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Saddam, the death sentence?

Does it help to execute Saddam?

  • yes

    Votes: 34 40.5%

  • no

    Votes: 50 59.5%
  • Total voters
    84
How about choice #3 - political opportunism.

Announcing the verdict just before the midterm election is beyond shameless. Of course, the timing is 'perfect' with regards to maximize it's positive impact on the mainstream media news outlets. A few days sooner and the inevitable post-verdict chaos would swamp out the initial 'celebration'. A few days later - and the USA midterm elections are over. A better question may be how many days (post verdict) will it take for Iraq to 'really get bad'? Hopefully the Sunni insurgency will be somewhat indifferent to the verdict and not lash out (in yet more revenge attacks) against sensitive Shiite targets in retaliation.
 
Sorry from where I sit there is no choice 3. It is stark and going to happen. This thread is merely an opportunity to voice your opinion before the verdict is cast.

This man is going to be judged shortly. It is strongly suspected he will be sentenced to death. It is also forecast there will be a massive backlash for doing so.

So forget the politics of Iraq, forget the lunge towards civil war, forget the massive death toll already.

Just cast your vote. Before the event. What do you wish to happen?

He a mass murderer, a tyrant, so should be put to death?
 
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In this particular case, completely ignoring the American invasion et al and thinking only about what Saddam is known to have perpetrated against Iraqis, in my opinion it's thoroughly justified.

I would not be at all dismayed if every head-of-state who either directly ordered (as in the case of Saddam, Pol Pot, and others) or sat on his arse and by way of his edicts allowed (as in the case of Kim Jong-Il, the Grand Wazoos of Sudan, and others) the barbaric suffering of the people they govern, were dragged into the proverbial street and shot. Were I Omnipotent Ruler of All, I would start with the proponents of Sharia law.
 
I don't know if it tangibly "helps" anything, but knowing that the waste of skin will hang certainly doesn't evoke any pangs of sympathy from me.

One has to wonder what the consequences in Iraq will be. Perhaps it will destabilize the region? :rolleyes: (sarcasm off)
 
Just don't know what impact it'll have. All the news I've seen has the Iraqis as pretty happy but I don't know how much impact he could have from life in prison either.

Also, Cello Man's right. It could destabilize the region! Just when things were going so well, too.:rolleyes:
 
joe1347 said:
How about choice #3 - political opportunism.

Announcing the verdict just before the midterm election is beyond shameless.
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Please provide a list of acceptable dates for a foreign country to sentence their criminals.
 
I'm not sure how I feel about the death penalty for crimes against humanity. On the one hand, I strongly doubt that the threat of the death penalty has much of a deterrant effect but on the other hand, allowing dictators to stay alive seems to have a certain amount of danger involved. The chance that Sadaam will return to power is pretty low, but there's still a worry that he'll inspire bad things. Also, I suppose the deterrant effect might be stronger on democratic governments which commit crimes against humanity than dictatorships than commit crimes against humanity. But ah, lots of variables involved.
 
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To much "inside the box" thinking!

OPTIONAL SENTENCES FOR SADDAM!

1) A hole in the ground with no way out. He can see the sky, get rained on, etc. Let him rot.

2) Four walls, wash-basin, prison bed...until he dies.

3) Guinea-pig for Iraq's new types of nerve gas.

4)...??? [awaiting more input from others]
 
Executing Saddam right now would be a bad idea, it would probably help certain ethnic groups in Iraq(mainly the Kurds and some Shia), but it would fire up the Sunni's for even more secretarian violence. I say we wait for now. Though I can't really say "we" since what Iraq is a soverign country now, it's Iraq's decision.
 
Zep's option 1 stole my thunder. Put him back in the spider hole and let him clean his own latrine just once a month.
 
Saddam the glorious martyr. Doen't that have a nice ring to it? Executing him only makes his message more powerful. Justice can be served by keeping him in prison. Executing him will just exacerbate the tensions in Iraq.
 
stateofgrace said:
http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/article1956573.ece

1. Yes,justice.

2. No,vengence, opening the door to hell.
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*flash to a scene in a curious old Western/oater style black and white film.

"We caught this Saddam outlaw, let's hang him!"

"No, first he needs a fair trial. Someone head to Tuscon and get the judge."

"Right. Then we hang him, after the fair trial."

That's about the level of sense going on here.

"Crimes against humanity?" A BS premise. His crimes were against specific people, many of them people in Iraq who were Kurdish or Shia. He didn't do a thing to me, nor to a billion Chinese.

DR
 
I am not surprised that Saddam got a death sentence, however I would feel better about it if a better trial was used to convict him.
 
Crossbow said:
I am not surprised that Saddam got a death sentence, however I would feel better about it if a better trial was used to convict him.
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Define a "better trial." Iraqi persons set up a court under Iraqi laws, and in a rather open setting I might add, and held a lovely kangaroo court.

What more do you want? It was every bit as credible as the show trials in the Hague recently, for Milosevic.

DR
 
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