BAGHDAD, Nov. 7, 2006
Subdued Saddam Calls For Forgiveness
In Dramatic Change Of Character After Death Sentence, Saddam Urges Iraqis To Reconcile
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Play CBS Video Video Saddam's Death Sentence Reporting from Baghdad, chief foreign correspondent Lara Logan reports it was a day of reckoning for millions, while those who still support the former dictator are furious.
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Video Iraqis Rally Against Sentence CBS News RAW: Hundreds of Iraqis joined protest marches in the cities of Samarra and Hawija, chanting slogans against former president Saddam Hussein's death sentence.
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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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Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, front left, listens to testimony during his trial inside the heavily fortified Green Zone Tuesday, Nov. 7, 2006 in Baghdad, Iraq. (AP Photo)
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A man holds up a framed image of deposed Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein as they protest his death sentence for crimes against humanity, in Fallujah, 40 miles west of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday Nov. 6, 2006. (AP Photo)
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Iraqis celebrate the death sentence verdict for former leader Saddam Hussein in Baghdad. (AP)
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Iraqis grieve as they wait to collect bodies, victims of sectarian violence, outside Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital Tuesday Nov. 7, 2006. (AP Photo)
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Iraqis carry the coffin of their relative, a victim of sectarian violence, outside Baghdad's Yarmouk hospital Tuesday Nov. 7, 2006. (AP Photo)
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Photo Essay Saddam Verdict Saddam Hussein sentenced to hang after conviction for crimes against humanity.
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Interactive Saddam's Judgment Background on the former Iraqi leader's alleged crimes, his life and capture, plus video and photos.
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Interactive Battle For Iraq The government, the insurgency, key players, background and photos.
During the afternoon court session, Saddam cited references to the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus who had asked for forgiveness for those who opposed them.
"I call on all Iraqis, Arabs and Kurds, to forgive, reconcile and shake hands," Saddam said before the session was adjourned until Wednesday.
As Tuesday's session began, Saddam, smiling faintly and dressed in a black suit with white shirt, found his way quietly to his seat among the other six defendants charged in the Operation Anfal crackdown against Iraqi Kurds in the late 1980s.
Saddam showed none of the bravado of two days ago, when he shouted “Long live the people and death to their enemies” as another court sentenced him to the gallows.
However, on Tuesday he quietly complained to the judge that the witnesses were not giving testimony that implicated any of the seven defendants.
On Sunday, another five-judge panel convicted Saddam in the deaths of nearly 150 Shiite Muslims following a 1982 assassination attempt against him in the town of Dujail in 1982.
He and two others were sentenced to death by hanging. Four co-defendants received lesser sentences and one was acquitted.
The Anfal trial will continue while an appeal in the Dujail case is under way. The prosecution says about 180,000 Kurds, most of them civilians, were killed in the crackdown in 1987-88.
On Tuesday, the first witness, Qahar Khalil Mohammed, told the court that he and other men from his village surrendered to Iraqi soldiers after being promised that Saddam had issued an amnesty for them.
Instead, the 33 men were lined up at the bottom of a hill and soldiers opened fire on them.
“When they fired in our direction, we all fell to the ground,” he said.
Mohammed said he was wounded but survived.
“When I went back, I saw my father and two brothers had been killed, as well as 18 of my relatives,” he testified. He said an Iraqi medical officer used a broken bottle to clean his wound.
On Monday, the chief prosecutor in the Dujail case said a nine-judge appeals panel was expected to rule on Saddam's guilty verdict and death sentence by the middle of January. That could set in motion a possible execution by mid-February.
Meanwhile, in Tehran, the Iranian government called Tuesday for the death sentence on Saddam to be carried out, saying the former Iraqi dictator was a criminal who deserved to die.
"We hope the fair, correct and legal verdict against this criminal... is enforced," government spokesman Gholam Hossein Elham told a news conference.
Iran and Iraq waged a bitter eight-year war after Saddam invaded the country in 1980.
In other developments:
©MMVI, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Add a Comment See all 33 Comments
- dauldragons,
Where did you get your info on Pearl Harbor? I could find no such information to corroborate your claim. I suspect that gslinger3 is right, you're one of those crazy conspiracy theorists. Regardless of each other's viewpoint, Iraq is a mess and the differences in culture prevent us from truly understanding the Arab/Muslim viewpoint. Of course I don't think our motivation for being over there is entirely altruistic but I do think that our presence is mightily misunderstood. Many things about the situation amaze me but the biggest thing is this...Why can't the Iraqis understand that if they would stop killing us, we would rebuild their country? It literally boggles my mind. - Reply to this comment
- Saddam has asked for forgiveness from the world and he has also told all Iraqis to lay down their arms. Lets forgive him and let him start a new life now.
- Reply to this comment
- Gslinger3
The parts you seem to be missing is that our president, full of himself and obviously ignorant of any history of the Mid-East, jumped into a boiling pot that he could have avoided. There are many ways to force your will and preemptive war is one of the least attractive. I believe that America, the great country it is, should stop arming mid-east countries and then later having to take them on as adversaries.
I also wonder if we could have developed nuclear fussion if the researchers had 90 Billion dollars to work with?
Who would need oil then? - Reply to this comment
- Talk about amazing timing--the American controlled Iraqi show trial returns a death sentence on Saddam just in time for the election.
- Reply to this comment
- dauldragons,
You can blame our nicey, nice, politically correct, society for the "catch and release" syndrome. ooooo...they didn't get their "due process", oooo...their rights were violated, etc. etc. Heck, the soldiers know what the insurgents did, they know what the insurgents are going to do, but well, heck, we don't want to offend the Iraqi people by incarcerating dear little Mohammad who would never hurt a fly and serves only Allah. War is harsh, war is evil. To survive, you must be hard. Read some of Sun Tzu's philosophy of war. We are too soft and they are laughing at us. - Reply to this comment
- The sad truth is, we (the us) were coming out of the great depression (much worse than the ressesion of 2000), we wanted to be left alone to lick our economic wounds. No business fighting others' wars for them.
I hear the same complaints, same unpopular views of the "war" in Iraq today. That war is over.
Now we are trying to tame the wild west (in Iraq), just like the good ol' USA was a hundred years ago. If you follow your american histroy, that didn't fair too well for the indians.
The one thing I truely HATE about this "war", from the mouth of my brother after returning from the front. "We catch 100 insurgents and in 24 hours 70 of them are released to shoot at us again." Why are our sodiers dieing needlessly? Because some (add swear words here) somewhere is not doing their job. This IS NOT a catch and release sport!!! - Reply to this comment
- Ok dauldragons, I guess I shouldn't have attacked you personally. I apologize. I still find your statements incredulous and shall conduct my own research. I've also studied military warfare extensively and have never heard of such a thing.
- Reply to this comment
- dukboy123
Isnt it amuzing to you how the conspiracy theorists love to hang out here at CBS!!!!!
We are just 2 row boats in an overcrowded ocean of ships here!! But nevertheless the conservative message deserves to be heard everywhere!
Now the name calling will start, just watch!!! - Reply to this comment
- dukboy123,
Take some time to study the history. You will find that our blessed gov't threatened to withdraw support to the Aussies if they broke the silence about the attack.
To help you past my selective memory... I bagan studying naval warfare and it's history beginning in the 70s, all of what I have said has been de-classified so even you can read up on it. Please note, it's not wise to enter a battle of wits unarmed. - Reply to this comment
- htownjesse
You allege that our removal of Saddam was illegal. In the previous 12 years before he was removed Saddam preceded to break 17 UN security council resolutions. How many resolutions need to be broken, and how many murders by Saddam need to happen before a Liberal finally determines that enough is enough? Our president had the guts and the leadership to say, ehough is enough, we will remove this dictator from power, and a free and democratic Iraq will one day be a focal point to good in the Middle East. By the way, John Kerry voted for Saddam's removal, before he voted against it!!!!! - Reply to this comment
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