Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial — the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.
Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule. It is a testament to the Iraqi people’s resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people’s determination to create a society governed by the rule of law.
Saddam Hussein’s execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops. Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and be an ally in the War on Terror.
We are reminded today of how far the Iraqi people have come since the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule – and that the progress they have made would not have been possible without the continued service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform.
Many difficult choices and further sacrifices lie ahead. Yet the safety and security of the American people require that we not relent in ensuring that Iraq’s young democracy continues to progress.
Source: WhiteHouse.gov
Now confirmed, in Spanish, on El Pais:
Los Bomberos del Ayuntamiento de Madrid y la DYA de San Sebastián han recibido sendas llamadas en las que se alertaba de la colocación de un artefacto, que iba a estallar a las 9.00 en el aparcamiento de la nueva terminal del aeropuerto madrileño de Barajas, la T-4. El artefacto estaba colocado en una furgoneta Renault Traffic. Al menos una persona ha resultado herida leve por la onda expansiva, según han informado a este periódico fuentes policiales de Madrid.
Un comunicante anónimo ha anunciado a la asociación de ayuda en carretera DYA de Guipúzcoa que una furgoneta cargada con un explosivo de gran potencia estallaría en la terminal 4 del aeropuerto de Barajas. Según ha informado la DYA guipuzcoana, la llamada se recibió a las 08.00 de la mañana y anunciaba la explosión para las 09.30.
I know just enough Spanish to make sense of it but Babel Fish’s translation might be safer:
The Firemen of the City council of Madrid and the DYA of San Sebastián have received individual calls in which he alerted myself of the positioning of a device, that was going to explode to 9,00 in the parking of the new terminal of the Madrilenian airport of Barajas, the T-4. The device was placed in a van Renault Traffic. At least one person has been minor wound by the rarefaction wave, according to have informed to this newspaper police sources into Madrid. An anonymous comunicante has announced to the association of aid in highway DYA of Guipúzcoa that a van loaded with an explosive of great power would explode in terminal 4 of the airport of Barajas. According to the Guipuzcoan DYA has informed, the call was received to 08,00 in the morning and announced the explosion for the 09.30.
And now from CNN which reports that there were no injuries:
Samantha Graham, an employee of CNN’s parent company who was in an airport concourse for a flight, said hundreds of people evacuated the terminal through jetways and have gathered outside on the airport tarmac.
The airport is Spain’s busiest, handling more than 40 million passengers a year, according to the airport’s official Web site.
It smells like an ETA attack:
Goodman said that previous explosions preceded by a warning in Spain were attributed to the Basque separtist group ETA, blamed for more than 800 deaths.
ETA earlier this year declared a permanent ceasefire, although this has been hit by tensions in recent weeks, Goodman said.
In March 2004, 191 people were killed by bomb attacks on Madrid commuter trains. The attacks, blamed on al-Qaeda-linked militants, were not preceded by any warning.
But it’s too soon to make the call. There’s more about ETA on Wikipedia.
Update:
It looks like ETA is claiming this attack:
La segunda llamada ofrecía similares datos a la realizada a la DYA con la diferencia de que dijo que comunicaba este hecho “en nombre de ETA”.
Rough translation:
The second call offered similar data to the made one to the DYA with the difference of which it said that it communicated this fact “in name of ETA”.
His death, unlike the countless others he was resposible for, was quick and painless:
Ali Al Massedy was 3 feet away from Saddam Hussein when he died. The 38 year old, normally Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s official videographer, was the man responsible for filming the late dictator’s execution at dawn on Saturday. “I saw fear, he was afraid,” Ali told NEWSWEEK minutes after returning from the execution. Wearing a rumpled green suit and holding a Sony HDTV video camera in his right hand, Ali recalled the dictator’s last moments. “He was saying things about injustice, about resistance, about how these guys are terrorists,” he says. On the way to the gallows, according to Ali, “Saddam said, ‘Iraq without me is nothing.’”
Ali says he followed Saddam up the gallows steps, escorted by two guards. He stood over the hole and filmed from close quarters as Saddam dropped through—from “me to you,” he said, crouching down to show how he shot the scene. The distance, he said, was “about one meter,” he said. “He died absolutely, he died instantly.” Ali said Saddam’s body twitched, “shaking, very shaking,” but “no blood,” he said, and “no spit.” (Ali said he was not authorized to disclose the location, and did not give other details of the room.)
He’s dead:
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has been executed, according to two Arabic language media outlets. Earlier, an Iraqi judge told CNN Hussein would be hanged before dawn on Saturday in Iraq, (10 p.m. Friday ET). The former president was convicted of crimes against humanity in connection with the killings of 148 people in Dujail.
It was filmed:
It was witnessed by a doctor, lawyer and officials. It was also filmed.
It’s an important step but probably not the transformative one that many of us hoped for years ago. Still, few tears will be shed for this monster. Well a few folks may mourn, the Baathists in Iraq and the people at Time Magazine possibly, but hopefully the rest will take this opportunity to look forward and continue working towards a peaceful democratic Iraq.
They’re chearing in Michigan:
A crowd of Iraqi-Americans cheered and cried late Friday outside a mosque as some Arab media reported that Saddam Hussein was executed.
The crowd of more than 150 had gathered earlier in anticipation of Saddam’s execution, praying for the death of the former Iraqi dictator as people honked car horns, sang and danced in celebration.
Chants of “Now there’s peace, Saddam is dead” in English and Arabic rang into the night in this Detroit suburb.
U.S. networks are struggling, are at least pretending to struggle, with the ethical questions raised by the videotaped execution:
“We’re very aware that we’re coming into people’s living rooms and that there could be children watching,” CBS News senior vp Linda Mason said.
Mason and her network counterparts have broadcast standards and procedures they follow in these cases. Phil Alongi, special-events executive producer at NBC News, said there are ways the network can approach the video or photographs that will get the point across without having to be graphic.
The operative word: taste.
“We have very, very strict guidelines with how to deal with that,” said Bob Murphy, senior vp at ABC News. “If there were pictures made available of the execution, they would have to be viewed by senior management before we would put them on the air, and we would make a judgment of taste and propriety of what we would show.”
The operative word is taste? This is American television we’re talking about right? Anyway, it doesn’t matter – there’s always YouTube. And South Park.
Stuffleufagus: I have no problem with executing Saddam. He was evil. Truth is, I wish we would have bombed him to oblivion early in the war, along with his sons. Nobody deserves my sympathy if they systematically kill defenseless women and children. But now Saddam is dead. What changes? Is Iraq suddenly safer today? Will our troops be coming home tomorrow? Will Iraqi’s be safer tomorrow?
TV Squad: I never thought I’d see the day when the words “Saddam” and “tasteful” were in the same sentence, but that day has arrived. Word is coming from the Iraqi government that Saddam Hussein will be executed by hanging by Saturday at the latest, and they will tape the entire thing. If that happens, the networks are saying that the coverage of the execution will be tasteful, according to The Hollywood Reporter. Now, they’re not doing it out of respect to Saddam, of course; they’re doing it out of respect for their audience. They won’t air the full video if the Iraqi government makes it available for broadcast. “We’re very aware that we’re coming into people’s living rooms and that there could be children watching,” Linda Mason, a senior VP for CBS News, told THR. Since the war started, network news executives have considered using graphic video footage on a case-by-case basis, often editing it down to make it more palatable to audiences.
The Life and Times of Me: And I didn’t pray because I was afraid that I would feel guilty – like I was the one who made Ben die. And every day since, I have lived with guilt that I could have prayed one last time for comfort, and peace, acceptance, and a peaceful passing. For that very reason, while laying on my bed watching the news that Saddam was to be hanged in a few minutes, when I felt prompted to pray for strength and peace for Saddam and his family, I did. The news coverage was going in the background, and I prayed for peace for Israel. And then I thanked God for his righteousness and justice, and prayed that when Saddam stood in judgement, that God would prove himself faithful, and judge him justly. And as I prayed it, I lifted my head, and the newsman said “I have just recieved confirmation: Saddam Hussein is dead.”
Michelle Malkin: Lots of talking-head heat over the fairness and integrity of the Iraqi war tribunal. The Case Western Reserve University Law School has a blog and website with tons of key original docs related to the trial. Go here and judge for yourselves.
Obsidian Wings: I have nothing to say about this. I can’t possibly regret his death, but there’s something ghoulish about the reporting today, which was like a death watch. Or maybe I just happened to tune into the news at all the wrong times. I hope everyone who predicts violence in the aftermath of his death is wrong.
Global Conservative: Saddam is dead. Mission accomplished.
The Jawa Report: Saddam Meet Satan, Satan, This Is Saddam
A few thoughts collected here as the time approaches. I’ll add more as I find them. And more still after the execution has been carried out.
Iraq the Model: Friends and relatives are calling me asking me whether he’s been already executed, some are claiming he already has. Meanwhile lots of updates are coming through news TV here; al-Arabiya reporter said the noose is already set in a yard in the IZ. Al-Hurra reported that preparations for the execution are underway and no delay is expected. It’s going to be a long night but it looks like the morning will bring the news Iraqis have long waited for….
Baghdad Burning: Why make things worse by insisting on Saddam’s execution now? Who gains if they hang Saddam? Iran, naturally, but who else? There is a real fear that this execution will be the final blow that will shatter Iraq. Some Sunni and Shia tribes have threatened to arm their members against the Americans if Saddam is executed. Iraqis in general are watching closely to see what happens next, and quietly preparing for the worst. This is because now, Saddam no longer represents himself or his regime. Through the constant insistence of American war propaganda, Saddam is now representative of all Sunni Arabs (never mind most of his government were Shia). The Americans, through their speeches and news articles and Iraqi Puppets, have made it very clear that they consider him to personify Sunni Arab resistance to the occupation. Basically, with this execution, what the Americans are saying is “Look- Sunni Arabs- this is your man, we all know this. We’re hanging him- he symbolizes you.” And make no mistake about it, this trial and verdict and execution are 100% American. Some of the actors were Iraqi enough, but the production, direction and montage was pure Hollywood (though low-budget, if you ask me).
In the Middle: Saddam’s life or death is irrelevant to the current Iraqi situation. Iraqis are fighting to hold their country together and get it back from the foreign occupiers. Saddam’s recent trial and imminent execution are nothing more than evidence of how foreign interventions to change political regimes will destroy entire countries and split entire nations. The current situation in Iraq is a good indicator for how Iran and Syria, or other countries, would look if the U.S. administration went ahead and interfered and changed their political regimes.
Iraq Pundit: Want to hear an unlikely take on the impending execution of Saddam Hussein? No problem. It says right here that Saddam “will go to the gallows with his head held high, because he built a strong united Iraq without sectarianism. He was considered as a strategic regional power. And as he goes to the gallows, those who imprisoned him will stand with their heads bent with shame and embarrassment because they cannot hide their own crimes against the country and its people.” Says who? An unrepentant Iraqi Baathist? Saddam’s uncle? No. It’s Abdel Bari Atwan, the Palestinian journalist who writes for the London-based Arabic-language newspaper, Al Quds Al Arabi. Atwan and Al Quds have come up on this blog before. In November, I noted that Atwan’s new book about Al Qaeda had been celebrated in the pages of The Washington Post by intelligence analyst Michael Scheuer. Scheuer thought that Atwan’s take on terror was just “excellent,” and called Atwan’s paper “the best Arabic-language daily newspaper.”
Iraqi Mojo: This is a nice British documentary (each part is ten minutes long) that shows how Iraq was making great progress in the 1950s, without the aid of a tyrant. People like to talk about how much better life was before Saddam’s fall. This documentary shows how great life was before the rise of Saddam and his Baath party.
Sooni: The verdict came at the right time when few sick minds started to promote a rumor that he will come back to save Iraq from the mess! Most of the whiners say that the verdict came out under American influence and to those I would like to say: what did you expect? That he would go out free clear from all charges. Can anyone deny that about 80% of the Iraqi people are happy with this verdict? One may see the rate high somehow but it represents the Shiite and the Kurds and I am fully confident that they are dancing of happiness now. The Sunni Iraqis reaction came disappointing since the leaders remained silent and we heard news about people demonstrated against the verdict in Sunni areas and provinces, anyway I will leave this subject to another post but now excuse me, because I want to celebrate the day!
The Mesopotamian: Personally I have mixed feelings about this execution. To start with, if the punishment for murder is to be death, according to the Law in many lands, including that of the U.S.A., and in accordance with the writ of the Great religions; then Saddam deserves at least a million or so executions. His guilt is as clear as sunlight. The Trial was frustrating for most people around here. Perhaps there should have been an international trial so that the world can see and hear the full story of some of the most horrendous crimes in the history of humanity. But do you think that his friends would have been at a loss for things to say if that had happened? Well, when there is a culture that has lost respect for truth, reality, logic, decency; and become complete slave to prejudice and bias; anything can be said and any argument goes. It is a sure sign of decline, decay and fall when a civilization starts to lose its respect for veracity and when words can be twisted to suite any purpose and present any argument regardless of the truth. For the “Word” is sacred. Remember the first sentence in the bible: “At first was the Word, then was the World”.
Post-execution thoughts can be found here.
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