WASHINGTON — Many Iraqis and Americans have looked forward to the day when justice would catch up with Saddam Hussein. Yet, when it arrived today, it seemed to be much less than the historic turning point many once had anticipated.
With Iraq beset by violence and turmoil, the former dictator's demise no longer appeared to signal the beginning of new order. After a trial marked by disruption and controversy, the execution seemed only another reminder that the country's divisions remain deep and seemingly insoluble nearly four years after the U.S.-led invasion.
"If everything had followed the coalition plan, if everything were calm now, this could have been the biggest event of the year, maybe the biggest event in the post-invasion," said Henri J. Barkey, a former State Department official and Mideast specialist.
"This is not just a sideshow. But everyday existence is so grave and grim, it's not what it might have been."
Ever since Hussein was toppled from power, Bush administration officials have pinned their hopes on a procession of developments -- the elections, the capture of the former leader and the killing of terrorist leader Abu Musab Zarqawi, to name a few -- to reshape opinions in the United States and Iraq about the American mission.
But though some of the events have affected public opinion, none has so far succeeded in convincing most Americans that things have fundamentally changed for the better.
"I just don't see this as a big turning point," said Daniel P. Serwer, a former U.S. diplomat and State Department official now at the U.S. Institute for Peace.
Even among some in the Bush administration, the potential for a positive reaction to Hussein 's death was considered limited.
One U.S. official said he believed that the execution would serve as a reminder that Hussein had been a danger to Iraqis as well as the region. But the official, who declined to be identified because of the sensitivity of the subject, acknowledged that the development's effect was likely to be "limited," in part because of the continuing difficulties in Iraq, and in part because it had been foreseen for some time.
Any positive reaction among Americans also is likely to muted by disenchantment over the number of U.S. troops who have died in Iraq.
In Iraq, the execution of Hussein has commanded attention, but it may not outlast the daily struggle faced by most Iraqis.
