Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed

[anandk]

BAGHDAD, Iraq (CNN) -- Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed, a witness said.

"Saddam's body is in front me," said an official in the prime minister's office when CNN telephoned. "It's over."

http://www.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/meast/...ein/index.html

[shankar_ganesh]

Yes, reports are coming out

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6218485.stm
WATCH LIVE VIDEO ON BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/help/3681938.stm
CNN says:

"Saddam's body is in front me," said an official in the prime minister's office when CNN telephoned. "It's over."
In the background, Shiite chanting could be heard. When asked about the chanting, the official said "These are employees of the prime minister's office and government chanting in celebration."
The witness reported that celebrations broke out after Hussein was dead, and that there was "dancing around the body."
Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki did not attend the execution, according to an adviser to the prime minister who was interviewed on state television.
The execution was videotaped and photographed, state television reported, and those images will be distributed to the media.

BBC says:

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging at an unspecified location in Baghdad, for crimes against humanity.

Iraqi TV said the execution took place just before 0600 local time (0300GMT).
The news was confirmed to the BBC by the Iraqi Deputy Foreign Minister, Labeed Abawi.
Two co-defendants, Saddam Hussein's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and former Iraqi chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar, were also executed.
"Criminal Saddam was hanged to death," state-run Iraqiya television announced, as patriotic music and images of national monuments were broadcast.
A scrolling headline read: "Saddam's execution marks the end of a dark period of Iraq's history."
The TV station said Saddam Hussein's half-brother and the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court were also hanged.
Other Arab TV stations aired live footage of the sunrise over Baghdad's Firdous Square, where US Marines pulled down a statue of Saddam Hussein, after he was deposed in April 2003.

[nishant_nms]

It should have been done before

[eagle_y2j]

Uncel Sam's first step towards suppression of one community **** .
D-wide nd rule

[Yamaraj]

Originally Posted by nishant_nms

It should have been done before

American mass-media is definitely good at brainwashing.

fu**, bush really is a membar of ku Klax Klan i can bet

This guy was hell of a bussiness man, breaking the monopoly of doller in the International market in just 7 years is admirable indeed. How can they execute or wage war against a President of a country without any proof

[blu_6779]

They should have gotten Saddam back in '91. Now Bush should be next in line.

[Yamaraj]

What's truly ironic is that USA invaded Iraq and killed more than 600,000 people in last three years to capture, trial and execute a person for killing ~150 people, who in fact were dead set on killing Saddam himself.

How many US Presidents and/or Generals have been tried and executed for their war crimes?

[ssdivisiongermany1933]

the game is over . it's now time for usama bin laden .

Trust me, Osama Bin laden will not be captured. From day 1 it seemed like a conspiracy to me, Bush & Laden are together, & 9/11, or everything else happened just to go after Saddam. Don't u guys remembar what the U.N. representative said after Iraq War, that Bush administration planed iraq invasion, & the WMD was just a setup. There were no WMD found, but still bush started war on the basis of WMD only

[forever]

Originally Posted by gxsaurav

Trust me, Osama Bin laden will not be captured. From day 1 it seemed like a conspiracy to me, Bush & Laden are together, & 9/11, or everything else happened just to go after Saddam. Don't u guys remembar what the U.N. representative said after Iraq War, that Bush administration planed iraq invasion, & the WMD was just a setup. There were no WMD found, but still bush started war on the basis of WMD only

truly said , re-iterating what michael moore is pointing to from the first day , the whole saddam thing was just to put wool over our eyes that US is supposedly doing atleast something post 9/11, you can bet osama wont be captured till bush holds the office , they seem like family to me , sadly innocents have to die at their whims

[iMav]

well if thts the case then lalu ..... and all are bacchas in front of bush and his political brain .... all calling him stupid dumb ..... well i wud say he is the smartest ass walking on Gods's green earth

[nishant_nms]

Originally Posted by gxsaurav

Trust me, Osama Bin laden will not be captured. From day 1 it seemed like a conspiracy to me, Bush & Laden are together, & 9/11, or everything else happened just to go after Saddam. Don't u guys remembar what the U.N. representative said after Iraq War, that Bush administration planed iraq invasion, & the WMD was just a setup. There were no WMD found, but still bush started war on the basis of WMD only

LOL

[Yamaraj]

Originally Posted by nishant_nms

LOL

ROFL!

Pfft!

[Vyasram]

gx, u forgot to mention the oil part

[Tech Geek]

this work should have been done long back

[tanmoy_rajguru2005]

I wonder y they were so quick for this action. If it was any other man then the total process might have taken much longer.

[iMav]

arre india nahin hai bhai ...

[mail2and]

Great news! It'll be a sort of revenge for the Shias and the Kurds, who suffered under his brutal regime.

However, I am concerned about the security situation in Iraq. I wonder how the coalition forces will maintain peace post-Saddam in a country ravaged by inter-community, inter-religion conflicts.

Some of the ignorant posts in this thread really make me laugh, though. I never knew some people would be so out of sync with the real world.

No America is no angel, but Saddam was a bad man, who deserved nothing short of capital punishment. I wouldn't want to be a Kurd, who died when Saddam's brother decided to gas me and my village out of existence. At the same time, I wouldn't want to be an Iraqi Sunni right now.

[EagerBeaver]

^Sir I think you has a big baloon ego calling others views ignorant. I thinks Sadam did not get justice in correct way.

[shakshy]

the trial wasn't fair

[mail2and]

Originally Posted by EagerBeaver

^Sir I think you has a big baloon ego calling others views ignorant. I thinks Sadam did not get justice in correct way.

I have an ego? See, facts and views are different. Some one may have a view that pigs fly, but that is not a fact. It is an ignorant view. Similarly, saying that 9/11 was a conspiracy is an ignorant view, and not a fact.

As I have said before, I need to start using emoticons. That may make my posts sound funny or something. I think writing in proper english is considered as a sign of ego and rudeness on this forum, which is again a wrong perception.

People on this forum who have met me might tell you a thing about my polite ways.
__________

Originally Posted by gxsaurav

This guy was hell of a bussiness man, breaking the monopoly of doller in the International market in just 7 years is admirable indeed

WOW, I fell from my chair laughing, when I read that. A small country like Iraq with less than 10$ billion in dollar reserves can break a so-called monopoly?

A country like India with $175 billion and a country like China with $1 trillion can't do a thing that a brutal dictator with less than $10 billion can? I would sincerely request you to study the FOREX market before making such a comment. The dollar is the king; China will be at a severe loss if it tries to sell off its $1 trillion dollar reserves, as that will artificially inflate the Euro and deflate the dollar, thereby decreasing the value of their reserves significantly.

You want proof? Saddam himself said he ordered the killing of 150 odd Shias in his capacity as the President.

[ssdivisiongermany1933]

that was good decision , saddam got what he did , hail to george bush ,

[Yamaraj]

Originally Posted by mail2and

Similarly, saying that 9/11 was a conspiracy is an ignorant view, and not a fact.

It's your personal opinion, not a fact.

Originally Posted by mail2and

You want proof? Saddam himself said he ordered the killing of 150 odd Shias in his capacity as the President.

Saddam wasn't exactly an angel, but not the kind of beast either that the western media has superimposed onto the minds worldwide. Kurds and Shiites are not very peaceful communities there. Bush knows better, as American troops are being targeted every day by the same people they're there to "save".

*Truth* is very subjective. We all know that Saddam ordered killing of some people, but you seem to ignore the very fact that those people weren't innocent either. They attacked his convoy in order to kill him, not ignorant of the fact that they would be executed later if they failed to achieve their goal. What do you think US forces would have done, if the same kind of attacked was launched on Air Force One? They would've been called "terrorists", and the death toll woudn't have been limited to 150.

Read this - http://www.ekklesia.co.uk/content/ne...2wardead.shtml
At least 300,000 people have died in attacks since the American invasion of Iraq in 2003. Some believe death toll exceeds even 650,000. In only 3 years of American invasion, the number far exceeds that of the whole 25 years of "tyranny". But, it's just a "collateral damage" to you, isn't it?

Even the Washington Post supports the numbers - http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...001442_pf.html

IMHO, it's you who needs to re-tune himself to the reality.

[mail2and]

Didn't I say America is no angel. If you read old posts on this forum, I have criticized America for invading Iraq. However, I want to mention that Saddam was no angel. Violent or not, you do not gas a village out of existence. I just can not believe you are supporting him! I do believe that America has no business being in Iraq, but again even Saddam and his brother had no business killing the Kurds.

I fully support his killing, though I do not think the invasion was right. I know how many people have died in Iraq. I'm sorry I've had to say this, but other people have minds, too. You're not the only one gifted with vocabulary and rational thought.


Also, please stop the media rhetoric with me. You use only that point for countering me everytime. My opinions are not formed based on watching BBC or CNN. I am rational and I can think for myself.



EDIT- Oh yes, I also believe that the trial wasn't fair, but the punishment was definitely fair. It was obvious from the start that it was an American influenced court, but as I said before, Saddam himself accepted that he ordered the genocide of the Kurds.

Didn't Sir Peter Ustinov(not sure about the surname) say that "Terrorism is the way of the poor, and war is the terrorism of the rich"?

I don't know why you are so pessimistic. You didn't believe that Pakistan was the perpetuator of the Mumbai blasts, either(If I could, I'd mention my source, but I can't).

Also, what do you think of the 65, 62 and 71 wars? They never happened and were stage managed, right?

BTW, here is an interesting piece of information for you. I suppose you wouldn't read a 'lowly' Indian newspaper, but watch out for anti-BJP articles in Hindustan Times, and oh yes, do check out the articles written in the past six months by their senior editor, Pankaj Vohra.

I will also tell you the reason why I do not believe in the Indian govt. I stopped trusting the Congress and the Communist sissies, when they rejected the Mukherjee Commission report. Also, I never understood why 'Sonia Gandy' had to visit Russia on a 'private visit' just a month before Justice Mukherjee finally got the permission to cross-examine witnesses in Russia.

If you feel sad about it, and would want to join a discussion on that with some very capable persons(not me), you can PM me.

Edit 2- 150 people did not attack his convoy. There were only 2 ppl who did it, and it was a very minor attack. Don't tell me 2 year kids know how to conspire. Also, what did the Kurds do that Chemical Ali had to gas them out of existence? By the logic you gave, even the Holocaust is justified?

[shankar_ganesh]

this article is nice:read it:

Saddam Hussein was a leader whose brutal actions and calamitous miscalculations brought unimaginable suffering to the people of Iraq and neighbouring countries. The brutal actions of his regime included the killing of political rivals and large numbers of civilians, above all Shias and Kurds, and the use of chemical weapons against Kurds and Iranians. President Hussein's two big miscalculations were the eight-year war of unprovoked aggression against Iran, in which hundreds of thousands of people were annihilated, and the akratic invasion of Kuwait. Following the first Gulf War, a million Iraqis, including hundreds of thousands of children, are estimated to have died because they were deprived of adequate nourishment and medical care on account of the economic sanctions imposed on their country by the victors. Arguably, Mr. Hussein had an opportunity to bring to an end this suffering by being more forthcoming and proving to the satisfaction of the world that Iraq had no weapons of mass destruction (WMD). His refusal or failure to divulge that he had destroyed all his stockpiles soon after the 1991 war played into the hands of his enemies, above all President George Bush who came to office with the agenda of invading Iraq and destroying the Saddam regime for strategic reasons.

However, it would be mendacious for anyone to claim that justice was served when Mr. Hussein was executed before dawn on December 30, 2006. The judicial process set up to prosecute Mr. Hussein for "crimes against humanity" was designed by a United States-led coalition that had itself committed the supreme war crime of unprovoked aggression against a sovereign nation. The fact that the coalition's illegal invasion and occupation had caused the death of over 600,000 Iraqis evidently made no impact on the collective conscience of its leaders. The present Baghdad regime, which is propped up by the occupation forces, did not just lean on the judiciary; it went so far as to replace judges until a sufficiently partisan presiding officer was found. This judge did the bidding of his political masters and scandalously ensured that the defence was always at a disadvantage. The appeal court that confirmed the sentence of death handed down by the trial judge acted as if the completion of other cases against the accused was of no consequence. That all these legal proceedings were nothing but a sordid farce became clear to the whole world when the Prime Minister of Iraq, who had announced ahead of the appeal court's verdict that the former President would be executed before New Year, even usurped the judiciary's prerogative of setting the date for execution. To go by the manner in which the client Iraqi regime has behaved in all spheres, it was a small mercy that Mr. Hussein was handed over to it by his American jailors just before he was forced to mount the gallows. Various components of this regime run militias that have tortured and butchered hundreds of innocents. Those who engineered this violent and unjust end to the life of a leader who was overthrown by war — in flagrant violation of international law — have much to answer for before the court of humanity.

The Indian Government must take a forthright stand against this outrage. It needs to go beyond its expressions of "disappointment," its indirect criticisms of "victor's justice," and its pious hopes of "reconciliation" and "restoration of peace and normalcy" in Iraq. It must condemn, without equivocation, Mr. Hussein's execution at the hands of the occupation army and its client state, even if the occupying powers maintain the fiction that the trial, sentence, and execution of the former Iraqi President were exclusively the business of the "Government of Iraq." The United States helped sustain Mr. Hussein in power through the 1980s in the full knowledge that his regime had used poison gas against the Kurds of Halabja and against the people of Iran. The Bush administration plumbed new depths of shamelessness when it handed over its captive, its prisoner of war, to a Shia-controlled Iraqi court rather than to an international war crimes tribunal, as many advocates of human rights and justice demanded. At a surface level, Iraqis may be divided, reflecting tragic sectarian divides, in their reactions to the end of Mr. Hussein. However, his hanging is expected to lead to major reprisals from the Sunni resistance to the occupation — and a spike in violence in Iraq. It will also fuel anger and hatred towards the United States among the people of various countries in the Arab world. While condemning this outrageous case of "victor's justice," the world must express its solidarity with the people of Iraq, whose sufferings seem to know no end.

http://www.hindu.com/2006/12/31/stor...3103600800.htm

[anandk]

saddam killed millions of people,
so has the usa, on occassions.

the usa invaded iraq for its suspected possession of wmd, etc
none were found in iraq, is one story; that the usa pzses its largest stockpile is another story !

the usa killed saddam, not bcoz he killed millions of his countrymen,
but bcoz he opposed the usa policies and stood upto them.

[blackpearl]

Who will hang Bush?
Bin laden is our only hope now!!

[praka123]

if they invaded iraq and afghan,they surely (if circumstances is) can invade India also at any time in the coming History.
While Saddam was Hanged on Bakrid (or one day before?),it may be a direct message to Arabs and Muslims-"Dont Mess With Uncle Sam" eh?

[Yamaraj]

Originally Posted by mail2and

Didn't I say America is no angel. If you read old posts on this forum, I have criticized America for invading Iraq. However, I want to mention that Saddam was no angel...

< snipped >

Also, what did the Kurds do that Chemical Ali had to gas them out of existence? By the logic you gave, even the Holocaust is justified?

1. We both agree on the fact that Saddam wasn't angel, but USA far surpasses his character anomalies.

2. Sure, we can criticize gassing all day we want to, but when the Americans raise the issue, they're only being hypocrites. They dropped nuclear bombs onto Japs. They used Napalms on Viets. They killed hundreds of thousands with their cluster bombs. They use radioactive weapons on civilians even today - depleted Uranium shells etc. They will invade any country they want to, sometimes only to display their pornographic and violent might and arsenal. They change regimes all over the World - either forcefully or using the dollar, or both. They control and consume 70% of the World resources.

3. Like I said before, Kurds and Shiites are not very peaceful communities, not unlike Sunnis. Americans are killing at least 500 persons a day in Iraq today. So, are they slaughtering innocents there? Much to the same way, when Saddam ordered the massacre, it was only a reaction to their violent methods. You don't expect any better from a dictator, but the 'civilized' and 'democratic' societies aren't doing any better.

4. I'm finally happy that he was executed. But, not because of the delivered 'justice'. It quickly ended the agony and pain he was going through. It ended his sore life as a non-political US prisoner.

5. I, sometimes, have to post a few links - only to satiate those who would later ask me about the accuracy of figures. I don't rely on media reports or articles for my point of view on incidents.

6. How can the punishment be fair without a just and unbiased trial of International standards? You're skipping over a vital element of the modern judicial process altogether. For once, it may seem very rational killing a murderer on sight, without due process. But, that takes you to the same level as that of the slain. One can say that Saddam fell pray to his own methods of of trial and justice.

7. I don't believe. I think; I analyze; and I form my own opinions. There's no denying that Pakistan is responsible for the three wars, endless terrorism and deaths of so many Indians. By now, we all know that terrorism doesn't exist only for it's own sake. There are political agendas - hidden or not. You accept that your faith in the Indian Government has declined since, or even probably vanished away. Why do you still believe in their methods and propaganda, then? If they had solid proofs, showing that Pakistan/ISI was indeed responsible for the train-blasts, what has stopped them from launching even a regional War On Terror? Unfortunately, most of the Indians either don't know, or more precisely, don't want to know/care how evil our own politicians are. They'll fabricate blasts and do anything possible for their politican gains. If you keep track of timing, many such blasts/accidents happened at the time a scam/dirty-deed was being uncovered by media. For example, the Telgi's narco test aired on television - which clearly showed that pig Sharad Power being the mastermind of the Stamp paper scam, worth INR 31,000 Crores!

8. Given enough motivation and means, I would personally take interest in eliminating the entire Congress Party and the communists. They're the biggest and baddest scums in this political gutter.

There are a few thing we agree on, and a few which we don't. But, at the end of the day, Saddam is no more amoung us. The World is definitely not a safer place because of his loss, for he definitely wasn't a fundamentalist to begin with.

PS - I'm more than interested in making India a better country. I surely want to talk to people who take these matters seriously. If Sonia and her clan is working as foreign agents, which is quite evident I'd say, there couldn't be a situation any worse than this. PM me please!