BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein testified Wednesday for the first time at his trial, calling on Iraqis to stop a bloody wave of sectarian violence and instead fight American troops, prompting the chief judge to close the courtroom after declaring Saddam was making political speeches. Even as the judge repeatedly yelled at Saddam to stop, the deposed leader read from a prepared text, insisting he was still Iraq's president.
122251
Ordinarily I would agree he is fit to stand trial. However due to the overwhelming evidence of his crimes I agree with the 1st poster TJ. He is fit enough to be dragged out and shot. That's better than he deserves.
38118
Again... HOW MANY TIMES DOES IT HAVE TO BE SAID???? (And yet again, look at the one below me, typical of the uber-left, ignoring the facts and still spewing the garbage)\n\nThe war was not illegal. Once Saddam and his regime violated the terms of the cease fire agreements handed down at the end of hostilities in the 90's war action, continuing the war action was completely justified.\n\nBesides that, Saddam's trial is based off of murder crimes. Those crimes are against the laws of the new and completely legitimate government that is in Iraq. The military actions of the US have no bearing on that process.
350282
WE are not hanging him .\nThe Iraqi people are , after a fair trial .
340395
The timing is very suspicious. It also makes me wonder if Bush cares enough about our soldiers' safety. He says the Iraqis are fighting more now to get people in the US to vote for the Democrats (a vote for the Democrats, is, therefore, a vote for the terrorists). If there is already extra violence because of the upcoming US election, why add fuel to the fire with a sentence against Saddam at this very moment??
509287
They have not released nearly enough of the information about what goes on there to make a reasonable assessment of either side's case.\n\nThe court system is not similar to the US's system.  The lawyers and judges are primarily French-schooled and Iraqi law is modeled after France's system.  They do not have the same burden of proof to meet hat the US has.\n\nAnd capital punishment is revenge.  That is the only purpose behind it, capital punishment does not serve as a deterrent, and the victim is not likely to learn anything from it.  Capital punishment is pure revenge, plain and simple.  So by executing Saddam revenge would be the only reason and only result.
351114
He is guilty of mass murders.  He has lived the life of 10 rich men. He is an arrogant ass hole, he should be put down for the crimes against the Iraqi people.
555300
"Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity by a Baghdad court and sentenced to death by hanging. \nHe was found guilty over his role in the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982."\nWhy is he sentenced?Because elections are nearby so Bush must prove somehow that he is making progresses in his "war against terror"...
175866
Iraq is in Civil War. The Shiite alliance supports Ibrahim al-jaafari, the Sunni and Kurds do not.  Since both sides, well all 3 want control of the oil money this will play out over the next 5 years. Nothing has changed in Iraq except the dead civilians who are now free (liberated) and can not vote.\nBu$h, Rummy and Rice and that bunch will never admit the country is in civil war. That's why they should be fired.\nIraq and Viet Nam are the same, no difference.
96698
Saddam ruled because he did all of the killing.  Previous to him they killed each other.  And as soon as we leave, they will start killing each other again.  Saddam was contained (arrogant, but contained) and he had no WMD or had ever attacked anyone who didn’t' touch his boarder.  He was a evil POS, but less people died per year under his watch then have died each year since he's been out.\n\nWhether we leave now or in 10 years, our silly little installed Iraqi government isn't going to stop 300 years of civil war.  They don't want our help - they just want to kill each other.\n\nWe should have never gone in.  Someone up high in our government should have done a bit more research and listened to the experts that this was not a good idea.  Instead, we should have kept all of our forces in Afghanistan where we could have actually made a difference.
514525
Sheik Harith Al Dhari IS the head of AMS, however, there is not enough evidence, and hard  / concrete evidence that he is actually an insurgent leader. Please keep in mind that Iraq is a very non - stable country. Any major changes in the government / society will create a landslide of locals rebelling and causing us more problems. He may or may not be on our list to arrest, but then again, civilians would not have that information. keep in mind again, that the US doesn't let terrorist and especially people who kill our own soldier walk free for long
42265
It probably happens more often, but a lot less often than if the Iraqi Defense Force was there.  For all the issues that has been brought up, Saddam already have everyone beat when he was the dictator.  He killed thousands that opposed him.
293960
Saddam Hussein was a young man who was angry at the Iraqi monarchy (installed by the british).  He hooked up with the socialist Ba'ath party based in syria.  The Ba'athists were devout anti imperial and anti-communist.  The USA, fearing communist influence in iraqi politics after the toppling of iraq by general Qassim, trained and funded a group of Ba'athist members including Saddam, and helped them execute a bloody coup that killed Qassim.  They were chased out of Iraq by an angry populace in 1963 and regrouped later in 1968 and finally managed to take power during iraq's turbulent years.  Saddam was only VP at the time but was the main power base of iraq.  In 1973 Saddam angered the USA by participating in the oil embargo after the yom kippur war, but quickly became friends again after the Iranian Revolution toppled the Pro-USA Shah Pahlavi.  Saddam Hussein saw the disorganization of the Iranian Revolutionary Government and saw it as an opportunity to defeat Iran, which was the biggest military power in the middle east at the time, even bigger than israel.   Saddam Hussein had taken power as president in 1979 and went on an internal purge of suspected anti-baath elements.  Dozens of iraqi lawmakers were killed or jailed.  The Iran-Iraq war went on for nearly a decade from 1980-1988.  The United States had a hand in making sure neither side won because of concerns about a power vacuum.  Early in the war the USA helped iraq with intelligence and shipments of chemical weapons precursors.  later on the USA began selling spare parts and advanced missiles to Iran.  This was called the "Reagan Iran-Contra Scandal" where the president sold advanced american missiles to iran, took the profits and illegally funnelled them to the contra terrorists in central america.  Both sides used chemical weapons, and both regularly attacked each others cities with ballistic missiles.  After the end of the war, iraq was a broken, debt riddled nation.  Iraq's reason for invading kuwait in 1990 was complaints of kuwait overselling oil and slant-drilling into iraqi oil fields (both true).  The USA tricked saddam into attacking kuwait by proclaiming they had no special defence agreemnent with kuwait.  The USA went to war with iraq in hopes of toppling saddam and restoring the kuwaiti dictatorship.  12 years of postwar UN sanctions followed, and in 2003 George W. Bush decided to attack iraq without provocation, giving false justification of WMD as a reason.  The war continues to this day and the insurgency grows.  American soldiers are dying at a rate of 2 to 3 per day and the country is riddled with ethnic divisions and a looming civil war.   Saddam was captured but it has had no effect on the growing rebellion.
345300
Ummm... if you've been watching the news he has all ready been prosecuted. He is going to be hung. \n\nShould he be prosecuted for killing 148 people who supposedly tried to assasinate him? I think it depends if the people actually tried to assasinate him.\n\nAnd that is just one of the crimes he has commited. \n\nHow ignorant of people to blame Bush for everything! If you haven't done you're research don't make generalizing comments. Saddam is being judged by an Iraqi Court, not an American one.
416993
I don't personally agree with the death penalty in most cases. In\nSaddam's case, I think for all the deaths that he is personally\nresponsible, it might be justified.  The trial was held in an Iraqi\ncourt, and we have to respect the judgment handed down by\nthe judge, who was doing was based on Iraqi law. You may or may not like the sentencing, but we have to live with it. The free world, outside of the USA, doesn't have the death penalty. Please\nremember that Saddam gassed people to death, and used biological warfare against his own people. I don't like the guy, or\nwhat he did, but I thought the US-led invasion of Iraq was wrong,\nfor one simple premise. You don't meddle in the internal affairs\nof a country, unless you are invited to do so by the majority of\nIraqi citizens. Even though the Shi'ites and Kurds are happy \nSaddam is no longer in power, I doubt most of them are happy to\nsee the presence of US and other foreign troops there, since they\nprobably wanted help to oust Saddam themselves in terms of\nmilitary aid and support.
408910
It's much worse after. Saddam is evil. Everyone was afraid. When we invaded and captured Saddam, Iraq was a leaderless country. A very easy target and a logical choice for terrorists to occupy. Three years later there is still major upheaval throughout. \nReally, how can a country that has lived under dictatorship, know exactly what all a democracy truly means? Most of us who are used to a democratic republic don't completely understand. We need to begin our exit strategy soon. \nThere are basically three groups of different people living in Iraq. None of them can agree with the other two, nor do any of them trust one another to be fair and impartial to the rest. Without impartiality, and fairness a democracy is doomed to fail.
345270
interesting question, bet you get abused.\n\nkilled the most innocent Bush 10, Saddam 9, OBL 6\ncorrupt; Saddam 10, Bush 7, OBL 0\nterror: OBL 10, Bush 9, Saddam 0\nliar: Saddam 10, Bush 8, OBL 0\nregime violence, Saddam 10, Bush 5 OBL n/a\nstupid Bush 10, saddam 2, OBL 0\ndangerous: Bush 10, OBL 5, Saddam 0\n\nthat gives a result of Bush 59/70, Saddam 41/70, OBL 21/70\n\nhowever, the figures represent answers to "loaded" questions. i don't really think OBL is a better person than Bush, but Bush is clearly more violent and dangerous.
605168
Americans for the most part like the Iraqi's.  It is the terrorist insurgents and the hangers on to the old regime we don't like.  In the words of Thomas Jefferson, all men are created equal and are endowed by their creator with certain inalienable rights.  Sometimes you just have to stand up and fight for those rights.  The Iraqi people are just starting to get a chance to fight for their own rights now.  If you are an Iraqi, be proud, vote and support your new free and open Representative Republic.  It may not be perfect, but it beats the hell out of tyranny.