They have executed Saddam Hussein

[mummydear]

He's dead

here

Now lets see what happens .

i'm in favour of the death pebalty too in general but i think in saddams case it really was an unfairly easy escape...... better he should have rotted in prison praying for death.

I'm sorry but I can not believe that in this day and age people still support the death penalty.

i'd much rather see a paeodophile or serial rapist put to death that out in 2 years as seems to be the case round here. i think the american system is severly flawed but i do think there are certain individuals who should not be taking up space in the prisons, costing the taxpayer money to feed and send on courses to be released far too soon and to hurt another innnocent victim. ideally i'd love life in prison to mean life in prison but economically i don't think that would be viable.

cyrilsquirrel ~ believe me I do. Whilst there are still evil people in this world that do horrific things to other human beings then yes for me I am for it 100%

I always thought I agreed with it until the recent problems in the US with the lethal injection and I began to think how barbaric it is and what right does anyone have to kill another person? it's just sinking to the same level. I'm glad we don't do it here.

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exactly FB. It is sinking to their level. Nothing can justify it imo.

I can never decide wether I agree with it or not. It always seems like they are getting off lightly to me with the death penalty. They won't ever have to think about what they did again will they.

thats my thoughts in this case nutty.

but for some of the scum out there i'd just prefer to know they were dead and couldn't hurt another human being ever again than that they were being fed and clothed and taken care of by the prison syste, and there's alway the possiblity they could be realeased and seek out another innocent life

Yes thats true PT.

That footage is very upsetting though I agree.

I think Bush has done things every tiny bit as bad as Saddam, I'm afraid. I'm sure Saddam didn't personally cut out that woman's tongue, but then Bush didn't personally perform the most disgusting forms of torture (drowing, electrocutions, rapes, savaging by dogs etc) in basements all around the world but he certainly not only knew about them, but ordered them. He and Rumsfelt are way ahead of Saddam when it comes to human suffering and death on a huge scale - and the mass deaths of of Iraqi civilians are just a small part of that.

Times report on Bush's torture methods

excellent report about how the CIA kidnaps and tortures all around the world

And by consorting with Bush and permitting torture flights out of the UK, IMO Blair is every bit as guilty. But I don't suppose either of them will end up with nooses rond their necks.

death is never pleasant to watch, there's something wrong with someone who can see another creature die and not be affected. it's what seperates us from people like him..... we feel and we suffer on his behalf even though he doesn't deserve it. but equally who among you was not moved to tears to see the images of the suffering he caused, and the innocent lives he destroyed? keep that in mind when you watch it, he might look like a sad old man but that sad old man caused imeasurable grief and suffering in his lifetime and feels no remorse whatsoever. death is too kind for a man like him.

Aloha, thank you for those links

I am very niave about the background to this whole thing but I do know enough about the siuation to know B&B are complete and utter hypocrites (and murderers)

I still don't understand their justification for this. Saddam was never directly involved with the original terroism was he? they just involved him.

There must be other dictators out there every bit as bad as him but funny how they are left to it (maybe because they don't have oil? )

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QAloha! So nice to se you!

This is interesting on the 'why did the us invade iraq' question.
The short answer seems to be, 'to show they could'. It was planned even before Bush got into power. Tony just went along for the ride. It is all so utterly, utterly corrupt.

an insider's explanation

Thank you

LTH - I think your post and your reaction to the footage goes to the very heart of what's wrong with the death penalty. murder is wrong. it's always wrong. state sanctioned murder is every bit as wrong. Watching it carried out - seeing it in all its pre-meditated clinical gory - makes us see why it's wrong, it jars with the fundamental moral tenet we all share that murder is wrong.

I do not believe in the death penalty for any crime. In this case the trial was a farce and the publicity surrounding it was completely undignified.

Sadam has done terrible things but so have other dictators and they have never faced trial (the recent death of Pinochet is a case in point). WHy Sadam then? I can only agree that this was an orchestrated move by the Americans and that they disliked this man regardless of what he ahd ever done much of whihc was irrelevant to their campaign against him.

This is also very interesting, I think.
It is important to remember, IMO, that Saddam was the US's very own creature. They made him, supported him, armed him, even taught him the very methods of toture he used on his own people. But like so many monsters, he soon got out of the control of his maker, and after a while the very qualities that his US masters so prized in him began to become an embarrassment to them.

noam chomsky on the question

Aloha, I really am so glad you're back. I learn alot of things from poeple like you (and our wonderful scince teacher MB)

You're a credit to MN.

I agree LTH, I am embarrassingly ignorant about the whole thing really and will be reading some of these links later. Thanks Aloha

The trial and execution of SH is also a blow to international law. It was far more flawed than Nuremberg, stuck two fingers up at the work of the international tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda, and was a blatant attempt (hopefully a failed one though) to undermine the growing concensus that crimes such as his are not just the business of the country in question, but are the business of us all. Good old U S of A.