It's about time, isn't it?
From My Way News:
An Iraqi court on Sunday sentenced Saddam Hussein to the gallows for crimes against humanity, closing a quarter-century-old chapter of violent suppression in this land of long memories, deep grudges and sectarian slaughter.
The former Iraqi dictator and six subordinates were convicted and sentenced for the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single Shiite town after an attempt on his life there.
Shiites and Kurds, who had been tormented and killed in the tens of thousands under Saddam's iron rule, erupted in celebration - but looked ahead fearfully for a potential backlash from the Sunni insurgency that some believe could be a final shove into all-out civil war.
[...]
The nine-month trial had inflamed the nation, and three defense lawyers and a witness were murdered in the course of its 39 sessions.
There's video of the verdict here.
Finland, of all places, wasn't amused:
The European Union urged Iraq on Sunday not to carry out the death sentence passed on Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein after his conviction for crimes against humanity.
"The EU opposes capital punishment in all cases and under all circumstances, and it should not be carried out in this case either," Finland, current holder of the rotating EU presidency, said in a statement.
Well, who asked you, anyway?
More from Times Online:
Saddam, dressed in a dark jacket and white shirt, harangued the tribunal’s chief judge as the judgment was read.
"You can’t decide. You are slaves. God is great. Life is for us and death for our enemies. Life for the nation, death for the enemies of our nation," Saddam said, visibly shaking, his face wrapped tightly in a scowl.
A court official held Saddam's hands behind his back as Rahman, shouting to be heard over the defendant, declared: "The highest penalty should be implemented."
[...]
An appeals process is due to start within 30 days. It will be heard before a chamber of nine judges and could take several months to reach a conclusion.
If they agree that Saddam should be sentenced to death, the former leader will have to be executed within 30 days of that decision.
President Bush praised the verdict.
There's still a lot of work to do, however. Appeals, more trials, more rants and pajama protests. It seems to me that it would have been better to do one trial, bring witnesses forward from all of these rapes, murders and tortures and be done with it.
Find him guilty, let him appeal once, then walk him outside and find a tree.
And I think that would be good for Iraq.
Also blogging:
Hey there..of course the Libs are already protesting this "poor mans fate"!..Arggg!!!!
Posted by: Angel | November 06, 2006 at 02:56 PM