, Jeffrey Starr's father. "It's a fitting end to his reign." Part of Jeffrey Starr's last letter home was read by President Bush in a major speech in 2005. Bush personally gave his condolences to the family this summer at Boeing Field in Seattle. "Jeff believed in what he was doing in helping the Iraqi people to gain their freedom," Brian Starr said. "I'm hoping the death sentence imposed upon Saddam Hussein helps the Iraqi people move on and move towards governing themselves. ... Hopefully, it'll be a clean slate." Back at the demonstrations, war opponent David Mascarenas of Everett said hanging Hussein "will just make a martyr out of him. Whoever takes over will make him look like a Boy Scout." Victims of Hussein's regime won't ever feel whole, and Saddam should be kept alive to pay for his crimes, said Terry Hanna of Everett. "There are worse monsters in the world that we choose to ignore," Hanna said, bearing a sign that read "War is a failure of government." Hussein's execution won't change the status of the Iraq war, said John Lindstrom of Everett. "The war's a mess whether he's dead or alive," Lindstrom said. "Whether Saddam is dead or alive, we'd be going after the oil." Hussein's execution likely won't have long-term effects on the U.S. military mission in Iraq, two past naval commanders said Friday. But in the short term, the military in that war-torn country may face "more upheaval in a country already rife with upheaval," said Gene Dvornick, a retired Navy captain who commanded the naval detachment that moved from Seattle and eventually became Naval Station Everett. "In the long term, I think he will be a martyr for some of his people. They'll put him on a pedestal even taller than the one he used to have," Dvornick said. In the near term, he said, U.S. military forces will probably "have to lay low" if violence erupts. Kim Buike, retired Navy captain who headed Naval Station Everett five years ago, said the U.S. military personnel in Iraq aren't thinking about Hussein and are concentrating on the mission of bringing democracy to that country. "When he was removed from power, that was the important thing," not Hussein's execution, Buike said. Hussein may become a martyr to some, but "the terrorist forces at work will manufacture whatever psychological incentives they need to recruit people to their cause," Buike said. "When (Saddam is) gone, they will come up with other things. Military people have more important things to occupy their time and talents than to sit around a campfire worrying about Saddam Hussein."

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