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BBC - Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq
Last Updated: Saturday, 30 December 2006, 04:32 GMT
Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq
State TV has been showing footage of Saddam Hussein's atrocities - 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.
All three were sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November after a year-long trial over the 1982 killings of 148 Shias in the town of Dujail.
"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."
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.
'Turning a page'
US troops and Iraqi security forces are on high alert for any violent backlash. The US State Department has urged all its embassies to increase security.
The BBC's Peter Greste in Baghdad says Shias have generally welcomed Saddam Hussein's death and hailed the execution as justice for the suffering endured under his leadership.
But Saddam's own Sunni tribesman were angered by his treatment and they may well protest once more, our correspondent adds.
The White House is expected to issue a written statement, although President Bush is not expected to make an address.
The BBC's Adam Brookes in Washington says the Bush administration will see the act as turning a page in Iraq - a demonstration that Iraq has a sovereign and democratic government.
However, the administration will be keen to portray the execution as a matter purely for the Iraqi government and its court system, our correspondent says.
UK Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett welcomed the fact Saddam Hussein had been tried by an Iraqi court "for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed" and said "he has now been held to account".
France called on Iraqis to "look towards the future and work towards reconciliation and national unity".
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The criminal Bush has murdered many times more people than Saddam Hussein. When Bush is put on trial and hung then we can look towards the future and work towards reconciliation and national unity. Ditto for Cheney.
There's no statute of limitations for war crimes. We got Pinochet for far less. Bush is the biggest mass murderer in recent history. It's only a matter of time until he's put on trial for his crimes against humanity.
Saddam was manufactured by the U.S., got his weapons, used like a condom in a war against our other enemy du jour, Iran, and then, by April Glaspie's words, lured into Kuwait; "we don't have an official position if you invade Kuwait.." (her exact words!)
Don Rumsfeld shaking his hand photos about the time our own U.S. chemical firm in Ohio shipped the shit to Saddam to gas the Kurds with, using our very own intelligence data, provided 'gratis' by Bush I, and hence this man was put to death for allegedly murdering in retaliation a mere few hundred, when his accomplices in genocide with American help, are still 'scot free' here, counting their outrageous war profits.
Yes, indeed, Mr. Bush. Your time is going to come. We will hang your sorry, treasonous, murderous ass, and drive your entire family from U.S. Soil when the time comes for it. There will be no place for you to hide in a world that hates you at least as much as we do here, for what you have done in our name.
for what you have done, you sorry son of a bitch!!!!
#1/ Saddam's capture came about because America invaded Iraq under false pretenses. The media will never report this fact. The AUMF of 2002 was based on faulty information, lies and deceptions. With this, America invaded a sovereign Nation and violated international and U.S. Constitutional laws.
#2/ Saddam's trial was wrought with problems, not only with judges, but primarily his defense team was killed off one by one. One has to question the legitimacy of the trial afforded him.
#3/ The divisions within Iraq will not be healed by this event what so ever.
#4/ U.S. media is having a field day with this event. Slight of pronouncing his hanging, the MSM is already glorifying his legacy as being that of a man that needed to be...must be...had to be taken out. (see#1)
#5/ The "snuff video" is due to be smuggled out onto the www within a few days. Yes, his hanging was video taped for posterity. GO FIGURE.
*Saddam was found guilty for the ordering of the murder of 148 Kurds. This verdict came about because America chased him out of power and into hiding. Once he was found, he was held in U.S. custody at all times. During which time, the new Iraqi government set up shop, dismantled their constitution and held two more elections.
I have never been a fan of Saddam and never have claimed that he was ever innocent of his ordering of the murders of the Kurds. However I do stand by my position; America does not have immunity from being the sole decider of who leads nations, who gets deposed, and who of them gets hanged. If George W. Bush wanted to depose and capture Saddam, then George W. Bush should have done so with credible evidence, not some made up bullshit, cockamamie story about mushroom clouds and anthrax, b.s. etc. Saddam had no connections to al-CIAda nor to 9/11.
George W. Bush can wear the head of Saddam around his neck as some trophy if he wishes.
America WAKE UP!!!!
Saddam's dead...WHERE'S OSAMA???
Hiding in Pakistan and protected by Bush's buddy, Musharraf, another dictator ruling another sovereign nation, lies the most (un)wanted man on the face of the earth, Osama Bin Laden.
Iraq, the central front of Bush's war of terrorism.
Pakistan, the safest place to be a terrorist.
WAKE UP!