World's Mixed Reaction To Death Sentence
Global Reaction To Saddam Sentence Includes Warnings, Welcome And Condemnation
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Play CBS Video Video Blair Against Saddam Execution CBS News RAW: British Prime Minister Tony Blair, pressed to say whether he approves of Saddam's Hussein's death sentence, eventually said the U.K.'s stance is against all capital punishment.
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Video Tribunal Finds Saddam Guilty After a nine-month trail, Iraq's High Tribunal found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity and ordered that the former dictator be hanged. Lara Logan reports from Baghdad.
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Activists of the Communist Party of India protest against the death sentence awarded to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, in Hyderabad, India, Monday, Nov. 6, 2006. (AP Photo)
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President Bush pauses as he delivers a statement about former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's conviction Sunday Nov. 5, 2006, Waco, Texas. Bush spoke before leaving on a day of campaigning. (AP Photo)
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
Worldwide, the range of reactions — including a European outcry over capital punishment and doubts about the fairness of the tribunal that ordered Saddam to hang — reflected new geopolitical fault lines drawn after the U.S. decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose its dictator.
President Bush called the verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law."
"It's a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy and its constitutional government," he said.
"Today, the victims of this regime have received a measure of the justice which many thought would never come," he added.
The European Union welcomed the verdict but said Saddam should not be put to death. At the Vatican, Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues, called the sentence a throwback to “eye for an eye” vengeance.
The death sentence automatically goes to a nine-judge appeals panel, which was expected to rule by the middle of January, the chief prosecutor said on Monday.
Iraq's three-man presidential council agreed at least six months ago not to block the death penalty for Saddam, should it be upheld on appeal, the Associated Press reported.
All three members of the presidential Council — President Jalal Talabani and Vice Presidents Tariq al-Hashimi and Adil Abdul-Mahdi — must sign death warrants before executions can be carried out.
If the verdicts and sentences are upheld, the executions must be carried out within 30 days.
“This is not the way to present the new Iraq to the world, which is different from Saddam, who was behind hundreds of thousands of deaths as well as death penalty sentences,” said Hands Off Cain, an Italian organization working to rid the world of capital punishment.
“The hanging of Saddam Hussein will turn to hell for the Americans,” said Vitaya Wisethrat, a respected Muslim cleric in Thailand, which has its own Islamic insurgency in the country's south.
“The Saddam case is not a Muslim problem but the problem of America and its domestic politics,” he said. “Maybe Bush will use this case to tell the voters that Saddam is dead and that the Americans are safe. But actually the American people will be in more danger with the death of Saddam.”
Jubilant Shiites marched by the hundreds Monday, celebrating Hussein's sentence as Sunnis held defiant counter-demonstrations, however, the surge in violence expected after the verdict did not materialize.
Intervening militarily was “a grave error,” said Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country withdrew its troops from Iraq, contending that conditions there have worsened since the U.S.-led invasion.
Although some voiced doubts that Saddam would actually be hanged, the International Federation for Human Rights denounced the death sentence, warning that it “will generate more violence and deepen the cycle of killing for revenge in Iraq.” The Council of Europe called it “futile and wrong” to execute Saddam.
Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, urged Iraq to ensure a fair appeals process and to refrain from executing Saddam even if the sentence is upheld.
In Pakistan, an opposition religious coalition claimed American forces have caused more deaths in Iraq in the past 3½ years than Saddam did during his 23-year rule, and insisted Bush should stand trial for war crimes.
“Who will punish the Americans and their lackeys who have killed many more people than Saddam Hussein?” asked Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a senior lawmaker from the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition, which is critical of Pakistan's military cooperation with the United States.
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Best-selling author Mitch Albom on his first nonfiction work since "Tuesdays with Morrie."





Did someone take their stupid pill this morning?
France has the highest percentage at 10%, Netherlands the next at 5.4, and everyone else is less than that (from .01% to 3%).
sentenced to death 2 days prior to our elections??? That is just sick and wrong. Call a spade a spade.
He's in custody and there is murders and executions going on daily. You forget that at one time he was supported by us, till Dubya and the big money boys decided he had weapons of mass destruction and went in and blew the hell out of Iraq. Now we have lawlessness that is rampant and it is caused by poor planning on our part. Turn it all over to the elected Iraqi gov. and get the hell out.
Hang him and let the Liberals cry.
Could it be that they are supporters of Saddam simply because he was, at one time, their leader?
Why are you here, and not there? I am certain that those in command would be more than happy to support you. Or is the living there a little too hard? Easier to sit here and fuss, than be there and fight.
The European nation's Christian based population boasts a 1.34% percent population increase, whereas the Muslim nations report 4.68. No where in history has a country with less than 2% population increase survived into history. America's?? 1.89.
Don't worry about the Republicans sinking this country, those who embrace the free nation of love your neighbor will soon have the opportunity to embrace the Muslim nation right on their own doorstep. Unfortunately, as they step into that tight circle of welcoming arms, the knife will slip from the robe and drop one more "American Devil." You're right...leave them alone, they will be here soon enough. Let's turn the Democratic Liberals into the welcoming party. Those who love America will gladly use the bodies of those stupid enough to believe the Muslim faith wants us as their friends, as shields. "Thy Kingdom come...." it's on it's way.
...... and it figures that Democrats and their pals in our liberal MSM wolfpack would cry foul......... sad and shameful...........
- by adian1-2009 November 6, 2006 10:34 AM EST
- A guilty judgment just a few days before mid-term elction??? Mmmm!!! A death sentence right then and there??? Mmmm!!! Are there any rules of criminal procedure? But... anyway, Hussein, don't you worry now. You won't be hanged until a few days before our next presidential election. Our Commander in Chief will then say that it is another accomplishment of the Iraqi emerging democracy. Hey, hey, rally out and vote Republican, please!!! Let's sink this country for good!!! Do your part!!! Don't miss this opportunity or you will regret it. Because if Republicans do not win, Bush-Cheney-Rice-And Crooneys, they'll be stopped from sinking all of us.
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