Poor Saddam

[WMS]

Old tyrants are not executed, they are exiled or murdered. Sometimes the murderer calls it an "execution" - Ceausescu, Zulfikar Bhutto, perhaps Saddam now - but that doesn't change the facts.

Well, I'm sure the hundreds of thousands of Kurds slaughtered by Saddam wouldn't care what it was called.

They're dead, so indeed they don't care.
But then they don't care whether he is killed in the first place.

Perhaps...depends on one's views on afterlife matters. But the Kurdish survivors of those massacres do care.

And addressing the point you seem to be making. I do think the death penalty is overused and not subject to enough oversight. But sometimes, it is appropriate, and killing one of the worst war criminals alive today is something I consider appropriate.

It's probably bad politics.

At this point, everything is bad politics in Iraq.

And Al, they refused Saddam's request for a firing squad

[WMS]

Old tyrants are not executed, they are exiled or murdered. Sometimes the murderer calls it an "execution" - Ceausescu, Zulfikar Bhutto, perhaps Saddam now - but that doesn't change the facts.

Well, I'm sure the hundreds of thousands of Kurds slaughtered by Saddam wouldn't care what it was called.

I'm still looking for where i said anything about him not being guilty.

"in the form of a kangaroo court ruling" from your image

[Filuwaúrdjan]

And Al, they refused Saddam's request for a firing squad

I was thinking more of the traditional lynching

[The Dowager Mod]

Just because the outcome was pre determined by the U.S. doesn't make him less guilty, I just think they could have at least pretended to give him a fair trial.

[WMS]

And Al, they refused Saddam's request for a firing squad

I was thinking more of the traditional lynching

Just drop him off in a Kurdish region if you want to see that...

[WMS]

Just because the outcome was pre determined by the U.S. doesn't make him less guilty, I just think they could have at least pretended to give him a fair trial.

What part of it do you consider to be unfair? The accusation has been made - rather persistently by left-wing and anti-American sources both here and abroad - but I haven't heard details.

Saddam went out of his way to try and ruin the trial himself, refusing counsel and so on.

And let's be blunt, if there had been a O.J.-style technicality involved Saddam wouldn't have made it five steps past the courtroom...

[○∙◄☻¥tπ[╪AV┼cVê└]

Saddam is guilty of being a not terribly important dictator. I am against the death penalty, but what upsets me most is not that Saddam got the death penalty, but the great cost of this war, and that this was staged to try to influence the midterm elections.

[The Dowager Mod]

The judges were hand picked by the U.S. for one thing, A little input from another country might have been nice, even Bush's lapdog Blair isn't happy.

[WMS]

and that this was staged to try to influence the midterm elections.

Why would this have been staged to influence the 2006 elections and not the 2004 elections, hmm? Seems like some serious long-term planning, and no way will I ever believe the Bush Admin can handle long-term planning.

[WMS]

The judges were hand picked by the U.S. for one thing, A little input from another country might have been nice, even Bush's lapdog Blair isn't happy.

Didn't they substitute some of them? And what other country should have provided input? I am curious what the alternatives were...

[The Dowager Mod]

what about that grand coalition of the willing?

[WMS]

what about that grand coalition of the willing?

using one of them would have required, ya know, intelligence

[Tender Branson]

A nice poll:

50% of Germans want Saddam executed.
39% not
11% are undecided

Source: Forsa, Sample: 1.001, MoE: +/-3%

[MasterJedi]

At least most people are smart here. We also find someone who deserves what Saddam does, Cubby!

[??????????]

I wonder if the people here who are claiming that Saddams trial was "rigged" and other such nonsense would have said the same things about the Nüremburg trials.

[Tetro Kornbluth]

Saddam's trial couldn't possibly be (meaningfully) rigged, simply because well... it wasn't like he was innocent, was it?

I hope Don Rumsfeld attends the execution.

[opebo]

I wonder if the people here who are claiming that Saddams trial was "rigged" and other such nonsense would have said the same things about the Nüremburg trials.

Saddams trial was rigged by the invasion.  Of course trials are always about imposing the will of the powerful upon the powerless, so the idea of a 'fair' one is completely mythical.

[Tender Branson]

A nice poll:

50% of Germans want Saddam executed.
39% not
11% are undecided

Source: Forsa, Sample: 1.001, MoE: +/-3%

In the US it looks like this:

Question: Is the death penalty appropriate for the crimes for which Saddam Hussein was convicted?

Yes: 78%
No: 13%
Undecided: 9%

Source: Rasmussen, Sample: 1.000 LV, MoE: +/-3%

[Undisguised Sockpuppet]

Ooh! Can we draw and quarter him?!

[angus]

I am just wondering how long it will be before some whingeing human rights lawyer or spokesman for 'Liberty' appears on BBC News complaining about the violation of Saddam's human rights.

In fact, I noticed pretty early on after he was captured his appearances on television always featured a white beard.  This may not seem like a big deal, but to asian men, whether mongoloid asians, or Hamito-Semitic asians, or Indo-Aryan asians, it is well known that they view white hair as a sign of weakness or fragility.  So, men like Chairman Mao, Joe Stalin, and Saddam Hussein dye their hair black.  Recall Saddamn's beautiful porn-star moustache in all the pre-war photos.  Remember when he was strong and virile when he was captured on film firing a rifle, or wearing that trademark fedora and argyle scarf.  Or just spending a restful and relaxing weekend slowly shredding, feet first, the guy next door for being obnoxious.  Always with the jet-black hair--and in fact, this isn't unfamiliar to us;  our own youth-oriented culture should give us an appreciation for this.  Think of Ronald Reagan, jet-black even at 70--Yet, Saddam always had white hair when he was photographed as a POW of the Yankee Imperialists.  I'd go with that if I were his lawyers.  And I bet I could build a pretty good case from it.  We made him look weak in the eyes of the Iraqi people and in the eyes of the Asians and in the eyes of the World.  We didn't even allow the man the decency of a little shoe polish of his hair.  This is inhumane treatment.  I'd get me a group of chinese Communist party members--idealistic old farts still loyal to the Cause--for my jury in the UN, and I run with that defense.  It is demonstrable and it is graphic and it will be called superfluous and silly by Westerners.  Yet when Imperialistic Yankees call it supercilious the hypocrisy of the pronouncement is too easily demonstrated using our own youth-oriented cultural icons.  So, whether he wins or loses the case, Anti-US forces have a guaranteed win against the USA in philosophical terms, which makes it the perfect case to sell to potential humanitarians in the central and eastern Asian UN caucus.

[opebo]

You should know, angus, that the people of which you speak - either asians in general or their 'UN caucus' have absolutley no power to effect the human rights abuses of the empire.  And if the purpose of such a prosecution would be to increase their sensible hatred of said empire, I'm sure it would be impossible to do so.

I saw an interesting story on TV here the other day, regarding Bush's ill-considerd visit to Indonesia:  Before the Iraq aggression, the great majority of Indonesians polled viewed the US favorably.  Now, of course nearly all of them hate the US.  It makes one wonder - how were Hitler and Germany viewed before Poland?

[tik 🪀✨]

I agree with Angus. Not letting someone dye their beard is inhumane and is clearly evidence of a smear campaign.

Furthermore, instead of the death penalty I think Saddam should have his beard dyed pink and then be forced to eat various fruits in such a way as to stain juices on his magnificent draperies. Then he should be shot.