Saddam a martyr: New York Times

[Never Compromised]

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/06/world/middleeast/06arabs.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

Saturday 06 January 2007

Beirut, Lebanon - In the week since Saddam Hussein was hanged in an execution steeped in sectarian overtones, his public image in the Arab world, formerly that of a convicted dictator, has undergone a resurgence of admiration and awe.

On the streets, in newspapers and over the Internet, Mr. Hussein has emerged as a Sunni Arab hero who stood calm and composed as his Shiite executioners tormented and abused him.

"No one will ever forget the way in which Saddam was executed," President Hosni Mubarak of Egypt remarked in an interview with the Israeli newspaper Yediot Aharonot published Friday and distributed by the official Egyptian news agency. "They turned him into a martyr." (more at the NY times)

IMHO, the US pounded the pooch on this issue. The execution, how it was done, the ethnic nature of it have all gone to giving the "resistance" a figure to rally around, more powerful than they had before.

 

[maxweber]

not in Kansas..

The U.S. missed every trick here. They angered the world community, most of it staunchly opposed to capital punishment, with a farcical trial, plainly designed to reach a guilty verdict without embarrassing the U.S. or U.K., both of them complicit in many of long-time ally Saddam's crimes. They rushed the execution date, insulting Muslims by scheduling it on a high holy day. They insulted Sunnis and devout Muslims everywhere by allowing Shiite thugs to be executioners. And they let Saddam play the dignified hero, creating an instant martyr out of vile monster, and giving sectarian division a giant shove forward.

Disgraceful, idiotic, and completely counterproductive. Is there absolutely nothing these clowns can get right?

MW

 

[onthebottom]

The U.S. missed every trick here. They angered the world community, most of it staunchly opposed to capital punishment, with a farcical trial, plainly designed to reach a guilty verdict without embarrassing the U.S. or U.K., both of them complicit in many of long-time ally Saddam's crimes. They rushed the execution date, insulting Muslims by scheduling it on a high holy day. They insulted Sunnis and devout Muslims everywhere by allowing Shiite thugs to be executioners. And they let Saddam play the dignified hero, creating an instant martyr out of vile monster, and giving sectarian division a giant shove forward.

Disgraceful, idiotic, and completely counterproductive. Is there absolutely nothing these clowns can get right?

MW

We didn't execute him, Iraq did. And being a Martyr in the Arab world is a pretty low bar, you can be a teenager blowing up a bus in Israel and get that status.....

OTB

 

[scroll99]

The International Action Center ( US ):

“This punishment has nothing to do with the alleged crimes of the Iraqi leader nor is it part of an historical judgment of his role. It is the act of a conquering power against a nation that is occupied against the will of the vast majority of its people.”

 

[scroll99]

Professor Jose Maria Sison (the Philippines ):

“Bush depicts the hanging of Saddam as a part of building democracy in Iraq and even in the entire Middle East . But he is clearly lying in view of the so many authoritarian regimes (including monarchic and theocratic ones) in the region with which the US has good relations. The brutal US occupation of Iraq has nothing to do with democracy. What is important to the US is servility to the rule and profit-making of US monopoly interests.”

 

[scroll99]

The BRussells Tribunal:

“The Iraqi Higher Criminal Court that passed a death sentence on President Saddam Hussein is grounded on illegality. Occupying powers under international law are expressly prohibited from changing the judicial structures of occupied states. Created by Paul Bremer, the Iraqi Higher Criminal Court was never anything but a US-orchestrated puppet court.”

 

[onthebottom]

There are fools everywhere, thanks for reminding us.

OTB

 

[papasmerf]

The International Action Center ( US ):

“This punishment has nothing to do with the alleged crimes of the Iraqi leader nor is it part of an historical judgment of his role. It is the act of a conquering power against a nation that is occupied against the will of the vast majority of its people.”

It was the people you speak of that executed him. The US would have afforded him the dignity any deposed leader deserves in death.

 

[scroll99]

All rules of international law violated. Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North Africa for Amnesty International:

"Amnesty opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and we deplore the death penalty in this case. It is because we consider that the trial was flawed in serious ways that it is more concerning that the death penalty should be imposed. The independence and impartiality of the court was impugned. There was political interference. Three defence lawyers were murdered. Saddam himself had no access to legal advice for a year." (BBC World, 30 December)

 

[onthebottom]

It was the people you speak of that executed him. The US would have afforded him the dignity any deposed leader deserves in death.

Welcome back.

Perhaps the Iraqi's should have put him in an Orange jumper and filmed his beheading - some stooges in masks with AK 47s would have added a nice touch.

OTB

 

[scroll99]

Human Rights Watch:

"The imposition of the death penalty - an inherently cruel and inhumane punishment - in the wake of an unfair trial is indefensible". (BBC World, 30 December)

 

[papasmerf]

Welcome back.

Perhaps the Iraqi's should have put him in an Orange jumper and filmed his beheading - some stooges in masks with AK 47s would have added a nice touch.

OTB

That is too commonplace in Iraq.

 

[scroll99]

There are fools everywhere, thanks for reminding us.

OTB

exactly !

 

[clubber]

The USA got rid of Saddam, they got rid of evidence that could of made them look bad as they were quite friendly Saddam during alot of his crimes. This trial should of been international, and brought alot of things to light. It just buried everything. There are many worse things he was accussed of and now cannot stand trial for them. Perhaps because some in the west would of been found to have helped him. So many things now buried with Saddam

 

[onthebottom]

They should have sent him to the Hague
and washed our hands of him.

All this steroid fantacy leaves me disgusted. Go
enlist and face the confusion now confounded.

Oh so just and righteous, oh so whimpy.
Go into these terrible wars and talk your
talk only after you've walked the walk

Talk is so cheap and easy.

DQ. Airborne.

Do your arms ever get tired of patting yourself on the back while you beat your chest.....

OTB

 

[clubber]

They should have sent him to the Hague
and washed our hands of him.

All this steroid fantacy leaves me disgusted. Go
enlist and face the confusion now confounded.

Oh so just and righteous, oh so whimpy.
Go into these terrible wars and talk your
talk only after you've walked the walk

Talk is so cheap and easy.

DQ. Airborne.

He should have been sent to a world court. I tried to enlist. I was turned down. Personality unsuitable. Seems I had an anger problem. Talk in Canada is still free. You sound as if you don't think anyone who has been in the armed has a right to voice his or her views. Sad to see someone who does not know what it really is they are fighting for. Being in the armed forces is noble but it does not make you better than anyone else. Freedom does not exist by force of arms, but by the force of the mindset of the public. We have to give away our rights and freedoms in order to lose them. The arm defends our borders, our schools defend our freedom.

 

[clubber]

They should have sent him to the Hague
and washed our hands of him.

All this steroid fantacy leaves me disgusted. Go
enlist and face the confusion now confounded.

Oh so just and righteous, oh so whimpy.
Go into these terrible wars and talk your
talk only after you've walked the walk

Talk is so cheap and easy.

DQ. Airborne.

He should have been sent to a world court. I tried to enlist. I was turned down. Personality unsuitable. Seems I had an anger problem. Talk in Canada is still free. You sound as if you don't think anyone who hasn't been in the armed forces has a right to voice his or her views. Sad to see someone who does not know what it really is they are fighting for. Being in the armed forces is noble but it does not make you better than anyone else. Freedom does not exist by force of arms, but by the force of the mindset of the public. We have to give away our rights and freedoms in order to lose them. The arm defends our borders, our schools defend our freedom.