Should Saddam be executed?

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

I agree. Cheney and Rumsfeld appear to be running the 'show'. Whilst Bush plays the Statesman. I listened to his latest speech the other day. It's amazing how long someone can speak before actually saying anything.

Back to Saddam, I'd just like to endorse the comments Pinball would make. Seen as there is no adequate punishment for what he has done, or ordered people to do in his name, surely he his highly valuable as a source of intelligence. Just a thought.

[zozman]

welcome sir, you half-baked twat.

Only joking!

[Pinball]

The Americans have killed 15,000 Iraqis. Whilst an interesting question is the morality of not intervening in Iraq and letting Saddam carry on tormenting (sounds like an Addams family-esque 60s film but I digress), the fact is that Bush's policies are the cause and he has blood on his hands. Is he a war criminal?

Clearly Kissinger could readily be classed as a war criminal.

It's all relative and difficult to judge, but I really think there should be a standard modus operandi for dealing with these murderous bastards, preferably involving the international war crimes tribunal. This is clearly a US setup to quickly dispose of their ex-agent (no doubt the same would apply to their other ex-agent, Osama bin Laden), and it won't do. Actions speak louder than words, and the fact that the US insists on US prison guards for Saddam says it all. They only tolerate the Iraqi "justice system" when it suits their purposes, and they absolutely don't want anyone else to have access to Saddam, as they are terrified of what he might reveal about US foreign policy. For instance, the Iran-Iraq war is one of the charges against Saddam. The US bankrolled and provisioned Saddam during that war, so they are clearly implicated in that "war crime". Frankly, war  is crime, in which case America is the greatest criminal, and arguably, by the same logic, the greatest terrorist. A veritable rogue State.

"I love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning"

[king mob]

Its a gut reaction but it shows how gray ones opinions can be when thought about,do you think imprisonment or exile is enough for someone like Saddam?

Yes. Had he murdered my family no.

Fair enough.


The footage of Saddam is quite interesting, he looks like a drunk in a bad suit.

[El Unicornio, mang]

I'm personally of the view that people should be made to experience the same that they've done to others. The death penalty is too quick. Put him in a maximum-security American prison. That'll learn him.

[zozman]

[hencole]

Make him the next Engand manager. That'll learn him.

[Mediocre Rich]

Killing him is entirely pointless.  What justification could there be for such a small act carried out as complementation for crimes of the enormity perpetrated?

Symbolically it would be a far better move to incarcerate him.  They (the Iraqi people) should try to rise above the old perpetual cycle of an eye for an eye and prove that the country has moved that step closer to becoming civilised (a subjective term I know but what can you do).

Special exceptions are just utter kop out bollocks when it comes to the death penalty I'm afraid.  You either believe in the sanctity of life or you don't.

[Borboski]

It suprises me that those people who are favour of the death penalty, who i imagine are generally further to the right in terms of the role of the state, an individuals right to protect themselves, etc etc,

are so happy to abdicate this fundemental and moral principle to a bunch of state employees.

"Who do the council think they are telling me to cut my overhanging hedge?"

But you're quite happy for the state to execute people on your behalf? You don't think that's a bit of an imposition by a government you may not have even voted for? To implicate you in a person's death without you having any say so?

Brilliant.

Carry on.

[MojoJojo]

But the Justice system is almost always conceived of as being seperate from the government, in all western democracies anyway. That's why politicians can still be arrested (in theory).
And while right leaning people may think the government is crap, they generally think the justice system is great, and tend to overlook miscarriages of justice  as "that scum couldn't be trusted anyway, he was just waiting for the opportunity".

[hencole]

But the Justice system is almost always conceived of as being seperate from the government, in all western democracies anyway.

That simply is not true though. They'd like you to think that, but when it comes to the crunch issues Bush's election triumph, Blairs 'legal' involvement in the Iraq war it all goes out of the window.

[gazzyk1ns]

Re-gazzykins

Would you care if, after the execution, his body was ripped to pieces by a baying mob, and the crowd spat, pissed and turded on his bloody entrails?
I know a newspaper or two who would bloody love it.

If it was a complete exception, for a once-in-a-lifetime (probably a lot rarer) dictator who has done similar things to their families... I don't think I'd mind too much to be honest, I agreed with your previous point that you can't (i.e. shouldn't) torture him because that's what he's being punished for... but if they want to tear his corpse up and eat his dead balls then so? There's no suffering there, and it might alleviate a lot of mental suffering for others. I can't personally see why it would help anyone but if it would, then...

[MonkeyDrummer]

Take him out for a night on the piss, and feed him bacon butties in the morning to cure his hangover. That'll learn him.

[Borboski]

But the Justice system is almost always conceived of as being seperate from the government, in all western democracies anyway.

That simply is not true though. They'd like you to think that, but when it comes to the crunch issues Bush's election triumph, Blairs 'legal' involvement in the Iraq war it all goes out of the window.

And I know I blurred it myself in the post but the point I was making was about the role of the state in our lives. Whenever the state does anything it's because we allow it to - that's the difference between living in a feudal monarchy, where the legitimacy is conveighed by god.

And I'm certainly not happy for some state employee - paid for by my taxes, to decide who gets to live and who gets to die. I genuinely don't think these execution-happy individuals have thought through what kind of society they want to live in and what powers they want the state to have.

[Borboski]

But the Justice system is almost always conceived of as being seperate from the government, in all western democracies anyway.

That simply is not true though. They'd like you to think that, but when it comes to the crunch issues Bush's election triumph, Blairs 'legal' involvement in the Iraq war it all goes out of the window.

And of course government appoints judges.

[WoShade]

Enroll him at Birkbeck. That'll learn him.

[Incredible Monkey Doctor]

The best punishment would be to stick him in prison and then let any Iraqi who wanted to speak to him do so. Let him hear years upon years worth of tales of the suffering he caused.

[Ambient Sheep]

The best punishment would be to stick him in prison and then let any Iraqi who wanted to speak to him do so. Let him hear years upon years worth of tales of the suffering he caused.

That's a nice one.  Better than my initial thought of having Whitney Houston's "I-e-I-e-I will always love youuuuuuououououououououoouo" on 24-hour loop.

[gazzyk1ns]

After seeing the pictures of him taken shortly after they pulled him out of his hole, I think they should ban him from shaving, give him a red uniform, and make him play the part of Father Christmas at the end of each year. Not only does it save money, but it gives him a chance to give something back.

[Pinball]

A little reminder of how the "good guys" behave:
source

MY HELL IN CAMP X-RAY
A BRITISH captive freed from Guantanamo Bay today tells the world of its full horror - and reveals how prostitutes were taken into the camp to degrade Muslim inmates.

...

But Jamal's most shocking disclosure centred on the use of vice girls to torment the most religiously devout detainees.

Prisoners who had never seen an "unveiled" woman before would be forced to watch as the hookers touched their own naked bodies.

The men would return distraught. One said an American girl had smeared menstrual blood across his face in an act of humiliation.

Jamal said: "I knew of this happening about 10 times. It always seemed to be those who were very young or known to be particularly religious who would be taken away."

Did you notice how much coverage the freed British prisoners got? Almost none. Good to live in a freedom-embracing country. hahahahahaha

[Tokyo Sexwhale]

Good News: Saddam's facing the death penalty!

Bad News: David Beckham's taking it.



Apologies to all those who've already had that at work..

[Marcus Or Relius]

Apologies to all those who've already had that at work

I actually walked into the office after lunch and just caught the punchline to that gag, and I'm too cool and hip to beg my scumbag colleagues to tell me the first part of the joke.

So cheers : )

[My Giddy Aunt]

Surely citing the example of milosevic being tried in the Hague as a reason to try Saddam there is wrong. To my mind it shows exactly why he shouldnt be, it doesnt work, no justice is served.

I'm no expert on this but i think somewhere like Somalia they have had 'native courts' and that has dispensed far more justice. (Might be wrong there, but i stand by my general point)

[Jaffa The Cake]

[Vermschneid Mehearties]

Men With Beards. Not to be trusted.

[king mob]

But does that make Chemical Ali William Shatner?