My Thoughts on Saddam ...

... haven't changed since I wrote this post back on November 28th, 2005.

The US sponsored rush to judgement and execution by hanging of Saddam Hussein is another missed opportunity to put a compassionate face on what it means to be a democracy. Instead, we sink to ever lower levels of violence and killing.

Should Saddam be put to death by hanging, whether during a holy Muslim holiday or not, we should all be ashamed of the barbaric example we are setting for the rest of the world.

Also See:

• Hanging Saddam������������������������������������� by Mike Whitney:

  "The execution of Saddam Hussein is another grim chapter in the catalogue of war crimes perpetrated against the Iraqi people. It is a gratuitous act of barbarism devoid of justice."

• Iraq poll: U.S. troops departure is asset:

  "BAGHDAD, Dec. 29 (UPI) -- About 90 percent of Iraqis feel the situation in the country was better before the U.S.-led invasion than it is today, according to a new ICRSS poll."

• Al Jazeera - Confusion Surrounds Saddam Fate:

  "US officials have handed over Saddam Hussein to Iraqi authorities for execution, his chief lawyer has said, but conflicting accounts swirled over whether the deposed president would be hanged within hours."

• Saddam still in our custody, says US:

  "IRAQ'S former president Saddam Hussein, who is sentenced to hang soon, still is in US custody and has not been handed over to Iraqi authorities, a State Department spokesman said today."

• Saddam's hanging is Illegal and Unjust:

  Let no man think we can deny civil liberty to others and retain it for ourselves. When zealous agents of the Government arrest suspected "radicals" without warrant, hold them without prompt trial, deny them access to counsel and admission of bail....we have shorn the Bill of Rights of its sanctity..." -- Robert M. Lafollette, Sr. (1855-1925) U.S. Senator - Source: The Progressive, March 1920
  
  "Are we now going to compound our illegal preemptive attack and occupation of Iraq, where we set up and implemented a U.S. controlled coalition government, where we stage managed a flawed election and judicial system and where we now have condoned the hanging of this sovereign country's leader after a mock U.S. managed monkey trial?"

• Lawyers Work to Stop Saddam's Execution:

  "Lawyers for Saddam Hussein asked a U.S. judge to block his transfer to the custody of Iraqi officials poised to carry out his execution."

• Who Will Hang For This Crime?
  Paying The Price: Killing The Children Of Iraq (A Documentary Film by John Pilger)

  "Sanctions enforced by the UN on Iraq since the Gulf War have killed more people than the two atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945, including over half a million children - many of whom weren't even born when the Gulf War began."

• Who Will Hang For This Crime?
  The Secret Behind the Sanctions:

  How the U.S. Intentionally Destroyed Iraq's Water Supply

• Ritter Reflects On "Iraq Pretext":

  "The US-led invasion of Iraq in March 2003, had "nothing to do with those elusive weapons of mass destruction, as claimed by President Bush and his coalition of the willing ... It was all about regime change, no matter the cost".

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