As per MSNBC article here.
I suppose it should come as no shock, but still, kind of shocking anyway.
How will this effect Iraq?
Can things get worse?
Will this appease the Iraqi masses?
Will the US be blamed/credited for the verdict?
Thoughts?
I was lurking around the BBCnews.com “Have Your Say” section, and many folks (especially abroad) seem to be of the impression that this was timed for the midterm elections. I have my doubts that Republicans would want to remind everyone of Iraq right now. Their line recently seems to be that Democrats would raise taxes.
I’m kinda disappointed that he will be hanged, rather than (per South Park) torn apart by a pack of wild dogs.
But at this point, Saddam’s conviction and execution is far more about us than about Iraq. Iraq has already descended into such chaos and anarchy that most Iraqis won’t give a flip. Hell, most Arab Iraqis probably wish Saddam were still running the country.
Even here, I suspect, the electorate isn’t gonna care, know it doesn’t represent progress over there. The opinionmakers, the Gang of 500, will talk it up, just like they made a story out of Kerry’s faux pas last week. But what people know is that Iraq’s going badly, and has been going badly for a long time, no matter what we do. Any talk about Iraq is only going to remind them of that core fact.
Yeah, but they set this date awhile back. Remember that as recently as late September, the GOP still thought they owned national security as an issue, and that any discussion that involved it would benefit them.
Now they still own the issue, alright, and it’s a big fat albatross around their neck.
So many people have died as a consequence of GOP incompetence. Something much worse should happen to them than merely losing an election.
I am strongly in favour of a holiday village for retired dictators.
For a start, they would be interesting to consult
- and they might even go there voluntarily
I detest ‘international legality’
I strongly suggest they will. “The verdict sparked celebration in Baghdad but protests in Tikrit”. The Sunnis will go bananas when he drops. This might even make the civil war “official” in terms of the size of the sectarian conflict.
Let’s hope he is executed soon and he burns in hell forever.
Like the Paris suburbs? :rolleyes:
You won’t find me mourning Saddam’s death. But what purpose will it serve?
Pros: Execution is an accepted form of punishment there. As such, hanging Saddam is lawful. The sentence was passed by an Iranian court. (Whether the court is a puppet of the U.S. is another debate.) Saddam’s execution will appease many people in Iraq and in the U.S.
Cons: Martyrdom. There are plenty of people who support Saddam. Killing him will undoubtedly (IMO) spark more violence not only amongst his supporters, but also amongst the Palestinians. I suspect he will even be a useful figure to terrorists. Civil war has been mentioned. I think executing Saddam will only make it worse.
I think it would be better to lock him up for the rest of his life. He’d still be a ‘cause’ for a lot of people; but at least he wouldn’t be as big a martyr as he would be if he were dead.
If anyone deserves to be killed by the state, Saddam does. But I’m still opposed to capital punishment.
The Fletcher Memorial Home for Incurble Tyrants and Kings?
Everybody In? Good!
I think the sentence is barbaric, backwards and self-defeating.
I take no pleasure in the killing of a human being. It diminishes ua all.
Just in time for the midterms.
Much too late. No one is going to change his/her mind at this point. If a butterfly flaps his wings 3 days before the election, it’s not because Rove told it to do so.
Saddam is on my short list of people who maybe have earned an execution. I actually think, however, that it would be far more useful, and much more of a punishment, to have him rot in prison. So much has been said about him, so many claims made about his intentions leading up to GWII, it would be good to get the fullest record possible about what was really going on in Iraq prior to our invasion.
I don’t doubt Saddam is capable of fabricating anything and everything he might say on the subject, but sometimes these sociopaths just like to talk about themselves. I’ve read that some serial killers will give full confessions under minimal interrogation because they’re simply bursting with the desire to tell someone of their exploits. They find secrecy isolating, unsatisfying. With no pulpit to shout from, after years in a cell with no one to grandstand to, intimidate, impress, punish, I bet he’d just get bored and decide to reveal everything he knows, perhaps just to see the reaction of his interrogator. For the benefit of history, and perhaps to help judge those who were instrumental in his downfall, I think we need that testimony, and I doubt we’ve gotten it fully up to now. I fear part of the current administration’s desire for the death penalty is to have the image of an al Qaeda ally brought to justice frozen in time, and as difficult to question as possible. I worry this isn’t about justice at all.
How is it self-defeating?
If I’ve learned anything about the current administration and its handlers, it’s that they’re capable and willing to do almost anything to win, if they can get away with it. I’m going to continue to be deeply cynical about these guys even if it makes me seem like a member of the tinfoil beanie set. Maybe the biggest reason these monsters have been able to perpetrate the disaster that is the Bush presidency with such staggering aquiescence is because they can count on those who consider plausible deniability reason enough to stop suspecting and questioning. If my snap judgements are unwarranted on a case-by-case basis, I’ve little concern about the overall “fair” treatment of those I’m now so reflexively suspicious of. They’ve done everything they could to remove all benefit of doubt about their propensity for malfeasance and mendacity. If there’s the slightest possibility they’ve manipulated in hopes of an advantage, it’s worth considering, IMO.
St. Helena, perhaps?
Because it makes Saddam a martyr and fuels the insurgency all the more.