Was There Ever Any Doubt?
I’m sure there were those in North America who stayed up late last night to see what the verdict in the Saddam Hussein trial would be, just as in other places there were those who woke up early for the same reason - I didn’t, the outcome was never in doubt; guilty and the death penalty.
If you’re looking for the bunker to come out with some sort of “give him life at hard labour instead of death” you’ll go away disappointed, some deserve to hang, Hussein is one of them, and I’d bet my next paycheque that that is exactly the sort of thing the United States government, and the Iraq government they are propping up, hope prevails in the western world, and in Iraq.
– because looking at a process where the laws that Hussein were tried under were authored under the supervision of the American government, passed when the American government was control, a trial overseen by judges appointed when the American government was in even greater control than they currently are, with US government advisor’s sprinkled throughout the courtroom, and judgment rendered just two days before the US mid-terms, it is necessary to ask what really has been accomplished other than the expedient death of a brutal Iraqi dictator.
I note the death of Hussein because although there is an automatic appeals process in place we know what the result of that will be as well, Hussein will be executed, and people will be asking the same questions about the process the knot was tied under as they no doubt are about the process he was initially found guilty, and sentenced, under.
The danger in this sort of process is that a martyr may well be created, and the last thing Iraq needs right now is another divisive focal point.
They should have waited.
Maybe they could put off his execution.
I’m very ambivalent about this execution, because I don’t generally believe in the death penality, and this guy is a scumbag practically in a class by himself.
Why not just stick him in Guatanamo? At his age, he’s not going anywhere. He’s finished.
Life for the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!
Here’s the rundown:
Saddam Hussein
Charged: The 1982 killings of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims in Dujail
Conviction: Crimes against humanity
Sentence: Death by hanging
Barzan al-Tikriti
Conviction: Crimes against humanity
Sentence: Death
Awad Hamed…
Nah. Just kill him and be done with it. Ironically, of course, half the Bush administration should be under the same trial…
Bush hails verdict as milestone for Iraq
President Bush celebrated Saddam Hussein’s death sentence as a victory for “Iraq’s young democracy”
If one opposes capital punishment on moral grounds, it’s difficult to make an exception that says “except when the person’s really, really bad.” I’d favour letting him spend the rest of his life in prison. The downside is his possible utility as a rallying point for certain factions: but is that more dangerous than his elevation to the status of martyr?
While he was found guilty and sentenced to hang, it was stated that it would be at least a year before the hanging actually took place. Saddam has a lot of followers as well as enemys and I’m guessing that he won’t even last a year. I’ve a feeling he will die soon either at the hands of an assasin or by suicide and in either case, he will become a martyr.
Look at the Nuremburg trials. One high ranking German (Nazi)officer (and you’ll have to forgive me for forgetting his name….hell, I wasn’t even born untill a few years later) lasted all through the trial and upon sentencing, he commited suicide. To some Germans, he was revered as an icon for sometime.
(Whooee!) This has all of the hallmarks of another failure of planning by the US. When they captured Saddam, they were over the moon. “We got him!” The capture was hailed as the beginning of the end of the insurgency. After Saddam’s capture, of course, the insurgency and violence increased dramatically.
SL is entirely correct re the predictability of the verdict. The fact that Saddam’s capture would not make things better in Iraq should have been easy to predict, too. One look at the bedraggled former dictator should have told anyone watching that he was no longer in a leadership role.
The public trial, killed lawyers, resigning judges, hunger strike, courtroom antics all contributed to the public relations rehabilitation of Saddam. Those who would follow the madman were encouraged by the fact that he was alive and trying to assert his authority. I imagine there are still those who may be watching, waiting and plotting the best way to break him out. With the chaos mounting, they may be getting their hopes up.
With all of the American secret prisons and detentions without trial, they could have dealt with Saddam much differently. Instead of allowing him to grandstand and cheer the insurgency, they could have simply made him disappear - or, remain disappeared like he was prior to capture.
There is little doubt that the death sentence verdict will inflame a certain segment of the Iraqi population. Curfews and cancelled leaves for the military and police speak to the authority’s acceptance of the fact. Whether or not Saddam is executed sooner, later or not at all, violence will increase and people will die in the wake of the trial. Given the circumstances - even at the time Saddam was captured - such violence was entirely predictable.
The US gambled on a highly publicized trial. I suspect they thought it would raise support at home by tacitly implying that with a war crimes trial underway, the war must be pretty much over. The appearance of a society being governed by the rule of law with courts and defense lawyers was likely meant for positive PR.
The Bush team seems unbelievably incompetent at predicting the predictable and puts its faith in their perception of an ignorant populace that does not see through their clumsy attempts to hide the fact that the war is going extremely poorly.
By locking down Baghdad untill at least tomorrow night when the US elections are over, the Bush administration may be able to mitigate the damages to US Republicans. Baghdad and the rest of Iraq are poised to erupt into a new fireball and the spark igniting the next wave of sectarian violence will be this verdict.
James Robert
You raise an interesting point, JB…the degree which the “War on Terror” is viewed by Americans as a domestic safety initiative, with the stuff that’s happening in places like Afghanistan, Iraq, Britain, Spain and Lebanon relevant only insofar as they (a) impact on American politics, and (b) increase or decrease the likelihood of terror attacks on the US.
The fact that the War on Terror has now killed more Americans than Sept. 11th, destabilized the Middle East, opened up Iraq to a flood of Islamist extremists, and yielded Islamist terror bombings in Britain and Spain, doesn’t seem to register. It’s a “success” because no-one has succesfully attacked the US again (although you get the feeling many of the loonier right wingers are just slavering for a nice, juicy domestic explosion - nothing TOO horrific, mind you, just enough to justify their five years of paranoia, a malady to which they are becoming disturbingly addicted).