Saddam Hussein Gets Death Sentence
Unlike many of his victims, Saddam Hussein received a trial under the laws of Iraq and has been convicted and sentenced to be hanged. Two other co-defendants were also given death sentences.
Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity by a Baghdad court and sentenced to death by hanging.
He was found guilty over his role in the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982.
His half brother Barzan al-Tikriti was also sentenced to death, as was Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bander
Former vice-president Taha Yassin Ramadan got life in jail and three others received 15 year prison terms.
Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted.
When called to court, Saddam Hussein, dressed in his usual dark suit and white shirt and carrying a Koran, walked to his customary seat and sat down.
Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman ordered Saddam Hussein to stand while he read out the verdict, but the former president defiantly refused to do so and had to be moved from his seat by court attendants.
As the judge began reading the death sentence Saddam Hussein shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live Iraq! Long live the Iraqi people! Down with the traitors!"
The former leader looked shocked and furious as the sentence was passed, and continued to shout, denouncing the court, the judge and the US-led occupation force in Iraq.
But the BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson said that after his tirade, as he was led away from the courtroom, Saddam Hussein seemed to have a small smile on his face.
According to the reporter, when Saddam left the court he had that little smirk on his face. So the feigned outrage was theater, it would appear.
UPDATE: Others (and there are a LOT of others): Captain's Quarters, Gateway Pundit, The Glittering Eye, The Indepundit, rightlinx.com, Tammy Bruce, Confederate Yankee, Power Line, The Mahablog, Patterico's Pontifications, Barking Moonbat Early …, Decision '08, Peaktalk, The Moderate Voice, Outside The Beltway, The Coalition of the Swilling, Ankle Biting Pundits, Macsmind, Babalu Blog, Don Surber, Gates of Vienna, Squiggler, RightWinged.com, Michelle Malkin, Mensa Barbie Welcomes You, JunkYardBlog, The Dread Pundit Bluto, Chicago Boyz, Scared Monkeys, Instapundit.com, Wizbang,
UPDATE: This one from Gateway Pundit needs to be broken out: Ramsey Clark gets thrown out on his butt for insulting the tribunal.
Before the trial began, one of Saddam's lawyers, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a memorandum in which he called the Saddam trial a 'travesty.' Abdul-Rahman pointed to Clark and said in English, 'Get out.'
He also said that Ramsey was the travesty. That pretty well covers it.
Other Links to this Post
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Don't Go Into The Light — November 5, 2006 @ 6:24 am
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Alabama Liberation Front — November 5, 2006 @ 6:49 am
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bRight & Early » Saddam Found Guilty — November 5, 2006 @ 7:21 am
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Right Voices » Blog Archive » Saddam Hussein Sentenced to Die for Crimes Against Humanity — November 5, 2006 @ 1:17 pm
By kjhg, November 5, 2006 @ 9:49 am
Rumpsfelt gets it from the Gannet/USA Today the same time.
By piglet, November 7, 2006 @ 11:24 am
It is remarkable that Saddam has been sentenced for a crime he committed in 1982, at a time when the USA was more than eager to provide support to Saddam Hussein’s regime and was complicit in some of his crimes. As usual, this fact has not even been mentioned by our amnesiac media. Donald Rumsfeld, the incarnation of this administration’s moral bankruptcy, went to Baghdad shaking hands with Saddam, on December 20, 1983 (http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/NSAEBB/NSAEBB82/).
At that time, Rumsfeld knew that Saddam was a dangerous dictator (contrary to 2003, when he wasn’t dangerous any more). He knew about the 1982 massacre that has now been recognized as a “crime against humanity”. Donald Rumsfeld knew that Saddam had ordered the use of chemical weapons against Iran in breach of the Geneva conventions (contrary to 2003, when Rumsfeld knew exactly that there were no chemical weapons). And he went to Baghdad in 1983, shaking hands with Saddam Hussein, offering him the support of the United States. That’s the story that will be told in the history book.