Comments on: Saddam hanged, what next for Iraq?

By: Nich Starling

Nich Starling — Wed, 03 Jan 2007 19:17:02 +0000

I’m afraid the method of his hanging, the abuse, the videoing, the people with camera phones, the fact that Iraqi government ministers had just “turned up to watch like it was a party” (the words of one Iraqi official on Radio Four this evening), made this a quite ghastly thing.

I do not support the death penalty in any cicumstances, but this whole affair makes our so called “friends” in Iraqi government look no better than Al Quaeda terrorists beheading a victim on camera after humiliating him first.

By: Ron Knee

Ron Knee — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 12:11:43 +0000

I agree wholeheartedly with michelle, it would have been more of a punishment to make the man stew for the rest of his natural.
Instead his captors have proven that they are no better than Mr Hussein himself.

Just a passing thought, when Saddam was in power Iraq was ruled under an iron fist by a tyrant. the people of Iraq knew this and at least they felt safe to a certain degree. Now the country is split apart by warring factions so that Iraq is ruled by MANY smaller tyrants.

Just who’s version of the news should we believe? I don’t think Mr Bush is doing such a grand job. (or should I say “Mr Bush senior”)

By: Michelle

Michelle — Sun, 31 Dec 2006 10:08:45 +0000

The above commentor brings up a great point, surely televising his last moments just promote him into martyrdom even more? I think they should have left him to rot in a concrete room 2×4, with any forms of media banned from going near him.

By: Welshcakes Limoncello

Welshcakes Limoncello — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 23:44:38 +0000

I agree that his “trial ” was a shambles. And now the west has been a party to killing the man “in cold blood”. There is no need to have sunk to his level. As for the images I have seen tonight, it is sickening. They have been played over and over again on “Sky” and a little less so on BBC World, where at least John Simpson had a few pertinent questions to ask. If he was not drugged [as Simpson half suggested he might have been ] even his worst enemy would have to admit that he was brave at the end. I’m no apologist for him, by the way. He showed no mercy to his victims and his crimes were appalling. It seems to me that certain people may be simply waiting for a signal to use all this against the west again. I just hope I am wrong. And what about the whole business of showing those last moments, Ellee?

By: james higham

james higham — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 22:22:51 +0000

Denial and delusion accompanied him every step of the way.

By: Ken Larson

Ken Larson — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:49:56 +0000

There are good points in your article. I would like to supplement them with some information:

I am a 2 tour Vietnam Veteran who recently retired after 36 years of working in the Defense Industrial Complex on many of the weapons systems being used by our forces as we speak.

If you are interested in a view of the inside of the Pentagon procurement process from Vietnam to Iraq please check the posting at my blog entitled, “Odyssey of Armaments�?

http://rosecoveredglasses.blogspot.com/2006/11/odyssey-of-armaments.html

The Pentagon is a giant, incredibly complex establishment, budgeted in excess of $500B per year. The Rumsfelds, the Administrations and the Congressmen come and go but the real machinery of policy and procurement keeps grinding away, presenting the politicos who arrive with detail and alternatives slanted to perpetuate itself.

How can any newcomer, be he a President, a Congressman or even the new Sec. Def.Mr. Gates, understand such complexity, particularly if heretofore he has not had the clearance to get the full details?

Answer- he can’t. Therefore he accepts the alternatives provided by the career establishment that never goes away and he hopes he makes the right choices. Or he is influenced by a lobbyist or two representing companies in his district or special interest groups.

From a practical standpoint, policy and war decisions are made far below the levels of the talking heads who take the heat or the credit for the results.

This situation is unfortunate but it is absolute fact. Take it from one who has been to war and worked in the establishment.

This giant policy making and war machine will eventually come apart and have to be put back together to operate smaller, leaner and on less fuel. But that won’t happen until it hits a brick wall at high speed.

We will then have to run a Volkswagen instead of a Caddy and get along somehow. We better start practicing now and get off our high horse. Our golden aura in the world is beginning to dull from arrogance.

By: Ellee

Ellee — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:21:15 +0000

Tony, Saddam was obviously self-deluded, as are most tyrants, it’s an interesting insight into his psyche.

By: Tony

Tony — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:14:45 +0000

I read that extract and it reminded me what a self serving, arrogant, cynical manipulator the man was. I oppose the death penalty, but I certainly do not weep for his demise.

“his heart is big enough to embrace all without discrimination” – apart from Kurds and Marsh Arabs it would seem.

“His heart contains all his people and his nation” – including, presumably, the thousands raped, tortured and disappeared over the decades of his rule.

The sad thing is he probably convinced himself all this was true and that he had genuine and worthy reasons for his campaigns of terror.

By: Jonathan Sheppard

Jonathan Sheppard — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 14:28:55 +0000

I have to say I havent shed any tears on hearing about his death. I suspect the Americans would have perhaps preferred it if he had indeed been kept alive – but that wasnt the conclusion reached in court.

By: Jim

Jim — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 13:05:40 +0000

As a Radio 5 commentator mentioned this morning, immediately prior to his execution, Saddam looked like the dignified statesman, and the executioners the terrorists, in their balaclavas. I think this is likely to be a public relations disaster for the West.

I would normally abhor the death penalty but it is hard to see what is truly best in this case. As mentioned above, killing him makes him a martyr, but keeping him alive (however securely) would run the risk of continuing support by his followers. Tricky.