Saddam's Execution

[dgreco]

He wasn't put to death to decrease violence between Sunnis or Shiites, or to improve life for Iraqis. He was tried and convicted of crimes committed against his countrymen, and the Iraqi court sentenced him to death.

[Charlotteman]

The earthly Satan is dead. Now he can reside permanently with the other-worldly Satan.

I noticed there is a video showing Saddam's body and twisted neck on yahoo's main page. I tried to pull it up (you have to forgive me, I like bad entertainment-lol) but it wouldn't pull up. I understand it was on Iraqi TV as well.

They're dancing in the streets in parts of Iraq.

[MadVlad]

The earthly Satan is dead. Now he can reside permanently with the other-worldly Satan.

I noticed there is a video showing Saddam's body and twisted neck on yahoo's main page. I tried to pull it up (you have to forgive me, I like bad entertainment-lol) but it wouldn't pull up. I understand it was on Iraqi TV as well.

They're dancing in the streets in parts of Iraq.

[Snowguy716]

It's mighty hard to find video footage of Saddam's hanging on TV. The networks are too afraid to show it, lest they offend all the uptight hypocrite family-values crowd.. which seem to be all for war and violence and the death penalty, but don't want to see it themselves.

They should be showing it on prime time TV with full sound for EVERYONE to see. They can drink their grape juice and praise Jesus while they hear Saddam's neck crack and listen to him suffocate.

[monsoon]

This is as much as there is right now. I agree it's doubtful it will be shown on American TV lest it offend the people craving the blood lust.

[dgreco]

^thanks for the video, and to be honest do you really want to se a person being hanged though =/ It is sad even if you hate the person.

[voyager12]

I am well aware of all the massacres Saddam Hussein oversaw to maintain power. The gassing of the Kurds in Halabja. The killings of children in Dujail, the slaughter of the southern marsh Arabs. And these examples are only scratching the surface of his brutality. I am generally opposed to the Death Penalty and found the whole videoing of the hanging to be ghoulish and not needed. In essence by starting this war we traded in one bad situation for another. The country is not less violent since the invasion. Everyone agrees that Hussein was a brutal dictator but he was also avowedly secular and forbid clashes between Sunnis and Shiites. They should have kept him alive and sentenced him to life imprisonment. He could have continued to serve as a source of information and it would prevented his elevation to martyr status.

[Charlotteman]

Saddam's hanging on TV and on videos is sensationalism in it's rawest form. If news organizations show the video just to increase revenues, then it becomes too crass to accept.

It's like a car wreck---it's horrible to see, but something in us makes us want to look anyway.

Personally I look forward to seeing all three dead Hussein monsters---Uday, Qusay, and Saddam in a side-by-side photo combo. A grisly and hideous image, just like the three devils themselves.

[monsoon]

It should be noted they are using the American Army style of hanging. I wonder if there are any Americans under those hoods?

[Charlotteman]

a link to a pic of dead Uday and Qusay...warning, not for the squeamish.

http://image.guardian.co.uk/sys-images/Gua...ayandqusay2.jpg

[Bill Mocarsky]

A day late and a dollar short.

[monsoon]

There is more video now.

[tamias6]

To be honest. This hanging was a fitting end to an evil monster that impossed suffering countless fold worse than this execution upon innocent people already in the throws of hardship. In fact I'll take this one step futher. If the religion over in that region of the world believes in a Hell, may Saddam be rotting in it.

Harsh? Yes. But there are a few things I will not forgive. One of them is unprovoked killing of innnocent people.

[Charlotteman]

This is a very rare time that an atheist like me hopes there is indeed a Hell. Because this man (if you want to call him that) deserves to have his soul burn for eternity, along with his two devil sons.

[Gusterfell]

I disagree. In some ways life is better. They may have Civil War, which is worse, but they don't have a tyrant killing people at his own whim.

[Charlotteman]

From what I've heard, Saddam's dictatorship touched every life in Iraq. Not so sure someone would automatically be left alone if they didn't make waves.

A large pic of Saddam was required on every living room wall in Iraq. That shows just how far reaching and ridiculous the dictatorship was.

Personally I would rather take my chances with a random bomb when I'm shopping, than to live in fear that somehow I might be dragged away and tortured by my own government. Remember, when Uday Hussein was living his lavish lifestyle, he would have random women picked up on the streets to "enjoy" as his own personal rape and torture victims.

Those women weren't making waves. They were just walking down a street when Uday's limo passed them.

[Gusterfell]

I disagree. Sure Saddam's regime touched every life in Iraq, but how many of those lives were directly touched by violence? How many Iraqis were killed in the decades of his rule, and how does that compare to those killed since the invasion? Polls say most Iraqis felt safer under Saddam for a reason.

I know all about Uday's disgusting mistreatment of random Iraqi women. The odds of that happening to any particular woman, though, were very slim. With the general lawlessness now in many parts of the country, rape is a much more common threat than it was before. Is being raped and tortured by the dictator's son somehow worse than by some street criminal?

[Charlotteman]

These same kinds of arguments were made after the Spanish dictator Franco was no longer on the scene.

Many people claimed that Spain was a mess afterward. Crime was rampant and out of control. Many people at that time wished Franco was back.

But now 30 years later Spain is a bonified flourishing democracy, a respected member of NATO, the West and the civilized world. Maybe it just takes time. Spain didn't become what it is now overnight.

[Gusterfell]

^I can agree with that. I'm happy Saddam is out of the picture, and I hope Iraq, in whatever form it takes after this thing is resolved, can someday thrive. My issue is with the notion that the Iraqi people are better off today than they were under Saddam. This is false. The only people claiming such are the Bush administration, and even they are backpedaling from those claims.

[Charlotteman]

Well the predictions of my posts from the last couple days have ended up not being correct. There indeed is a certain amount of support being seen across Iraq for the dead dictator, especially his hometown Tikrit.

However Iran and Kuwait are experiencing exuberant celebrations over Saddam's execution. And plenty of the same is occurring in Iraqi Shiite enclaves.

But through it all, I just can't believe Bush won't admit that this a full blown civil war.

[GRDadof3]

I disagree. Sure Saddam's regime touched every life in Iraq, but how many of those lives were directly touched by violence? How many Iraqis were killed in the decades of his rule, and how does that compare to those killed since the invasion? Polls say most Iraqis felt safer under Saddam for a reason.

I know all about Uday's disgusting mistreatment of random Iraqi women. The odds of that happening to any particular woman, though, were very slim. With the general lawlessness now in many parts of the country, rape is a much more common threat than it was before. Is being raped and tortured by the dictator's son somehow worse than by some street criminal?

[dimebag1980]

The earthly Satan is dead. Now he can reside permanently with the other-worldly Satan.

I noticed there is a video showing Saddam's body and twisted neck on yahoo's main page. I tried to pull it up (you have to forgive me, I like bad entertainment-lol) but it wouldn't pull up. I understand it was on Iraqi TV as well.

They're dancing in the streets in parts of Iraq.

[monsoon]

Yes, the threat alone of being raped and tortured by your own government is much worse than possibly being a victim of random violence or a roadside bomb. That would be exactly like saying "I'd love to live in a United States where I wouldn't have to worry about crime anymore, if it meant that the local police seargent could at any time come into my home and take my spouse and rape her and cut her ear off". Or take my teenage son away and never see him again, just because he spoke out against the mayor on his myspace page. That's the kind of world that existed in Iraq. But strangely, after many decades people get lulled into believing that kind of life is a better life. Especially when that oppressive "security blanket" is stripped away and a vacuum of power exists. It can be very scary.

[Inkdaub]

I find myself completely ambivalent about Saddam Hussein in any way. I just don't care what is going on with him. He's dead now...okay. I feel so ashamed of my government and this war that I don't see the death of Saddam as any sort of compensation whatsoever.

I know...cry out for justice! Whatever.

[GRDadof3]

Iraqi's are dying at the rate of 60-100/day these days. If your teenage son spoke up in Iraq today, he would be murdered. On top of that if someone raises a suspucion that you might be involved with Al Queda, then your house would be invaded by the US Army and/or Marines and your teenage son, if not all of the males would be taken away to prison with no charges. Hopefully it would not have been Abu Grade prison. I would say this is a definite worsening of the situation there than it was under Saddam who ran a secular government and there was a sizeable and growing middle class until Gulf War I. If the Bush Sr. administration had made it clear in the first place for Saddam not to invade Kuwait, (another dictatorship) we would not be talking about this now.

We only have GW Bush's words that conditions were as bad as they were in Iraq for the average person and IMO that word is worthless. He said that Saddam was doing a lot of other bad things that turned out to be lies. The UN should have been left to deal with the issues there. By letting this travesty of justice take place, which much of the civilized world has rightfully condemned, we have become as bad as Saddam. He should have been given his day in International court since he was charged and executed for crimes against Humanity. Instead he was given a monkey trial run by his alleged victims with the US military providing all of the firepower. But hey, they are taking away our constitutional rights here in the USA so I guess that I shouldn't expect anything more. The depressing thing about it are the number of American's that think this is just fine.