Saddam One Step Closer To Execution

Appeals Court Upholds Death Sentence; Judge Says Former Iraqi Leader Will Be Hanged Within 30 Days

(CBS/AP)  Iraq's highest court rejected Saddam Hussein's appeal Tuesday and said the former dictator must be hanged within 30 days for his role in the 1982 slayings of 148 Shiite Muslims from a town where assassins tried to kill him.

"From tomorrow, any day could be the day" Saddam is sent to the gallows, the chief judge said.

The ruling could stoke Iraq's sectarian rage, with the Shiite majority demanding Saddam's death and most in the formerly dominant Sunni Arab community calling the trial tainted.

The decision came on a particularly bloody day in Baghdad, where at least 54 Iraqis died in bombings and police discovered 49 apparent victims of sectarian reprisal killings. Separately, the U.S. military announced the deaths of seven American soldiers.

In upholding the Saddam sentence imposed Nov. 5, the Supreme Court of Appeals also affirmed death sentences for two of his co-defendants, including his half brother. And it said life imprisonment for a third was too lenient and demanded he be given the death penalty, too.

Saddam's hanging "must be implemented within 30 days," said Aref Shahin, chief judge of the appeals court. "From tomorrow, any day could be the day of implementation."

Even Saddam's lawyers admit it's over, reports CBS News correspondent Randall Pinkston.

"The only other one we can appeal to is God," said Isam al-Ghazzawi, Saddam's defense attorney.

The White House called the ruling a milestone in Iraq's efforts "to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law."

"Saddam Hussein has received due process and legal rights that he denied the Iraqi people for so long. So this is an important day for the Iraqi people," said deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel, who was aboard Air Force One flying from Washington to Waco, Texas.

Some international legal observers, however, contended Saddam's trial was unfair because of alleged interference by the Shiite-dominated government.

The ruling raised doubts about whether other victims of Saddam's ruthless rule — including families of Kurds who were gassed during a military operation in northern Iraq 20 years ago — will ever testify in court about their suffering.

But the announcement delighted Shiites, who endured persecution under Saddam, and who seek to remove a symbol of the old regime as U.S. and Iraqi forces battle a still-strong insurgency dominated by Sunni Arabs.

"We were looking forward to this day so as to achieve justice, though it comes late," said Ali al-Adeeb, a Shiite lawmaker. "The government should speed up implementing the verdict in order not to give any chance to the terrorists."

Under Iraqi law, the appeals court decision must be ratified by President Jalal Talabani and Iraq's two vice presidents. One of the two deputies is, like Saddam, a Sunni Arab.

Talabani, a Kurd, has voiced opposition to the death penalty but he previously deputized Vice President Adil Abdul-Mahdi, a Shiite Muslim, to sign execution orders on his behalf — a substitute legally accepted. Abdul-Mahdi has said he would sign a death warrant for Saddam.

The Sunni vice president, Tariq Al-Hashimi, reportedly gave his word that he also would sign a Saddam death warrant as part of the deal that gave him the job last April 22, witnesses at that meeting told The Associated Press in October.

Raed Juhi, a spokesman for the High Tribunal court that convicted Saddam, said the judicial system would ensure Saddam is executed even if the presidency does not ratify the decision.

"We'll implement the verdict by the power of the law," Juhi said.

He did not elaborate. It was unclear whether his comment indicated the potential for conflict between the presidency and other branches of government over the Saddam case.

Saddam is being held at Camp Cropper, an American military prison close to Baghdad's airport. It was unclear whether the hanging will take place there or perhaps at a Baghdad prison where the new Iraqi government has carried out other executions. Also unclear is whether the public or press will be allowed to witness the hanging or if will be announced only afterward.

Human Rights Watch, an international rights group, said figures in the U.S.-backed Iraqi government had undermined the credibility of Saddam's trial with public criticism of a judge early in the case that led to his resignation, along with other "political interference."

"Imposing the death penalty, which is indefensible in any case, is especially wrong after the unfair proceedings of the Dujail trial," said Richard Dicker, director of the group's International Justice Program.

As an example of Iraqi government interference, Dicker noted Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser, announced the decision of the appeals court before the court itself. Al-Rubaie told AP of the decision about an hour before the chief judge announced it.

Shiite residents of Baghdad were delighted.

"We are very happy," said Riyah Abdul Sattar in Sadr City, a neighborhood where Shiite militias are strong. "We will get rid of him for sure."

The mood was different in Tikrit, a mostly Sunni Arab city north of Baghdad that lies near Saddam's hometown of Ouja.

"It is a political verdict that has no relation to law or justice," said Saad Ibrahim Khelil. "I do believe it's a kind of pressure against the (Sunni-led) resistance."

And in Amman, one of his defense lawyers said the execution of Saddam will be like opening the gates of hell, Pinkston reports.

"I think it will be a full scale war against Americans and all the occupiers, all the nationalities, whether British, English, American," said Isam al-Ghazzawi. "There will be blood. The ones who will be hurt most will be the Iraqi people."

But according to CBS News Middle East Consultant Fouad Ajami, "I think we really have to remember that this was an Iraqi trial and Saddam Hussein was basically tried by his own people... The Iraqi people got to see this man who dominated their lives being brought to justice... The sentence is going to be carried out, and it's really something that the Iraqi people have done for themselves. They want justice from this man, and they've gotten justice."

The appeals court also upheld death sentences for Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and intelligence chief during the Dujail killings, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, which issued the death sentences against the Dujail residents.

The court concluded the sentence of life imprisonment given to former vice president Taha Yassin Ramadan was too lenient and returned his file to the High Tribunal. Ramadan was convicted of premeditated murder.

"We demand that he be sentenced to death," said Shahin, the chief appeals judge.

At his trial, Saddam argued that the Dujail residents who were killed had been convicted in a legitimate Iraqi court for trying to assassinate him.

The televised trial was watched throughout Iraq and the Middle East as much for theater as for substance. Saddam was ejected from the courtroom repeatedly for political harangues, and his half brother once showed up in long underwear and sat with his back to the judges. Three defense lawyers and a witness were murdered during the course of its 39 sessions.

Saddam is in a second trial charging him with genocide and other crimes during a 1987-88 military crackdown on Kurds in northern Iraq. An estimated 180,000 Kurds died during the operation. That trial was adjourned until Jan. 8.

Saddam was captured while hiding with an unfired pistol in a hole in the ground near his home village north of Baghdad in December 2003, eight months after he fled the capital ahead of advancing American troops.

[canadian2000-2009]

The Old Testament tells of a horrible religion that failed because it was oppressive and showed little value to life. People can not be controlled by fear; in time they realize there is something better.

Religion is meant to be lessons for morals and values, guide lines to help people to live in peace with self, and one another. Each religion has many good things to offer, if only we took the time to learn rather then put each other down.

Oddly most of us came to the new world to escape religious oppression. We Christians were once used for amusement and to feed the lions. We have forgiven the Romans and have since intermarried with those of their faith. We have moved on and forgiven. One must forgive or hatred would eventually kill us as it does the suicide bombers.

We created our political philosophy to guarantee the freedom we were denied in the old world. Because of this all people who come to North America are allowed to worship as they please. I accept this and welcome this freedom, but please do not try to stop us or change us. Let us all celebrate each others religion instead. No one needs to be a bully.

We displaced the aboriginal people who lived here before we came. To them a great injustice was also done, but thankfully we are trying to make some form of compensation for our evil doings. These negotiations are going on without war or bloodshed, a sign greater maturity and intellectual strength%u2026 A useful example for others.

[patriotic9]

r_bayless
I highly appreciate your comments.If you think that real Christinaity doesn't teach RACISM and INJUSTICE which is the main reason why the enemies of UNITED STATES want to support the ILLEGITIMATE and UNJUSTIFIED EXISTANCE of ISRAEL on the world map on the cost of AMERICAN MONEY,AMERICAN LIVES and USA herself as Americans are GOD-NEGLECTED and the NON AMERICAN EUROPEAN INVADERS IN PALESTINE are GOD CHOSEN ENEMIES OF THE GOD'S ONLY SON,you and all the CHRISTIANS like you should raise their voices against USA support and protection to the ILLEGITIMATE and UNJUSTIFIED EXISTANCE of ISRAEL on the world map which is the main source of HATRED,TERRORISM and 9/11 against our nation.I hope you'll do that and prove the innocence of Christianity and'll practically show that Chirtianity has nothing to do with the statement of CONDI RICE who had compared the killing of INNOCENT WOMEN,CHILDREN and ELDERLY in LEBANON with "BIRTH PANG" as she believed that killings of innocents will help in the 2nd coming of CHRIST.

[patriotic9]

canadian2000
"Religion does not kill.It's the men who interpret it for their own nasty greed".
I don't know if you have read about a psychiatric illness known as CHRISTIANITY.
According to that psychosis,human beings have not been created equal unlike our great leader Sir Thomas Jefferson had said.All the human beings living in this world are GOD-NEGLECTED people not because of anything wrong with their actions but because of being born in a RACE or FAMILY NOT CHOSEN by a RACIST GOD who doesn't care about people's actions and that's why those GOD-NEGLECTED PEOPLE have not been promised a SINGLE PENNY from GOD,whereas those EUROPEANS who were brought into Palestine after WWII to occupy the land of PALESTINIAN people by force are GOD-CHOSEN people because of being born in a RACE or FAMILY CHOSEN by that RACIST GOD eventhough they don't believe in JESUS as MESSIAH and DENY his mother's VIRGINITY and accuse his mother of comiting FORNICATION,and they have been promised a LAND IN THE MIDDLE EAST.Human beings should not be treated on the basis of their actions but should be treated on the basis of the FAMILY or RACE they are born in.
This RACIST and UNJUST IDEOLOGY taught by the PSYCHOTIC CHRISTIANITY is the cause of all the EVILS in the world.According to this PSYCHOSIS,the purpose of the creation of GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICAN LIVES is to SERVE the GOD CHOSEN ENEMIES of the GOD'S ONLY SON on the cost of GOD-NEGLECTED AMERICAN MONEY,LIVES and USA herself.

[pensacola8-2009]

Watch "Twelve Angry Men" with Henry Fonda. Open your mind a little and see the truth.

[canadian2000-2009]

PART THREE

From the home to the community, from the community to city and on it will spread and grow, until all hands and minds will unite around the world. If men are encouraged to act with peaceful respect, understanding and compassion, then they are to be rewarded with honour and the gifts of a loving home.

Let those with the gift of leadership and ideas come forward, both men and women, and let us serve to make this happen. Knowledge removes the evils of fear and to know and understand allows us to appreciate the good in all cultures and religions. Let us celebrate life together. Let us respect one another and learn from one another. There will always be a rotten apple in every barrel, but if we take care of the rest and remove the rotten apple we will have more to share.

Mothers and mothers to be around the world, take heed. Religion does not kill, it is the men who interpret it for their own nasty greed. Let us teach our loved ones to share, love and respect one another to bring peace to this world.

Should you have %u201Cpositive ideas%u201D please voice them.

[canadian2000-2009]

PART TWO

Unfortunately, the greed driven by the hunger for money, power and good (oil) deals still controls many a man. In the meantime young innocent flesh is shredded by bombs and bullets, limbs and life lost, bodies burn while the rest of the world goes on feasting and celebrating.

Basically the teachings of the Koran and Communism were both innocent and good, offering much to make life more human and equal for all. Some men have taken these philosophies and interpreted them so as to use the followers to achieve their greedy goals for power and wealth..

Instead of flaming the raging fires of destruction with disrespectful words and comments, let us put our minds together to find solutions. We need solutions to prevent more death, suffering and oppression. Those who commit crimes against humanity need to face the consequences decided by a democratic court of law. Those who work at helping those in need should be supported and praised.

My suggestion is%u2026 Mothers and mothers to be around the world, take heed! Join together around the table and discuss these tragedies and seek solutions with your men. Encourage a path of peace where negotiation and compromise win over bloodshed. Do not let this go unheeded for someday it could be your child giving their life for something you did not try to resolve%u2026 To be continues..

[canadian2000-2009]

PART ONE
It was sad to read crude and uneducated comments that were written yesterday: A waste of intelligence and intellectual capabilities. If only we could respect and love one another, then this world would be a more humane place.

Agreed, the USA has done some questionable things, but hopefully they will try to proceed with better judgment, learning from their errors. Let us not forget the many beneficial contributions that Americans have contributed. No other country has ever help as many people in need as the USA has.

I am glad that the United States is next door, for I know that should some evil come upon us they would be there for us. We have our differences which sometimes need to be settled in a democratic court of law, but at least they are settled without blood shed.

I thank the young Canadians and Americans who are trying to protect and restore dignity to those who are oppressed by cruel and oppressive leaders. I grieve with the parents who have lost their children. If all countries would have stood united on this front, the situation could have been resolved without bloodshed%u2026. To be continued..

[ehshome]

Wars not caused by religion:

Revolutionary War
War of 1812
Napolean%u2019s invasion of Europe
All the Russian Czarist wars
Civil War
WWI
WWII
Pol Pot%u2019s murdering of millions of Cambodians
Korean War
Vietnam War
Grenada, Panama, Gulf War I, Gulf War II
Romans conquering the entire western world
Battle of Hasting 1066

I believe that even those wars in the name of 'religion' are really about politics and land. The more land they get, the more influence they have.

Just an observation.

[mbburch]

mokenman, I got the satirical part; it still doesn't make any sense. Satire that has no basis in truth isn't funny.

The United States did not appoint or otherwise strongarm Saddam into power. He was basically VP of Iraq and took over in '79 (during the Carter admin) once the current president was too ill to serve.

I know that your worldview requires that America is to blame for all the world's problems, but what is your point here?

[vashts544]

newster1, please shut up. Our country was founded on God, and Christianity. But thanks to the constitution, we are free to practice whatever religion we want.

Please let me state the obvious. We, the United States of America, armed both Saddam and Osama. Also, people forget that the USA PUT Saddam in power. But than again, we also put Josef Stalin into power as well, and look how well that turned out. The way I see it is that there are two very radical sides to the Muslim religion, the Sunni and Shiite tribes. Why they can't get along is only known by God. So whoever is in power, there will always be terrorist factions.
On a different note, Bush is a moron. Its just that, but so have the past few presidents been. This isn't the first time we elected someone terrible. Clinton and Nixon are the only ones I can think of at the moment. But they did a lot of good for the country, and some bad. No leader is perfect. But I still think Bush is a moron.

[vashts544]

newster1, please shut up. Our country was founded on God, and Christianity. But thanks to the constitution, we are free to practice whatever religion we want.

Please let me state the obvious. We, the United States of America, armed both Saddam and Osama. Also, people forget that the USA PUT Saddam in power. But than again, we also put Josef Stalin into power as well, and look how well that turned out. The way I see it is that there are two very radical sides to the Muslim religion, the Sunni and Shiite tribes. Why they can't get along is only known by God. So whoever is in power, there will always be terrorist factions.
On a different note, Bush is a moron. Its just that, but so have the past few presidents been. This isn't the first time we elected someone terrible. Clinton and Nixon are the only ones I can think of at the moment. But they did a lot of good for the country, and some bad. No leader is perfect. But I still think Bush is a moron.

[mh4cbs1]

Bush Administration Hails the Execution of Saddam. They had hoped that Americans would rejoice as well. But the lovers of death and destruction should realize that the execution of Saddam rings as a hollow victory. It is just one more death among thousands.

Already the Bush beedless invasion of Iraq has caused more civilian deaths than Saddam. The Bush "War President", who executed more in Texas than any other state has, may naturally relish the moment that Saddam is hanged. Perhaps Bush will watch the execution, or get the DVD to replay when he is feeling discouraged about "progress in Iraq".

But I would hope that instead he actually read his Bible, the words of Jesus in particular. Perhaps he will realize the crimes he has committed against humanity and seek repentence. Bush hubris can be sickening to watch, but at his core he is quite pitiful.

[nothappyatall]

After reading the CHRISTIAN brutality, slaughters and worse, you wonder WHY Muslims HATE Christians and the USA which is basically one big Christian church?

shortly after the beginning of the crusades against the Muslims, wholly European crusades against Christian dissidents were enacted.

The first victims were the Albigenses, sometimes called the Cathari, who were centered primarily in southern France.
In 1208, Pope Innocent III raised an army of over 20,000 knights and peasants eager to kill and pillage their way through France. When the city of Beziers fell to the besieging armies of Christendom, soldiers asked papal legate Arnald Amalric how to tell the faithful apart from the infidels. He uttered his famous words: "Kill them all. God will know His own."
===

And THIS is the religion you want foisted off on people today- one with a bloody sickening hypocritical bastardized history like the Christian church!

[annd2302]

Elgraz

Take your %u201Ccap lock%u201D off then you can express your true feelings.

[nothappyatall]

In his reports about the conquest of Jerusalem, Chronicler Raymond of Aguilers wrote that "It was a just and marvelous judgment of God, that this place [the temple of Solomon] should be filled with the blood of the unbelievers." St. Bernard announced before the Second Crusade that "The Christian glories in the death of a pagan, because thereby Christ himself is glorified."

Sometimes, atrocities were excused as actually being merciful. When a crusader army broke out of Antioch and sent the besieging army into flight, the Christians found that the abandoned Muslim camp was filled with the wives of the enemy soldiers. Chronicler Fulcher of Chartres happily recorded for posterity that "...the Franks did nothing evil to them [the women] except pierce their bellies with their lances."

[nothappyatall]

Singingrick: "the Quran, the very book that caused Muslims to fly airplanes into our buildings on 9-11 killing thousands of innocent Americans..."

Oh YEAH like the CHristians and their bible are innocent RIGHT? better do some reading bud, especially the history where the Christian crusaders slaughtered thousands of Muslims, Jews and non believers- including women and children.

The Crusades - attempts by European Christians to impose THEIR vision of religion upon Jews,
Orthodox Christians, heretics, Muslims, and just about anyone else who happened to get in the way.
Emich's followers decided that before they traveled across Europe to kill God's enemies, it would be a good idea to eliminate the infidels in their midst. Thus suitably motivated, they proceeded to massacre the Jews in German cities like Mainz and Worms. Thousands of defenseless men, women and children were chopped, burned or otherwise slaughtered.
When Peter the Hermit's army entered Yugoslavia, 4,000 Christian residents of the city of Zemun were massacred before they moved on to burn Belgrade.
When Muslim cities were captured by Christian crusaders, it was standard operating procedure for all inhabitants - no matter what their age - to be summarily killed.

[nothappyatall]

Singingrick: "I suppose we should just go ahead and throw out the songs "God Bless America" and "God Bless the USA" while we're at it, and also take In God We Trust off of the money."

PLEASE DO! As an athiest I find those three things being foisted in my face and on MY money as offensive as blacks find the "N" word. The god garbage has no place on cash or coins- it was added as the religious right's propaganda.

[annd2302]

patriotic9

98.6, difficult to tell your gender,

You have some very serious issues.

[mh4cbs1]

If you think that you can Support Our Troops and support Bush in his War On Iraq, then you are either deluding yourself or are simply ignorant of the facts concerning the true motives and actions of the Bush NeoCon regime.

Of course we honor the service of all our military. But it is also our patriotic duty to question the policy's of our elected officials, to learn the facts as good responsible citizens. To do less is un-American.

And if you research: the PNAC papers; the actions of Cheney and Rumsfeld before the Iraq Invasion; the several books by former CIA, WMD inspectors, and even former Bush administraion officials; and if you simply recall the shameless exploitation of 9-11 fear by administration, you can only conclude that Cheney and Bush LIED and SCARED the American people into Invading Iraq. And this is a War Crime.

[mh4cbs1]

Yes, lets all support our troops AND do our patriotic duty of impeaching and jailing Bush and Cheney for causing 3,000 of our troops to DIE in a needless, horrific WAR -- a WAR that Cheney & Bush LIED us into.

JAIL BUSH! Support out Troops! JAIL CHENEY!

You can't support the troops AND support their dying in a needless WAR based on Lies.