November 05, 2006
Mission Accomplished: Saddam Sentenced to Death by Hanging
Via Fox News:
Saddam Hussein, the iron-fisted dictator who ruled Iraq for nearly a quarter of a century, was found guilty of crimes against humanity Sunday and sentenced to death by hanging.The so-called Butcher of Baghdad, who was president of Iraq from 1979 until he was deposed by Coalition forces in April 2003, was convicted of the 1982 killings of 148 Shiites in the city of Dujail.
The visibly shaken former leader shouted "God is great!" as Iraq's High Tribunal announced his sentence.
Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of the former Revolutionary Court, were sentenced to join Saddam on the gallows for the Dujail killings after an unsuccessful assassination attempt during a Saddam visit to the city 35 miles north of Baghdad.
It seems fitting that an Iraqi gallows and not an American bullet will put an end to the reign of Saddam Hussein. The allied elite forces of Task Force 20 eliminated his sadistic sons, but I think that Iraqis will attain more closure by executing the Butcher of Baghdad themselves.
Fellow Pajamas Media bloggers Omar and Mohammed Fadhil report from Baghdad:
I was overwhelmed with joy and relief as I watched the criminals being read their verdicts. For the first time in our region tyrants are being punished for their crimes through a court of law.Until this moment and while I’m typing these words I’m still receiving words of congratulations in emails, phone calls and text messages from friends inside and outside the country. These were our only means to share our happiness because of the curfew that limits our movement.
This is the day for Saddam’s lovers to weep and I expect their shock and grieve to be huge. They had always thought their master was immortal so let them live in their disappointment while we live for our future.
This is a day not only for Iraqis but a historic day for the whole region; today new basis for dealing between rulers and peoples are found.
No one is above the law anymore.
I was particularly pleased by the way Judge Raouf Rasheed handled the session; he was reading the court’s decision and at the same time chastising members of the current government for their misbehavior and threatened to throw them in custody regardless of their ranks!
We are living a new era where there’s much hope despite the difficulties…our sacrifices have a noble cause, that is to build a new model that obviously terrifies other tyrants.
AllahPundit notes a post written by Omar Fadhil in 2003 when he spoke with a young doctor who grew up in the town where the crimes took place. I'll suggest you read it, and agree with Allah's conclusion:
Thus always to tyrants.
What's makes me angry about this story is Ramsey Clark' behavior as well. I'm glad to have read the judge spoke in english and told Clark to "Get out!" of the courtroom. If Clark had been AG under Nixon the press would have been all over it.
Posted by: David at November 5, 2006 11:30 AMMission Accomplished! I like the bravado CY! You're all like, "See? The mission IS accomplished! I'm not afraid to say it!" It's so cool because the rest of us saw Cmdr Codpiece strut around on an aircraft carrier telling everybody that he'd WON THE WAR, when actually it had just barely started. But you won't accept that. You pretend like the mission was to put Saddam on trial, as if you give a half a crap about the people of Iraq. Like I said, like the bravado!
The jig's up, CY.
Posted by: Earl at November 5, 2006 02:13 PMThis is an important step, and highly needed, for Iraq and the region. Psychologically, culturally, the Iraqis will feed a sense of accomplishment and achievement. Here at home, I can't help but to wonder whether this sentence of Hussein will impact our own elections.
It is good to see the evil pay a price on earth. I surely know no virgins await Saddam, and I hope he now is pondering his eternal fate.
Posted by: Ellen at November 5, 2006 02:50 PMClearly, a corner has been turned.
Posted by: jpe at November 5, 2006 05:39 PMEarl ....
Have you always been this dumb - or did you have to study to be such a flake?
Posted by: Retired Spy at November 5, 2006 07:40 PMEarl the perl- President Bush has said ALL along that the ongoing efforts in Iraq were going to be long and drawn out and he REPEATEDLY has stated that we should be prepared for that and to expect casualties- but nice try Cpt. CodHaddock
Christian news and commentary at: target="_blank">sacredscoop.com ...
Posted by: Nazareth at November 5, 2006 09:28 PMIt is remarkable that Saddam has been sentenced for a crime he committed in 1982, at a time when the USA was more than eager to provide support to Saddam Hussein's regime and was complicit in some of his crimes. As usual, this fact has not even been mentioned by our amnesiac media. Donald Rumsfeld, the incarnation of this administration's moral bankruptcy, went to Baghdad shaking hands with Saddam, on December 20, 1983 (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/).
At that time, Rumsfeld knew that Saddam was a dangerous dictator (contrary to 2003, when he wasn't dangerous any more). He knew about the 1982 massacre that has now been recognized as a "crime against humanity". Donald Rumsfeld knew that Saddam had ordered the use of chemical weapons against Iran in breach of the Geneva conventions (contrary to 2003, when Rumsfeld knew exactly that there were no chemical weapons). And he went to Baghdad in 1983, shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, offering him the support of the United States. That's the story that will be told in the history book.
Posted by: piglet at November 7, 2006 11:39 AMRetired Spy:
"Have you always been this dumb - or did you have to study to be such a flake?"
That may be the least original putdown in the history of mankind. You are a lightweight, and you know it. You didn't do well in school, marginal success in your career, in short a nebbish. It's written all over what you pass off as intellect. No wonder you hate the blue staters so much.
Posted by: Earl at November 7, 2006 07:09 PM
