Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq

[Rkiver]

Well the BBC have it as their main headline.

So he's dead now, but was killing him a good or a bad idea? Some say good. Some say bad. Good, he paid for his crimes. Bad, he is now a martyr to certain fruitcakes.

But what do you think? And remember, he had nothing to do with the attacks on America in September 2001, and Osama Bin Laden and him are not friends, never were, and in fact hate each other and what they stand for. (Just to clear that up for any who think incorrectly to the contrary).

[Beafman]

Well the BBC have it as their main headline.

So he's dead now, but was killing him a good or a bad idea? Some say good. Some say bad. Good, he paid for his crimes. Bad, he is now a martyr to certain fruitcakes.

But what do you think? And remember, he had nothing to do with the attacks on America in September 2001, and Osama Bin Laden and him are not friends, never were, and in fact hate each other and what they stand for. (Just to clear that up for any who think incorrectly to the contrary).

Everybody knew that Osama and Saddam had nothing to do with each other, it is just bush who wants the oil, and a military precense in the midle east. bush can have his troops in iraq for ever, because bush, congress, the senate, and the presidents to come, all know that if they pull out, iraq will go into civil war, followed by a invasion by either Iran or syria who ever takes it first. But they will not pull out before all the oil is gone.

Also bush has killed more people in his time as president then saddam himself, and no one seems to care about it.

[KingAl]

'Around here' as in on the IV website (full of card-carrying Republicans, presumably?), or 'around here' as in over there on Cygnus X-1?
In any case, I'd agree that he shouldn't have been executed. It's interesting that a president supported by many evangelical Christians supports an execution - aren't they supposed to 'turn the other cheek'? Oh: no-one even try to suggest that the judgement was genuinely isolated from U.S. bias.

[sirvoks]

I think it was a bad idea. Mostly because it'll give the rebels in Iraq more reasons to get people to join them. I agree with whoever said something about Bush that wants oil.

[shinygerbil]

I agree that it was a bad idea; all my reasons have already been stated in above posts. (Particularly 'martyr to certain fruitcakes.') It's not productive, it's not clever, it just fuels the fire.

[sirvoks]

Well I agree with the above 2 posts. Also, we dont know if he has been tortured in secret by USA. He deserved life sentence, agreed, but death is really a 'light' punishment. Because he wont feel anything at all.

[sirvoks]

A black hole? Interesting.. *reads more on wikipedia*

[doormat]

Hmm... yeah. Not 100% in favour of executing anyone if it can be avoided, but what realy annoys me is the way the media report this. I've heard "was executed for crimes against humanity" too often today, when that's a very specific offence that can only be brought forward by the International Criminal Court under the Rome Statute. Saddam was hung for 124 counts of murder. Bad enough, but not CAH.

[sirvoks]

Kind of agree with you, but hanging is a somewhat light punishment. You don't suffer from dieing. You suffer from life sentences.

[BrianBlessed]

You also suffer if you are slowly grated to death over a period of several years.

[sirvoks]

You also suffer if you are slowly grated to death over a period of several years.

Yeah. And Saddam would probably be beaten up by hes fellow prisoneers.

[coolsi]

He got the easy way out.

[sirvoks]

Yeah, he really did. Was he hung ?

[shinygerbil]

Yeah, he really did. Was he hung ?

I'm sorry. My first thought when I read that was very tasteless. I'll leave now.

[lunquewill]

In a war like this, there really isn't "good" or "bad." There is "bad" and "less bad." The only good move is to not start one, especially with evidence as flimsy as that presented to the UN by Colin Powell, who resigned a very short time later, and that Mr Bush retracted as a "mistake" a couple of years ago. Saddam's execution won't change anything, though it does prevent the possibility that he will engineer a military coup, which he could do, given the rather large and heavily-armed group of people that support him and removes the likelihood that he will track down and kill any more informants, as he frequently did while he was Iraq's president-for-life.

As a note, this war isn't about oil; the US still buys much oil from Venezuela even as Mr Chevez expresses his hatred for Mr Bush. It might be about a personal retribution for a failed assassination attempt on a certain former US President who is related to the current one.