Was Iraq court right for sentencing Saddam Hussein to the gallow for crime against humanity or wrong?
818079
No one (OK only a very few people) can take an apologist stand for this man, he was a street thug who rose to power and, like so many before him, abused that power to retain it.  There are no mitigating factors here and, although I view everything I hear from Iraq with a huge amount of cynicism, I do not doubt his guilt.\n\nThere are two things that bother me however the first is my general opposition to the death penalty, I see the need for retribution in some cases but I fail to see how this is achieved by multiplying the number of coffins involved.  The second thing is that we, and by that I describe both the USA and the UK, promoted and supported this man for years, we nearly wet ourselves with joy when he began to make war on Iran where he did incalculable damage and wrought havoc while we capered gleefully at his behaviour.\n\nWe encouraged him in what he became and are, to a degree, culpable in his maintenance of power and I just find it distasteful that we should all be so pleased at the prospect of another death.
1124657
wrong as wrong can be, every death that has happened over there since the day of our invasion, has to blamed on bush.  he should be tried as a war crimminal in iraq.
510588
That is a perfect sentence for a war criminal, but George Bush should have to face the United Nations for war crimes as well.
915529
How quick are people here to jump blindly to all kinds of conclusions about this.  Firstly, most people are forgetting that your question as us if WE were sentenced to death....perhaps some people here should try to get their head round that bit of the concept first before assuming that anyone should be sentenced to death.  \n\nThere have been a lot of miscarriages of justice - in the UK think of people who have been released years after being sentenced because they were wrongly imprisoned in the first place. You can't bring people back from the dead so there's a moral and ethical question people ought to ask themselves about whether the death penalty - is something that is right in the first place.  Thankfully in the UK we abolished it but there are plenty of other countries that still exercise this sentencing option.  \n\nWhen is it right to sentence someone to death, and when is it not?\n\nOf course this question has probably been prompted by the news that Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death for crimes against humanity.  Even in the case of such a tyrant he did not act alone - he had people around him who supported him in his actions.  Yes some will have done it out of fear, but for everyone of those there will have been someone who did it with the same intent as Saddam.  Whilst I abhor his actions is it right that he carries this alone?\n\nOf course, in an instance like this people's gut reactions will think I'm a bleeding heart liberal.  But now imagine you're in a train carriage with two other people.  One gets up and brutally stabbing the other before jumping off the still moving train.  You're found bent over the body with blood on your hands.  The CCTV wasn't working and all the evidence points at you.  Do you still believe in the death penalty?\n\nThere've been cases where people have been sentenced to death despite having the mental age of a child and not knowing the difference between right and wrong - they're particularly tragic.  And then there are the options themselves as to the way you die.  Lethal injection etc.  They say that some methods are quicker than others.  The quickest, I understand, is meant to take almost immediate effect and yet in some US States where they offer this the doctor still does not declare the patient dead for 30 minutes, suggesting that it is not as quick as they claim. If it has to be then surely it should be by the quickest method possible.  As if someone is to die a slow death then are we not committing an act of torture leading to death?  Don't we become as bad as the person who's committed the crime?
697517
I could care less if you overlook my reply and do not count me (ohhhh, I am so scared!). If you do not want replies from this site then post on the middle east version of this site.\n\nFirst off, could you please spell that person's name correctly. It is SADDAM HUSSEIN, not Saddan. Duh!\n\nHe was found guilty of crimes by his countrymen, in an Iraqi court of law.\n\nHang 'em and hang 'em high!
960981
I agree with the second guy. There is no way to charge Bush with a war crime (and I believe that crimes against humanity is a war crime) because of some international legal bullsh'it. I can't remember how it goes since it gets a little complicated, but bottom line, it can't be filed.\n\nGermany's going in the right direction though. They filed criminal charges against Rumsfeld but can't try him. All this is to create a precedent against Bush and his cronies. Good job, Germany.
1120749
how about sex offender's human right been violated?\n\nhere the link  from human right watch org\nhttp://hrw.org/english/docs/2005/05/24/usdom11006.htm\n\nhttp://hrw.org/doc/?t=usa_sentencing\nyou will find alot of us here or ask me\n\nhttp://groups.yahoo.com/group/roar_4_freedom/
203131
Saddam is in Jail for what he has done ...
860177
A totally different topic. Saddam was sentenced to death because of crimes against humanity (if you believe that). In other countries, you may not agree with a head of state, but the underlying problems are greater than any one person can tackle.
481068
Umm...Saddam did some really bad things during his reign as ruler of Iraq. Whether Bush is a criminal or not will be determined by history.
112654
Maybe for the challenge.  Everyone knows Saddam gassed the Kurds and invaded Kuwait.  But some lawyers are competitive that thrive on the challenge.  Here you have the opportuniry to represent a head of state, accused of crimes against humanity and the peace that are irrefutable, but what does it feel like to be responsible for an entire country, while surrounded by neighbors like Iran and Syria, where there is a strong presence felt from world powers like China, Russia and the U.S.  This is a cuthroat region where everyone wants or needs a piece of the action because of the oil reserves in the region.  What is the history of the region?\n\nA lawyer cannot change facts or perform magic.  Even Clarence Darrow had a case where he had his clients plead guilty to murder, and instead argued at sentencing in an effort to save his clients from capital punishment.  That's what I would do if I represented Saddam.  I would argue that he's not a sadistic criminal that deserves the death penalty, instead he was a politcal strongman that did his best to protect his country in a region where it's kill or be killed.  I would argue that life in prison is sufficient punishment.
833821
If we celebrate the conviction of Saddam, then we should also convict our own President, as he is just as guilty of "war crimes" as Saddam and then we should celebrate his conviction as well. As far as I know, Bin Laden is still in hiding, although I am sure our President has always known where he is and will never bring him to justice...Bin Laden didn't have a personal feud with Daddy Bush, only Saddam. Just my opinion folks...don't come down on me too hard, but I'm not in favor of this war in Iraq, and I feel we have no business there. When all the weapons of mass destruction were NEVER found, we should have high tailed it back home and let those people live in peace or at least live the way they are accustomed to, there has always been holy wars over there and we have no business in a holy war with them or anyone else for that matter.
921743
Saddam Hussein did some terrible things, but I don't support the death penalty under any circumstances.  Let's not forget that the U.S. government was friendly with him up until the day he invaded Kuwait.  Furthermore, he is to be hanged, which is rather draconian.
992116
Because every man is entitled to a fair trial. Although I think Saddam's chips are down, as the death penalty has been requested for him in the Iraq Courts...\n\nHe will get his, don't worry and it will be justice indeed because his own countrymen will be killing him...
926760
The established principles of Natural Justice are: 1) An accused can not be punished unheard. 2) A person can not be judge of his own action. 3) An accused can not be punished more than once for the same offence. 4) A person can not be compelled to be a witness against himself. All these principles have been very scrupulously followed in case of Saddam Hussein under full gaze of the entire world. The extra-liberal western democracies were keeping a vigil on the methods adopted during trial of the accused. He has been awarded the punishment as he has been accused of an offence which is rarest of the rare kind and proved beyond all reasonable doubts. Hence, the punishment is fully justified. His crime is a crime against mankind, even Allah will be pleased at his hanging.
822641
The appeals process is quite limited in Iraq and will be gone through rather quickly.  Then the verdict and sentence must be approved by the Iraqi president (and two others, I think).  The approval probably will not take long either.  While there is another Saddam trial going on, he could be executed before its completion.  My feeling is that all trials on all charges should be completed before he is executed so that there will be documentation of all his acts before he dies.
821045
Hey Del the yanks are answering,a guy is innocent till proven guilty,we are supposed to have human rights,obviously we havent got the the right to walk into town,the poor guy went to jail for that.These knobs should think of the family of the man.At the end of it all he was in jail coz they only thought he was a bad person.God bless him and his family