Saddam Hussein Hanged

[Beerknurd]

http://i.a.cnn.net/cnn/2006/WORLD/meast/12/29/hussein/newT1.obit.saddam.hussein.jpg

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Saddam Hussein, the former dictator of Iraq who spent his last years in captivity after his ruthless Baathist regime was toppled from power by the U.S.-led coalition in 2003, has been executed -- hanged for crimes during a brutal crackdown during his reign.

Hussein was hanged before dawn Saturday in Iraq at about 6 a.m. (10 p.m. Friday ET), according to one of Hussein's lawyers.

Hussein -- whose name conjures lengthy war, government autocracy and widespread cruelty -- was found guilty in the killings of 148 people in Dujail, a mostly Shiite town north of Baghdad, after a 1982 attempt to assassinate him.

At the time of his death, he was being tried for genocide in the killings of up to 100,000 Kurds during the 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurdish rebels -- a campaign that included the use of poison gas against Kurdish towns in northern Iraq.

Hussein was the object of an intense manhunt after the U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq in March 2003 with the aim of overthrowing his regime. The Bush administration and Britain claimed Iraq was harboring weapons of mass destruction and constituted a threat to their national security. After the invasion, Hussein disappeared from public view, surfacing only in tapes released to Arab television networks.

On December 13, 2003, coalition forces found Hussein tucked away in an underground bunker at a farmhouse near his hometown of Tikrit. His capture was one of the biggest coalition achievements in what many people say has been an ill-fated, mistake-filled expedition.

[Keith75]

I am quite certain he was a monster but why in gods name did they try him for such a ridiculous crime? He tries and executed people that were plotting to assassinate him for gods sake! That not only is justified but makes sense. Why not charge him with something truly terrible that he did?

[Evil-Dragon]

Because the whole court system was rigged with unfairness anyway? At least he's dead now, now we've just gotta get rid of Bush and get this world back to some sense of normality.

[Steve Lux]

Just like we had to convict Capone of tax fraud and evasion - not for his most hideous crimes. The legal system is a morass of corruption and legal maneuvering.

Personally I don't really care how we get rid of despots of any flavor, position or nationality. Just as long as the home-grown despot wanna-be's understand that they are not above the justice of the people, and the people understand that if they finally have enough of the chaos they can act.

Also, I don't think that getting rid of Bush will resolve the issues of radicalism. It seems we are heading for a fight wherever the battlefield is, "here" or "there". Radicalism doesn't play by civilized rules.

[Ototero]

And Tony Blair (pronounced Blurrggghhhh). Now you've gone and made me feel sick.

[NVM]

i will be very interested to see how the level of violence in the country will be affected with this hanging.

[drezha]

I was going to say what makes us better than him if we kill war criminals like that. Surely putting them in a cell to rot out there days is a far worse punishment...but then british prisions are an embarassment now and if all prisons are likt that, he'd be happy and fine...

As for getting rid of Bush stopping terrorism...nope.

Remember, America is now the most powerful nation on earth and has power, money etc. Basically an empire...
How else had an empire? The romans...everyone hated them when they got big enough..Same with us brits...
Your a big nation and powerful...and because of that you wont be liked...you cant have it both ways.

[Lagu]

It was not good he was hanged. He was hanged for 148 peoples as he has murder. Now when the head person is out of play other Iraq peoples can’t get a fair chance summons him for other crime he have done. He had 5000 peoples on his conscience because he allow poison them with gas. A worse penalty should be he must be in a prison the rest of his life. I wonder how Bush feels today but he has showed he is an unscrupulous human.
Have Bush ever gifted any sentenced to death in USA?

After WW 2 a lot of German military was charged with murder and other penalties against human rights. 6,000,000 millions of Jews lost their lives. The trial in Nurnburg ended after 1 year if I not am wrong. The worst criminals were shot to dead, other got lifetime jail, other 20 year in jail. I think it was a more adequate sentence. But the worst of them was Hitler and Goebbels and they took their lives before the soliders could grab them.

Iraq is a very unstable place. Hunnites and Shiites are most common and they will not be better because Saddam is dead. Should they close Pease all of a sudden? The soldiers from USA and other countries will continue have a hell there and many will come home dead instead for alive.

[NVM]

watch parts of it HERE (http://www.liveleak.com/?ogr=1)

warning, there's graphic stuff at this site.

[Jeff]

Actually, the site DOES show the hanging. You have been warned.

[Steve Lux]

I'm not interested in seeing it. The man was in a position to do much good, but chose instead to do much evil. Good riddance to bad rubbish.

As for Bush, Blair and the rest - well at least they tried to do something, even if it hasn't worked out all that well. It seems our various societies are going to need several more 9-11's and train, subway and market bombings before we have the will and understand how nasty we are going to have to become to protect ourselves. We like to think of ourselves as civilized, well before this is over we won't have the luxury to delude ourselves.

[NVM]

Actually, the site DOES show the hanging. You have been warned. yup, thats been added since i posted. someone used their phone to record the event.

[AMD-USR_JL]

Thanks NVM, my Dad and I had been wanting to see the video, but we couldn't find it.

[BlackAdder]

GOOD RIDDANCE...it's sad I think that all these troops and civilians have lost their lives when the execution or killing of Saddam was the only real thing Bush wanted out of all of this. A single bullet from a sniper team would have saved 3000 US lives and countless Iraq lives too, plus those of our invasion partners.

[Steve Lux]

You have to know that an Iraqi civil war would have cost hundreds of thousands if not millions of lives. Just getting rid of Saddam with no succession plan in place would have opened the door for just such an event. Saddam had already disposed of any viable competition or any other person who had leadership potential. There are simply too many tribes, many of which would have made a power grab, then there are the Sunni and Shi-ite factions, radical and moderate, and then the Kurds. Each would have seen not only the opportunity to grab power and territory and each would have felt highly threatened if they saw another group getting power or territory. And those are just the groups inside Iraq. Syria, Iran and others in the area would have stepped in to back their group, take over or at least grab territory - creating a power/economic(oil) imbalance.

I think this is why Bush Sr. backed up and didn't take out Saddam when he had the opportunity. Now we often tend to get a bit judgemental about fighting for oil, but there is simply too much at stake to ignore the threat. Eventually we need to wean ourselves from this dependance, but until we do the average person has no concept of how badly the economics of western civilization can be harmed by the sudden loss of energy.

[Keith75]

Yet with all the oil available here in the US and in Canada we choose to keep buying it from the Middle East. Seems pretty obvious to me that our politicians have an interest in keeping us buying oil over seas as well as keeping the prices high.

[Steve Lux]

There are a couple of reasons to not develop domestic oil reserves and production. The first is environmental. The second is the "not in my back yard" syndrome. The third is an issue of future capacity - we would rather use up theirs before we use up ours, even if we have to pay a bundle for it.