Saddam Hussein has been executed

[Milky Tears]

Saddam Hussein is to be executed within the hour... according to BBC News 24. "Reached the gallows" according to Sky News sources.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/mid...st/6218245.stm



The footage will probably be all over the internet by tomorrow morning!



Edited to add: Looks like it's happened...

[WhiteCrow]

Couldn't happen to a nicer bloke.

It amazes me how someone who has spent 30 years sending his own people to death over any whim, has spent his last 3 years complaining about his own human rights. It's a shame such men can only be killed once.

It's also a shame such men exist. I'm normally quite a restrained, liberal person, anti-death penalty because you never can be sure of a miscarrage of justice. However in this I really no upset about this.

Anyway enough of this rant. The world will be better without him, and he'd be upset to know how little he'll be missed.

[Captain Tancredi]

The thing that gets me is how inadequate it is compared to the number of deaths he caused- he can only die once, and it's over. Neither would it surprise me if the remaining atrocities of his regime are simply rubber-stamped and filed away rather than being properly investigated, because the major players are no longer around to give evidence.

I can't help wondering, though, how long Blair will have to be out of office before some anti-war campaigners try the stunt of a charge of crimes against humanity- I'd imagine a dossier of evidence could be put together from information in the public domain, and a citizen's arrest in public could be...interesting.

[Andrew Curnow]

It was bound to happen, although I must confess I'm surprised that it's happened so quickly. I do wonder, though, whether, despite Bush's claims, it will help Iraq move forward; sadly, I think in the short-term it will probably have the opposite effect.

[WhiteCrow]

It was bound to happen, although I must confess I'm surprised that it's happened so quickly. I do wonder, though, whether, despite Bush's claims, it will help Iraq move forward; sadly, I think in the short-term it will probably have the opposite effect.

I don't think it'll change a thing agreed. Not one terrorist attrocity has been because Saddam had been caught and the terrorists wanted him released.

[Rob McCow]

Just one more death in Iraq.

[Carol Baynes]

The thing that gets me is how inadequate it is compared to the number of deaths he caused- he can only die once, and it's over.

You only live twice,
once when you are born,
and once when you look death in the face.

Or to put it another way, I don't believe you can ever escape 'cosmic justice'. He'll get his dues- whatever they may be.

[Pip Madeley]

"An eye for an eye will leave us all blind" - Ghandi

I'm no Christian, but I don't think that we have any right to decide who should live and who should die. How does that make us any better than him? Better to have locked him up for the rest of his sorry life, than to hang him and make him a martyr.

[Larry]

Just one more death in Iraq.

but a justified one..

[Carol Baynes]

Incidently, the lines in the Bible that Ghandi is refering to (in the quote Pip posted) describe the effects of what Eastern belief call Karma, and not a literal idea. The cause and effect of life in other words. It wasn't supporting the idea of revenge, rather it wasaying we each have a choice and we can each shape our own destiny. What goes around, comes round. Odd that one as wise as Ghandi read it literally (which is perhaps no wonder, considering how well the Church has stripped the bible of anything 'controversial' over the centuries).

And no, I don't believe we have any right to take another's life, even one as apparantly deserving of the fate as Saddam Hussain. It's not a casual thing to say, as it may seem like a fitting punishment in a certain situation (perhaps such as Hussain's). Perhaps the human race still has a long way to go before we see that.

[Larry]

And no, I don't believe we have any right to take another's life, even one as apparantly deserving of the fate as Saddam Hussain. It's not a casual thing to say, as it may seem like a fitting punishment in a certain situation (perhaps such as Hussain's). Perhaps the human race still has a long way to go before we see that.

well I am a firm believer in the death penalty and in my opinion is if you are a child murderer or serial killer or commite the crimes that Hussein has then you deserve to die and you forfeit your right to live.

[Trudi G]

"An eye for an eye will leave us all blind" - Ghandi

I'm no Christian, but I don't think that we have any right to decide who should live and who should die. How does that make us any better than him? Better to have locked him up for the rest of his sorry life, than to hang him and make him a martyr.

I have to agree with Pip on this one...

[Ralph]

And no, I don't believe we have any right to take another's life, even one as apparantly deserving of the fate as Saddam Hussain. It's not a casual thing to say, as it may seem like a fitting punishment in a certain situation (perhaps such as Hussain's). Perhaps the human race still has a long way to go before we see that.

While I appreciate what you're saying...I can see it from the perspective of why we would put down a mad animal. Sadly I think people like Saddam challenge the human race..I think it's incredibly difficult to understand the values of his kind who would snuff out human life without a second thought. If you were a relative of someone who was slaughtered by him would this sway you? Are we really any less civilised for eliminating this "mad animal" from our world? Perhaps but I'm not entirely sure.

[Captain Tancredi]

One thing that's stuck with me since school was an assembly one of the teachers used to give every couple of years on some words from a sermon by John Donne- the one that includes the phrase "no man is an island" and ends with "therefore send not to ask for whom the bell tolls- it tolls for thee". Donne also argues that the death of any human being diminishes us all- a challenging concept when we're dealing with the value of the life of a man who thought nothing of the lives of others- but an important one nevertheless.

[Wayne]

The whole capital punishment debate is a very difficult issue, isn't it? My own views on this have never been set in stone. I've mostly been against the whole concept, but over the years, i've sometimes wavered. I find it very difficult not to get emotionally involved when i read about some of the worst crimes that humans are capable of inflicting on each other. Vile crimes commited against children is a particularly difficult one for me. Take Brady & Hindley for instance. In all honesty i have to say that after having read in detail about their crimes, i have never felt anything but absolute hatred for them. To the best of my knowledge Brady has never shown one iota of remorse or regret. He's been in prison all these years, & it doesn't seem to have changed him one bit. I can't help but feel that it would be better to execute such people as him.
Yet despite the strength of feeling that cases like that arouse in me, Somewhere deep down inside, it feels wrong, & i can't help but wish there was a better way.....
On a similar theme, i recently watched 'Schindler's List', & it reminded me once again what animals some of the Nazis were...... That really firms up my feeling that their are some people who lose their right to exist in our society..... But it's a difficult one. I'm glad the choice is not mine to make. Because if it was, then i could potentially be as bad as them. I say that because (putting aside Carol's 'Cosmic Justice' theory - which is a whole other discussion in itself) i think that execution is too good for some people. I think if i could go back & exact justice upon Hitler for instance, i would want to put him through as much suffering as possible, so that he would know how all those millions who suffered horribly because of his insane racial doctrine felt.

[Carol Baynes]

Execution may well be too good for some people, but do we have the right to make that choice. Is it our right to take life? It's a complex moral conflict, and not an easy one to rectify.

[Wayne]

Execution may well be too good for some people, but do we have the right to make that choice. Is it our right to take life? It's a complex moral conflict, and not an easy one to rectify.

Indeed.
I absolutely agree with you. I'm not 100% sure of how i feel about the issue. Frankly, i don't feel 'qualified' to make that judgement. Perhaps the point is that none of are?

[Larry]

Execution may well be too good for some people, but do we have the right to make that choice. Is it our right to take life? It's a complex moral conflict, and not an easy one to rectify.

I do believe we have the right - was it wrong that many of the leading Nazis like Goering and Adolf Eichman, who were responcible for the death of 6 million Jews were sentenced to death. Or do you honestly believe that people like Ian Huntley, Peter Sucliff and Dennis Neilson have any right to live after what they have done. I find it unbelievable that that piece of scum who was this year convicted of repeatedly raping a baby girl will probably be out of prison in 5 years. Scum like that do not deserve to live and any one who commits an evil crime like that deserves to be executed.



But we have become far to soft in this country where the PC brigade are more concerned about the "Human Rights" of the killers rather than their victims and I for one am sick and tired of it. I do not advocate the death penalty for all acts of murder but I firmly believe that it should be brought back for child killers/ peodeophials/ serial killers and killers of policemen.

[Pip Madeley]

do you honestly believe that people like Ian Huntley, Peter Sucliff and Dennis Neilson have any right to live after what they have done. I find it unbelievable that that piece of scum who was this year convicted of repeatedly raping a baby girl will probably be out of prison in 5 years. Scum like that do not deserve to live and any one who commits an evil crime like that deserves to be executed.

I'd rather they were locked up for the rest of their lives - they cannot harm anyone locked up in a cell any more than they could six feet under. And if you're prepared to kill a killer, even for 'honourable' reason, it still makes you a killer too...

I can't see them being released anyway, there'd be too much public opposition.

[Paul Clement]

I'd rather they were locked up for the rest of their lives -

As long as they also lose their civil liberties and don't get put in a cell with a TV, video and all the luxuries they can ask for. Instead, put them in a rat infested hole and let them suffer their punishment.

[Wayne]

As long as they also lose their civil liberties and don't get put in a cell with a TV, video and all the luxuries they can ask for. Instead, put them in a rat infested hole and let them suffer their punishment.

This is the problem sometimes with just locking them up. From i've read about Brady, not only does he have all these mod cons, but he seems to've enjoyed his time in prison, & played on his infamous reputation. Somehow it doesn't seem much of a punishment for someone who tortured & murdered children does it?

[Paul Clement]

Exactly, the only thing he has lost is his freedom, and although it isn't something you'd want to lose, it can be made a lot more bearable if you are living your life freedomless life in comfort.

[Pip Madeley]

As long as they also lose their civil liberties and don't get put in a cell with a TV, video and all the luxuries they can ask for. Instead, put them in a rat infested hole and let them suffer their punishment.

Oh, definitely. They get Sky TV these days, it's appalling.

[WhiteCrow]

Execution may well be too good for some people, but do we have the right to make that choice. Is it our right to take life? It's a complex moral conflict, and not an easy one to rectify.

I'm reading the conversation about whether or not it's right to execute someone. Like I've said I've spent my life thus far believing capital punishment is wrong. But maybe it takes something like this to change my mind.

He was unrepentant about those whose deaths he caused, and he caused a lot of deaths, unpleasant deaths.

I don't doubt that prison can be an effective punishment. However I believe for some crimes they are so severe that you just cannot risk that person ever causing harm again to society. And the only way you can be sure about this, truely sure they won't harm again it to have them killed.

In the same way as once a dog has turned and seriously attacked, there is no coming back from it, and it has to be put down. So it is with some people. Time in prison has not produced a Charles Manson or Peter Sutcliffe who is any less of a threat than the day they started their sentance.

Today I feel the problems of Iraq were not solved or indeed made easier, however the world was made a better place for one less truely evil monster in it.

End of the day, I have pity for his victems, I have none for him.

Strong words I know, and it is an emotive subject. It is for me tragic to think I am a compassionate person, and yet men like him I have no compassion for at all. He and men like him are monsters, more so because they have an ability to bring out the monsterous in other men.

[Paul Clement]

The question is, will he now become a martyr for certain people in the Islamic world. He wasn't a particularly well liked head of state, but there are those who will lay the blame for his demise squarely on the shoulders of the U.S amnd Britain and use his death for their own purposes.