"This dark page has been turned over," Rubaie said. "Saddam is gone. Today Iraq is an Iraq for all the Iraqis, and all the Iraqis are looking forward. ... The [Hussein] era has gone forever."You know, I'm against any form of capital punishment. Saddam may be an evil man but I would prefer if he was put in jail for life. Taking away a life even if its evil solves nothing but just feed the revenge needs of mankind.
Rubaie, who witnessed the execution, said the former leader was "strangely submissive" to the process.
"He was a broken man," he said. "He was afraid. You could see fear in his face."
Rubaie said the execution was videotaped and photographed extensively from the time Hussein was transferred from U.S. to Iraqi custody until he was dead.
Many of those who witnessed the execution celebrated in the aftermath.
It's interesting to note that at the end of World War II, not all Japanese who were convicted of war crimes faced the death penalty. Some were not even charged.
Here's a comparison:
Saddam Hussein: Hanged for his role in the 1982 Dujail massacre, in which 148 Iraqis were killed. Still facing another charge for killing 100,000 Kurds during the 1988 Anfal campaign against Kurdish rebels.
Emperor Hirohito: Japanese Emperor and commander in chief of the Imperial military, was deeply involved in the day to day management of Japan's military aggression during World War II. Between 1937 and 1945, the Japanese military murdered near 3,000,000 to over 10,000,000 people, most probably almost 6,000,000 Chinese, Indonesians, Koreans, Filipinos, and Indochinese, among others, including Western prisoners of war. His punishment: None!
At the end of World War II, the Australian government wanted to prosecute Emperor Hirohito as a war criminal but Douglas MacArthur, the American general in charge of the Allied occupation forces, felt that keeping the emperor in place would help smooth the democratization of Japan. He made sure that the Emperor would not be prosecuted in the Tokyo war crimes trial that began in 1946. In fact, many Japanese war criminals were set free and some took over positions in the new government, etc.
Some of you may be asking me, what am I trying to say here? Should we free Saddam instead? Maybe. I'm using Japan as an example here. Japan would have faced a tough time over the years to become what it is now - a peaceful, rich and advanced democratic nation, a friend of the US and the free world - if the US had prosecuted Emperor Hirohito. I believe that the US should have made a similar deal with Saddam Hussein when he was captured. A deal that could have prevented the bloody mess in Iraq right now.
Update:
The world reacts and the Vatican says that the execution of Saddam Hussein was a "tragic event like all capital punishments" and risked fomenting a spirit of vendetta and sowing new violence in Iraq.
Still and video cameras were in the chamber at the time of the execution. Michelle Malkin asks how long before it's on YouTube?
Saddam's Cyber Palace says his final goodbyes, "What a pisser! I can't believe they're about to hang me. And please, no wisecracks about me being "well hung." I'll come back from the dead and personally kick anyone's ass who makes a joke like that. What did I do to deserve this? Well, aside from gassing those villages, I mean. Has anyone stopped to consider the fact that once I'm gone, there won't be anyone left to put Iraq back together again? You think Bush is going to do it? HA!! Not a chance."
Fox News has shown a video of the execution of Saddam.
10 comments:
Interesting view although I don't think Bush would ever make any deal with Saddam.
iz: i hate that man a lot but looking at the current turmoil in iraq, maybe you have a point in keeping him alive.
Sadman did not die. It's a body double who took his place. Haaaa!!!
The US thought that by simply removing Saddam from power, Iraq will be peaceful. They are wrong because as evil as Saddam is, there are so many others like him that were too scared to do bad things when he was in charged.
Maybe keep him as a ceremonial president. If he could have agreed to that sort of deal, he could still be effective to keep all the warring factions in Iraq at bay.
He deserves his death!
if im the us, i wld leave iraq n let them fight it out among themselves... but then again... i wont coz of the oil!
Emperor Hirohito should have taken his own life!
The Americans want him dead even before they invaded Iraq.
The entire Bush family hates him.
Bush’s war killed more Iraqi’s then Saddam did. When is Bush’s trail?
Most of the free world fails to understand how/why there is so little revealed about the trial of Saddam Hussein, and indeed why he was not fully hold in account for his crime in Kurdistan not to forget loss of one million human during Iran/Iraq war and occupation of Kuwait.
It’s clear that Saddam was not allowed to divulge top secrets of how the US and the West armed his regime and gave him the political and military means to keep his opponents at bay. Some of the crimes against Kurds that he was found guilty of had the blessings of the Americans at the time, and there was not any demand for justice from the Washington when it happened.
Shalom,
--- Prof. Leland Milton Goldblatt
http://www.prof.faithweb.com
http://drgoldblatt.blogspot.com/
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