I'll be little sad to see the old guy go ... I mean, Rock-Paper-Saddam just won't be the same when he's feeding the worms.

We should have killed this snake 15 years ago. Would have saved the world, and Iraqis, untold misery. This should be a lesson to us that when we tolerate evil, the world pays a high price.

The Sunnis are gonna go nuts. For the sake of killing one guilty person, I wonder how many innocent Iraqis and American soldiers will die. Better to let him rot in jail than raise him to the (undeserved) level of martyrdom.

I agree with Sam. He shouldn't have been allowed to rise at all. I would have discussed the reasons he rose, but maybe some other time.
I don't think he speaks for most Sunnis. He is universally hated, unless those Sunnis are being sponsored by him and his puppets.

He will be the New Sultan Of Swing. Still it ought to be postponed until his trial of the Kurdish Massacre is over. The Kurds are entitled to a bit of justice.

The Iraqi Criminal Procedure Code prohibits a Muslim being executed during Eid.

Or a Christian during Christmas or Easter, or a Jew during Hanukkah, either.

The Iraqi Criminal Procedure Code? C'mon we call the shots..first of all the trial was limited..after all if we went into his gassing his own people the fact we provided him with that gas would have been an issue...and don't forget the timing of the sentence..just before OUR elections..it will be New Year's eve (our calander)Watch for still photots to be released..remember how the bloody corpses of his sons were dispalyed...
Saddam should hang but his trial was a farce..and the people of Iraq know it..
...and we will follow it with an escalation of troops?

The Iraqi Criminal Procedure Code? C'mon we call the shots.. nogo postal

Really? Then how do you explain the US had a provision in their constitution that forbid capital punishment.

Yet he is about to get his neck stretched. Guess the Iraqis didn't get the memo.

Fifty bucks says the pussy cries on his way up the gallows steps.

In the interest of keeping the Scales of Justice balanced, wouldn't it be appropriate to have Mike Nifong on the other end of the platform?

blackcat: Saddam wasn't the only one sentenced to death. And the martyrdom issue shouldn't hold sway over justice.

Whether or not the video ends up on Youtube, I'm glad to know they won't be airing it to the general public. That's one thing I'd been wondering about. Public executions are a bad idea. We stopped doing that a long, long time ago.

I agree with Brad. I'll add that he'll have a big ol' snot bubble and be standing in a puddle of piss too. Force his last meal to be a BLT.

Your soul is US Government property, by right of conquest.

Saddam's hanging is like the busty gal next to the 3rd rate magician..."hey we're gonna hang the guy." Don't pay attention to the 107 troops killed and over 800 evacuated do to injury in December...don't think about the family and friends of these brave men and women...Their blood is on the hands of anyone who believes sending more troops
will mean anything more than a higher casuality rate....Bring'em Home....

I'm reenlisting in the reserves for the chance I might go back to Iraq.

You don't speak for me... or any of us, and we don't want or need your support.

Let em do their job.

Any chance we can get this televised during half time of the Pat's game?

Ring...I never expressed anything other my opinion...might I add your opinion is not representive of the other 140,000...over there..
like mine..it is just yours

Your reasons for going back over are yours and yours alone and NO ONE should question or challange those reasons..
I wish you a safe tour..God Bless

I wish I could figure out why, but I have a very, very strong feeling that hanging Saddam would be a mistake.

--|PW|--

It's not a mistake; it's justice. Grow a pair and stand up.

Brad:

Why do you believe this is justice?

--|PW|--

Martyrdom is overrated. He's much more effective as a symbol if he's alive, whether he's free or incarcerated. After all, how much do you hear about Uday, Qusay, or Zarqawi anymore? Nothing.

When applied to people like Saddam, I like Uncle Joe Stalin's attitude, "No man, no problem"

Martyrdom is also only effective if the guy being killed is some sort of good example. Either following a religious code, or doing something great for the sake of others.

Saddam? Not so much, unless your example is "nasty men who become dictators and then get even nastier."

The death of Hussein will be more of a kick in the teeth of the bad guys currently in Iraq, since they won't have a figurehead to pretend to be supporting any more. It'll probably cause more inter-Baathist killings, for that matter, since a lot of middle management killers will now think they have a shot at becoming the next Head Honcho.

cirby, "inter-baathist killingS" has a nice ring to it. Let's just hope it is very very plural.

With the chaos enveloping Iraq now, especially in regards to the sectarian violence, I wonder now if at least some of Hussein's heavy-handed past brutality was simply his stupid, simplistic method to enforce overall civil order.

The Soviet Union use to use similarly brutal policing tactics and intimidation to enforce peace between antagonistic sectarian groups. Indeed, it's generally recognized that when the Soviet Union broke up, while the US lost a dangerous rival, the world at large became more unstable with the unleashing of formally controlled, violent and power-hungry political factions and states.

As far as Hussein goes, I think it's utterly hypocritcal for anyone who misses Reagan with teary eyes to relish Hussein's upcoming execution. Back in the 80's, when Hussein was just as brutal as he ever was, if not more so, the US under Reagan thought of him as a valuable ally and directly supported him, especially during the nasty Iran-Iraq war. And there is considerable evidence, from even acual once classified documents, that this support, covertly at least, included Hussein's use of bio-chemical weapons. At the minimal, the Reagan administration looked the other way while US firms supplied Hussein with arms and the components to manufacture bio-chemical weapons; at the maximal, which Iran has always contended was the case, the US actually directly supplied Hussein with such weapons.

See: Wikipedia Article, Iran Chamber Article, and Some Declassifed Records

Personally, I think people like Hussein, even if they truly believe that they didn't do anything all that wrong, should be made responsible and held accountable for past murderous behavior in a proper and serious court of law. I also think this should done with some consistency, including going after anyone else who aided and abetted in such activity. However, I have no use for the sort of pickin' 'n' choosin', half-ass, mock-trial sort of "justice" that was evidently dished out to Hussein. Trials where life and death are to be decided should be done right or not at all. I think.

-BC

Saddam Hussein! Come on down!

Sincerely,

Osama, Zarky, Mohammed, and of course--Satan

>>And the martyrdom issue shouldn't hold sway over justice.

Ideally, you're right. The problem is that Iraq is in a state of anarchy right now. The lawless are running the place and something like this might inspire a massive response by the Sunnis nd whatever Baathists are still around. So this "justice" might come at a very high price in lives. It would really be shame if the legacy of Saddam's trial is hundreds or thousands more dead Iraqis. We'd pacified Germany by the time of the Nuremburg trials, and that's the biggest difference between then and now.

>>It's not a mistake; it's justice. Grow a pair and stand up.

Brad: With all due respect, it's not YOUR neighborhood that might go up in flams as a result of this execution. It's not YOUR children who might be blown up in the street. It's easy to pontificate about "justice" when you are thousands of miles from the violence. I think the aftereffects of the execution are a valid factor to be considered.

>>The death of Hussein will be more of a kick in the teeth of the bad guys currently in Iraq

Saddam is only a hero to the Sunnis, and the Sunnis are certainly not the only bad guys over there.

Death comes to us all...but tonight it will come to Saddam Hussein.

blackcat77:

Actually, Iraq, as a whole, isn't "in anarchy" right now. Outside of a few places (covering about 1/3 of their population), things are pretty good. Even in the "bad places," Iraq is more stable and has more true rule of law than many of its neighbors.

There's an actual central government, with a real (though not completely trained) police force, and a populace that's, overall, trying to get on with their lives. The economy is growing very fast, as well - you don't have that in actual anarchies.

Cirby: There is a central government just like there is in Kabul. But like Kabul, the authority of that government doesn't extend much beyond the certain parts of the capital city. The test of the Maliki's power would be whether or not he can reduce terrorists' ability to act and it's clear that he has not. I agree that these terrorists are not equally active all over the country, but they are concentrating their activities where it's most effective, and up to now at least, nobody's stopping them. I just wish there was somebody out there who is sympathetic to the cause of democracy that people on all sides of the violence could at least respect -- finding that person is the key to turning things around.

The concern over Saddam's execution is understandable but misplaced in my estimation. A violent flare-up in response, if it occurs, should be short-lived.

The Iraqi nations need this closure... and the insurgents aren't fighting in support of Saddam's regime, they're fighting to rid their country of its occupiers. Once we leave the violence will subside and the Iraqi people can rebuild their country, and executing Saddam is something that we have to accomplish before we leave.

Let the swing begin.

I am not a big fan of the death penalty, not because I think killing people is an "absolutely" horrible thing to do--some people just need killin', as they say. However, I have to wonder what message it sends to the world when the United States ensures the death of one man for his crimes aga