Saddam Hussein sentenced to death by hanging
POSTED: 5:07 a.m. EST, November 5, 2006
BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- The Iraqi High Tribunal on Sunday sentenced former President Saddam Hussein and two other defendants to death by hanging for a brutal crackdown in 1982 in the Shiite town of Dujail.
Iraqis, under a curfew in Baghdad, spilled out onto the capital's streets in celebration of the verdict, news footage showed.
Along with Hussein, his half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Hassan, and former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court Awad Bandar also got death. ( link to read on )
Dear friends,
This verdict is not unexpected.
The trial has been termed by skeptics as a form of victors’ justice, as the US, being the occupying force, has an interest in a guilty verdict.
The timing of the verdict, coming days before the US mid-term elections, is highly suspect especially as Bushes’ Republican Party is at imminent risk of losing its majority in the Congress due to widespread public disquiet over the administration’s handling of the Iraq conflict.
Let us make no bones about it. Iraq is now a full-blown civil war with no settlement in sight. Scores of Iraqis are slaughtered for no reason other than that they belong to different offshoots of Islam. Together with these dead Iraqis, numerous Western troops are also going home in coffins, never ever to see their homelands again.
As things stand, the Sunnis and Shites will not be able to live in any semblance of civility. Iraq faces a fractured future with the possibility of it being fragmented into many pieces.
Bush entered this conflict on the false premise that Saddam has WMD-“weapons of mass destruction” and this has been found to be a dastardly lie! The tragedy of September 11 allowed the Texan cowboy to take advantage of the groundswell of “knee-jerk nationalism” to order the US military into her second Vietnam.
This Vietnam,would prove just as costly and as painful as the first. There is no way out but for an unequivocal withdrawal. There is no graceful way out. Just run with the tail between the legs and blame the cowboy and his posse.
It is tragic that American, British and other coalition troops’ lives have to be sacrificed due to the actions of these untruthful and incompetent American politicians.
I have always considered Americans as friends (although occasionally some can be self-centered and arrogant). America is still the world’s greatest nation but I marvel at how this world's only superpower finds itself in the hands of dubious men again and again.
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, if you can hear me, for the sakes of your own men and women, admit your foolishness and please go home!
Dr.Huang Shoou Chyuan
PS. Read George Yeo's comments of the Sunni-Shite divide ( written before the verdict was known)
11 comments:
"America is still the world’s greatest nation but I marvel at how this world's only superpower finds itself in the hands of dubious men again and again.
Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld, if you can hear me, for the sakes of your own men and women, admit your foolishness and please go home!"
It is actually very sad that as a last bastion of democracy & freedom, the US is actaully a sham. The 3 guys you appeal to are jus mere puppets. Democracy is just a nice slogan to shout about & the reasons for going into Vietnam, Korea, Iraq & even WW2 is all about business, pure & simple. Dress it up with sentimental stuffs like idealogy, religion,race,freedom,equality and it becomes marketable, digestible & even pretty delicious for mass propaganda, wayang kulit. "there's no business like WAR business"
If the US is so free & democratic, how in the world did they get themselves & the rest of the world into such a mess. Where are the checks & balances? IF their freest press & media cannot CHECK the inbalance, the corrupt, there,s very little chance for the little island in the sun .
Dr Huang,
Sigh...I share your frustration with the situation in Iraq, but I think the conviction of Saddam, whom I think is responsible for almost half a million deaths, justifies the invasion in some small way.
Recently Condy Rice gave an interview where she seemed sincere in taking a very long term view of the Mid East situation. She seemed to believe that even if we don't see peace in the Mid East in our generation, what they (the Bush administration) are doing now will be acknowledged as the right move by future generations. She was convinced that democracy is the only solution to long-term stability, citing the example of how the US democratized and in the process brought stability to Europe after WWII. I must find the transcript for that interview.
In any case, whether or not we agree with the invasion, I think it's clear that if the US were to pull out now, they are condemning Iraq to civil war and it will become the an int'l terrorist exporting state just like Afghanistan was. Now that they have created this mess, they have a responsibility to stick around until they clean it up, no matter how many troops it costs them.
Hi
anon : Yes America is poor advertisement for democracy. No wonder despots all around the world cite the failures of USA as an excuse for their authoritarianism (?spelling). Hope the next American president is more a multi-lateralist who engages the rest of the world rather than a unilateralist who ride into Dodge city like a cowboy and his posse!
Gerald: If we stretch your argument, then US should have stayed on in Vietnam till the last American GI has been expended, since their cause was right and future gen. will thank them for staying the cause. Condi would have said anything to support his boss. Why not nuke Iran ( akan datang), Venezuela,Cuba, or Nicaragua (if Sandinistas win again) since their cause is just blahblahblah?...
No there are rules that the world and society abide by. Sovereignty of nations etc..
Sorry I don't have time to elaborate. Will do at another time.
Cheers
Dr.H
Dr Huang,
I am not one for world affairs and politics :)
I have to agree with you that the Americans should just get the hell out of Iraq.
It is sad that America is slowly losing its moral authority as a world leader and to uphold justice. Many times, we have seen that they did everything out of self interest (or rather, the politicians').
Thus, aunty here hates politicians especially if they are also elites.
I foresee a time will come when politicians are just seen to be necessary evil in a country as more see them as foolish and selfish.
PS, by the way, I don't think ACS IS a scumbag school now. There was a time, if you remember, there was a furore over their BMs and branded watches?! I was studying in ACJC then ... the poor kid who ended up there accidentally.
Hi Whispers,
I am glad that you don't think that ACS is scumbag now.
Yes I hope someday politicians will find themselves redundant. In S'pore that will be a long time coming cos the people have been so conditioned to look up to the govt for everything and they are so helpless now.
Its sad but we the people must be more proactive and do and say what we feel is good for the nation.
Dr.H
Yes, I agree that USA should pull out. A foreign power cannot bring peace to a divided people who is suspicious of and resent the foreign power. Didn't USA learn anything from Vietnam?
If anything, please spare those remaining USA soldiers the unnecessary risk of losing their lives on this futile (and baseless no-WMD) war.
Dr H: "Yes I hope someday politicians will find themselves redundant. In S'pore that will be a long time coming cos the people have been so conditioned to look up to the govt for everything and they are so helpless now."
I doubt it'll come anytime soon. Not just because of people's learnt helplessness, but also because power is very seductive and addictive. Those in power are unlikely to release it easily. Just look at old PM Lee's "promotion" to SM and then to MM, when he could have stepped down at his peak.
I can't say I will be sad to see Saddam hang. Having said that, the excuses used by the politicians when they invaded Iraq were dubious, at best.
As the spouse of an ex-U.S.-military man, I feel deeply for those who have lost loved ones in a war that seems so poorly planned, and for those who are still praying that their loved ones will come home soon.
Hi all,
Iraq is in total chaos now.
Even Blair admitted, albeit accidentally, that is was a "disaster".
The British Labour party will also suffer the same fate as Bush's Republicans unless they distance themselves from Bush and possibly Blair. That's why they are in such a hurry to endorse Gordon Brown as Blair's successor so that Blair can be pushed out of the limelight.
Aliendoc: hanging Saddam make you and I feel good, but the problem has already exploded and killing one more won't solve the problem. There is no solution now. Shites and Sunnis will slaughter till they themselves say "enough is enough" or each side get reined in by their sponsors ( Syria/Iran and I don't know who else).
Bush just cares about getting oil for USA's needs and nothing else.
Elite:I often share your skepticism that many politicians are pathological liars. I wonder about our own leaders. I like to believe that there are some who are not.
Dr.Huang
Hi,
It’s been great time to read your article, really informative thanks keep it up.
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God help USA to take out their forces from Afghanistan.
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