See the story:http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/26/world/middleeast/26cnd-iraq.html?hp&ex=1167195600&en=bdd65207ed2b8220&ei=5094&partner=homepage
This scaree! I can imagine that this could be the catalyst that brings on a major civil war. Couldn’t we just exile the guy? :eek:
Exiled to where? What nation would give him refuge in the face of angry US government reaction? I mean, other than Pakistan of course.
Not that I’m in favor of executing him, as I am 100% unalterably opposed to the death penalty, but put him in a bare cell for the rest of his days and forget about him. Execution makes him more of a martyr than he already is and freedom-in-exile is unacceptable.
I suspect Iran and North Korea would let him in as an exile.
– IG
I think that if Iran let him in, it would be just so they could kill him themselves. He gassed an awful lot of Iranians.
I totally forgot about that… oops. Now I feel like a doofus.
– IG
North Korea? I think not.
Besides, the British know all about exiling dictators and their tendancy to return. St. Helena might have been remote enough in the days of Napoleon Bonaparte, but Saddam would no doubt have his inner circle of ninja-trained minions to come extract him.
Handing him over to Iran, though…that notion is intriging. It might even get us a smidgen of goodwill that we can turn around and squander with idiotic comments on the world stage.
Stranger
Which would be different than what’s going on now…how? Or was I whooshed? 
I never quite get the concept that something will further inflame people already so angry at us that they will blow themselves up with dynamite strapped to their bodies.
Some of these folks have declared their enemies (The US/UN/soime ethnic group, anyone) the spawn of Satan and deserving complete annihilation. Supposedly Al Qaeda clerics have “authorized” their supporters to kill up to ten million people with a nuclear weapon and still go to heaven. For years, some of these people have been constantly so incoherently livid that it’s a surprise they haven’t dropped dead from a wave of infarctions.
But NOW they’re REALLY MAD! Now it’s worse! The gloves come alllll the way off! We’re NOT just going to nuke you and curse your souls to endless damnation, we’re going to do much, much worse!
Yeah, uh, like what?
Honestly, if they’re already kill-themselves furious, can they really kick it up a notch? How much worse can it get?
When I bring this up, someone usually reminds me of the Middle Eastern cultural tradition of exaggerated rhetoric. “They weren’t totally furious before, they just said they were. You have to understand they talk big, it’s a cultural thing.” Well, if that’s the case, maybe they’re exaggerating their anger this time too? How would we know when they’re serious, if the rhetoric is always dialed up to eleven?
How would executing Saddam, who is the past, be worse than killing his sons, who represented the future for the Sunni Baathist diehards? The world didn’t blow up then, at least not noticeably worse then usual.
So overall I just don’t get it, I guess.
Sailboat
Somebody wrote an e-mail to my favorite sportswriter (Bill Simmons, espn.com) suggesting that instead of executing Hussein, put him in a cell and charge a nominal fee ($25 or foreign equivalent) for a viewing. So not only does it provide the opportunity to, publicly humiliate the once proud dictator (i.e. actual punishment) it makes it financially worthwhile to keep him around. And really, who would pass at the chance to see Saddam lounging around in his boxers?
The e-mailer added that for a couple extra dollars you can toss him a falafel biscuit or something. Seriously, what could be better than that? 
I just hope they let him make a final public speech from the scaffold. That would be entertaining!
Hey, Charles I and Louis XVI got to do that!
Iran the Shiite Persian nation that fought an eight-year war with Saddam? Or some other Iran?
He gassed more than a few Iraqis…
You have to wonder, though, which would be the stronger motivation:
- This is our second-greatest enemy, murderer of our people, and we’d like to kill him.
vs.
- Keeping him alive will be a serious political setback to our greatest enemy, whom we can lord it over at any time by just letting him make a few speeches.
What’s an axis-of-evil to do?
For one thing, I thought that the OP was thinking this would make rebels in Iraq angry at the privisional government, not only the USA. For another thing, Sunni Baathists (the presued defenders of Saddam Hussein) are not the same group as Al-Qaeda members.
Anything less than a relatively cushy jail would still have so-called human rights advocates up in arms. And he’d be a focal point for Iraqi terrorism. It was hard to keep Mafia bosses from running their empires from behind bars.
Muslim law prescribes death for offenses which are much less in Western eyes. Anything but death would be seen as a sign of weakness and would embolden the terrorists.
Hang him. ASAP.
Is 48 hours soon enough? The Iraqi government wants to see Saddam’s ass swaying in the breeze before the Muslim holiday of Eid ul-Adha begins on Sunday.
I can never quite make up my mind on the death penalty. But I won’t cry for Saddam if the Iraqi government sends him to the gallows.
Short-term there will be more violence, probably a lot more. But with Saddam permanently out of the picture, maybe it can hasten our exit for Iraq. According to the link above he is, or was until today, in U.S. custody. The U.S. could now be certain that a dead Saddam won’t be able to escape 1 year, 5 years or 10 years from today.
A dead Saddam will be a symbol for some of the insurgents, but Iraqis could now be absolutely certain that a dead Saddam can never return to power.
I’m firmly opposed to the death penalty and formly opposed to the Iraq war. But if anyone deserves to hang, it’s Saddam Hussein. The world will be a better place once he’s removed from it.
In the long term it will make no difference whatsoever in Iraq. The insurgency is, for the most part, not about restoring Saddam Hussein to power.
According to this news report, it could be swing time for Sadaam as early as tomorrow.
To quote Marv Albert: YESSS!!!
Wonder if Jerry Haleva will get one more role out of this?