Iraqi TV says Saddam Hussein executed

M

Marks

Data Center Specialist
BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Saddam Hussein, the shotgun-waving dictator who ruled
Iraq with a remorseless brutality for a quarter-century and was driven from power by a U.S.-led war that left his country in shambles, was taken to the gallows and executed Saturday, Iraqi state-run television reported.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20061230/ap_on_re_mi_ea/saddam

Well it took them long enough. Personally they should have made him suffer.
 
Personally I disagree with this execution. I think it was more of a political decision by the Bush administration in hopes it would increase his rating, or seek higher approval by the public of his Iraq involvement. No matter what and who was behind this act, I think it was a wrong thing to do.
 
Marks said:
Well it took them long enough. Personally they should have made him suffer.
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It took 56 days from sentence to execution. This by far is one of the fastest judicial processes I have heard of in a long time. The US has death row prisoners sitting on death row for years before actually executing them.

As for him suffering....
The hung him at 9:57 PM ET (5:57AM GMT - Iraq), and he died officially (according to CNN Live) at 10:27PM ET (6:27 AM GMT - Iraq), 30 minutes later. I would definately considering hanging from your neck, choking, dislocation of your spine, with the blood flow and oxygen cut off from the neck up, for 30 minutes, suffering.

This time, I'll have to disagree with Artashes, at least a little. I think Saddam Hussein deserved this. In fact, the U.S. had nothing to do with this execution. When the U.S. detained him, it was for questioning, and possible punishment. He was then turned over to the Iraqi government for punishment for the massacre of close to 200 Men and young boys (citizens of Iraq), over a 1982 incident, in which he came under fire, in an assassination attempt.

Surprisingly enough, he wasn't yet tried for the hundreds of thousands of Iraqi citizens he murdered (men, women, and children), by gassing them in their own villages for no reason. Those trial are now left for his brother, and the judge he had under his command. They too will be hung by the Iraqi government for these crimes, after the Iraqi holiday.
 
I am not in favour of the death penalty ... usually. But ... I can see the "political" need to have Hussein executed. While he lived, his followers & supporters still believed they could free him & reinstate him. Now ... maybe ... they will see the new reality & be more willing to move on and work towards rebuilding their country.

We can always hope.

Peter
 
His death could go both ways.

It could cause more problems than solutions or vice versa. So it's kind of scary where 2007 lies.
 
Killing him was an idiotic move. I don't agree, Peter, that his followers and supporters would suddenly change their tune. In fact, I think we will be seeing an increase in violence in coming weeks. A friend of a family came back recently from Iraq (he was a field surgeon), and he says American troops, in their majority, sit inside their guarded camps. Iraq is far from anyone's control and every time troops go out on surveillance, they get killed. Let's consider what Iraq really is - another failure of current Bush administration. Not only he invaded the country without authorization or solid evidence of any kind, there is not ONE coherent and logical plan of how to get out of Iraq without international embarrassment and few more hundred (if not thousands) of dead American soldiers and Iraqi people. Hmm... I wonder whether someone will have the balls to take accountability and accept the mistake.

And now the only man who knows it all and who could have served as source of information is executed. Way to go. :rolleyes2
 
I guess it's the way Europeans see things, but I just have to agree with Artashes in most of what he says. This is all largely political in nature.
 
As for him suffering....
The hung him at 9:57 PM ET (5:57AM GMT - Iraq), and he died officially (according to CNN Live) at 10:27PM ET (6:27 AM GMT - Iraq), 30 minutes later. I would definately considering hanging from your neck, choking, dislocation of your spine, with the blood flow and oxygen cut off from the neck up, for 30 minutes, suffering.
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I ment throw him in a cell for the rest of his days, that's more suffering than a 30minute hang.
 
There you go, 4 car bombs claimed 77 lives today in Iraq, organized by what investigators think are Saddam supporters.
 
Get used to that Art.
Saddam is now officially a martyr.

While I have no problem with the death penalty I think using it in this case was idiotic.
They have created a new call for terror and a new rallying point.
The video of Saddam's hanging will be used in all future Al Quaeda training tapes to show that the Americans are no better than they claim the radical Muslims are.
 
Blue said:
The video of Saddam's hanging will be used in all future Al Quaeda training tapes to show that the Americans are no better than they claim the radical Muslims are.
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I can see this happening. However, much like the rest of Al Quaeda's bullsh*t, they couldn't be further from the truth. They would be missing the entire point that all America did was capture him. It was not just America that tried him. It was his own country, and was for crimes he commited in his own country against his own people. His own people are the ones that sentenced him to death.
 
ANMMark said:
They would be missing the entire point that all America did was capture him. It was not just America that tried him. It was his own country, and was for crimes he commited in his own country against his own people. His own people are the ones that sentenced him to death.
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Somehow I think they will twist the message around on those propaganda tapes/print materials to provide exactly the message they want to. Its not like those watching it have CNN reception, or exposed to other perspectives on this matter. Sad but true.
 
Americans did themselves no favors trying to give the impression that this was an Iraqi trial.
He was in American custody the entire time and when he was finally executed the news was delivered first by an American news network in Iraq.

Pretty easy amunition for Al Quaeda to use.
 
No doubt. This was not just Iraq that tried him. However the reason that America didn't turn him over right away, is because they didn't want to take the chance of turning him over to Iraqi officials too soon, in the event that they may let him go.

So there is no doubt that the U.S. kept a very close eye on everything.
 
Artashes said:
Killing him was an idiotic move.
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Do you agree with the death penalty at all? Maybe that is more to the point of your disagreement. If you do believe in it then how does it not apply to someone who can be blamed for the death of thousands certainly hundreds.

I know we can not simplify this, but lets try. If someone believes in the death penalty I do not know how they could be against this philosophically.
 
Its a difficult question whether I believe in death penalty. During some days I do, but when you are actually exposed to the execution process, then I don't. It is an extremely unpleasant procedure even to witness, so its pretty much tells me that humans just cannot kill other humans. It shouldn't be that way. I think taking away someone's freedom forever is punishment enough.
 
ANMMark said:
However the reason that America didn't turn him over right away, is because they didn't want to take the chance of turning him over to Iraqi officials too soon, in the event that they may let him go.
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That in itself, if it is true, would prove that this was an American trial.
If the Iraqis cannot even be trusted to hold the man they certainly wouldn't be trusted to try him.

Whether or not it was an Iraqi or American trial is really irrelevant though, as far as I'm concerned. The resulting verdict was the correct one.
The penalty was not.
In almost any case I would argue that the death penalty is exactly what he should have received but in this particular case I am convinced that this will cause far more long term harm than good.

Saddam is dead and gone now and he cannot suffer. It is the living that will suffer. The people who get in the way of the jihad and the victims of the ongoing and increasing violence that will ultimately increase as a result of this execution.
 
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