Saddam Death Verdict Sign of Iraq's Progress

Bottom Line Up Front:  Saddam Hussein, formerly known as the "Butcher of Baghdad", was convicted for "crimes against humanity" and genocide and sentenced to death by hanging.  Look for US liberal news outlets to join with Al Jazeera in questioning the timing and the legitimacy of the trial.

This death sentence for Saddam Hussein is reminiscent of every other milestone in Iraq since the 2003 liberation of that country by coalition forces. Each event, particularly the elections, was downplayed by critics. They cautioned us against believing the event was significant, warned of massive violent attacks that never came and most importantly underestimated the strength and resolve with which Iraqis want Democracy in their country. Iraq has an independent judiciary that has pulled itself together and sustained itself very quickly.  It is simply wishful thinking for anyone to believe that either the judiciary or any part of the Iraqi government is a puppet of George W. Bush.

Saddam’s case will automatically be sent to the Court of Appeals and this defendant will go through a process of appeals that could take as long as a year to resolve. Once the final appeal is exhausted, the death sentence, assuming it is not overturned, will take place within 30 days.

This is another reason the United States needs to remain in Iraq. Aside from the fact that Iraq will dissolve into the kind of quagmire Democrats are currently pimping it to be, Iraq is far more vulnerable with Saddam sitting in a jail cell with a deteriorated Iraq and no US forces to back up the Iraqi security, police and military forces.

Meanwhile Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said of the verdict:

"He is facing the punishment he deserves.   The verdict placed on the heads of the former regime does not represent a verdict for any one person. It is a verdict on a whole dark era that has was unmatched in Iraq's history."

The Arabic news agency Al Jazeera is questioning the verdict asking, "Was the timing of Saddam's verdict rigged for Bush?" 

"This court is a creature of the U.S. military occupation, and the Iraqi court is just a tool and rubber stamp of the invaders," insisted Dulaim, Saddam's defense attorney.

Many experts and political analysts questioned the credibility of the trial of Saddam and his codefendants.....

Al Jazeera also proclaimed that the US-influenced court sentenced Saddam to death.

Rights group Amnesty International condemned the death sentences, saying that the trial is a "shabby affair, marred by serious flaws".

"This trial should have been a major contribution towards establishing justice and the rule of law in Iraq, and in ensuring truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated by Saddam Hussein's rule," said Malcolm Smart, director of the Middle East and North Africa programme.

"In practice, it has been a shabby affair, marred by serious flaws that call into question the capacity of the tribunal, as currently established, to administer justice fairly, in conformity with international standards."

Watch for U.S. papers like the New York Times and Washington Post to ask the same questions as Al Jazeera. 

More to follow…..

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Comments

[Stryker]

WHy are you refering to Amnesty International? I have been a member since 1982 and know that the organization has blasted Bush on many human rights isues since the "so-called war on terror". You only quote AI when it suits your agenda, and then only on part.

I suggest you read their reports on Iraq and the Declaration of Human Rights signed and ratby the United States in 1948.

I thought capital punishment was against Cannon Law.
The Pope says so anyway.

This verdict was politically timed to boost the US election. WE are not blind. We are aware OBL is still running around under the protection of Musharrif, Bush's favorite dictator.

Too bad the Bush gave up on Osama Bin Laden in TOra Bora.Then again if Bush were to actually catch or kill him, would be without his "Boogy Man" to instill fear in us.

[Amy Proctor]

I quoted AI because I think it makes a point, don't you?

"So called war on terror"? Is "Stryker" an alias for Michael Moore?

[Stryker]

Iraq: Amnesty International deplores death sentences in Saddam Hussein trial
11/05/2006

Amnesty International deplores the decision of the Supreme Iraqi Criminal Tribunal (SICT) to impose the death sentence on Saddam Hussein and two of his seven co-accused after a trial which was deeply flawed and unfair. The former Iraqi dictator was sentenced today in connection with the killing of 148 people from al-Dujail village after an attempt to assassinate him there in 1982. The trial, which began in October 2005 almost two years after Saddam Hussein was captured by US forces, ended last July. The verdict was originally due to be announced on 16 October but was delayed because the court said it needed more time to review testimony.

The case is now expected to go for appeal before the SICT's Cassation Panel following which, if the verdict were to be upheld, those sentenced to death are to be executed within 30 days.

"This trial should have been a major contribution towards establishing justice and the rule of law in Iraq, and in ensuring truth and accountability for the massive human rights violations perpetrated by Saddam Hussein’s rule," said Malcolm Smart, Director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme. "In practice, it has been a shabby affair, marred by serious flaws that call into question the capacity of the tribunal, as currently established, to administer justice fairly, in conformity with international standards."

In particular, political interference undermined the independence and impartiality of the court, causing the first presiding judge to resign and blocking the appointment of another, and the court failed to take adequate measures to ensure the protection of witnesses and defence lawyers, three of whom were assassinated during the course of the trial. Saddam Hussein was also denied access to legal counsel for the first year after his arrest, and complaints by his lawyers throughout the trial relating to the proceedings do not appear to have been adequately answered by the tribunal.

"Every accused has a right to a fair trial, whatever the magnitude of the charge against them. This plain fact was routinely ignored through the decades of Saddam Hussein's tyranny. His overthrow opened the opportunity to restore this basic right and, at the same time, to ensure, fairly, accountability for the crimes of the past. It is an opportunity missed," said Malcolm Smart, "and made worse by the imposition of the death penalty."

Amnesty International will now follow closely the appeal stage, where the evidence as well as the application of the law can be reviewed, and the SICT has therefore an opportunity to redress the flaws of the previous proceedings. However, given the grave nature of these flaws, and the fact that many of them continue to afflict the current trial before the SICT, Amnesty International urges the Iraqi government to seriously consider other options. These could include adding international judges to the tribunal, or referring the case to an international tribunal -- an option indicated by the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention last September.

Saddam Hussein is currently being tried by the SICT, together with six others, on separate charges arising from the so-called Anfal campaign, when thousands of people belonging to Iraq's Kurdish minority were subject to mass killings, torture and other gross abuses in 1988.
http://news.amnesty.org/index/ENGMDE140372006
--------------------------------------------------------
Amnesty International's Response to Rumsfeld
Statement of Dr. William F. Schulz, Executive Director, Amnesty International USA


WASHINGTON--June 1--Donald Rumsfeld and the Bush Administration ignored or dismissed Amnesty International's reports on the abuse of detainees for years, and senior officials continue to ignore the very real plight of men detained without charge or trial. Amnesty International first communicated its concerns at the treatment of prisoners to Defense Secretary Rumsfeld in January 2002 and continued to raise these concerns at the highest levels as allegations of abuse mounted from Afghanistan, Guantanamo and Iraq. The response was to bar AI's human rights investigators from visiting US detention facilities, in contrast to countries as diverse as Libya and Sudan, where governments have accepted the value of independent monitoring.
Twenty years ago, Amnesty International was criticizing Saddam Hussein's human rights abuses at the same time Donald Rumsfeld was courting him. In 2003 Rumsfeld apparently trusted our credibility on violations by Iraq, but now that we are criticizing the US he has lost his faith again. [see quotes below]

The deliberate policy of this administration is to detain individuals without charge or trial in prisons at Guantanamo Bay, Bagram Air Base and other locations, where their treatment has not conformed to international standards. Donald Rumsfeld personally approved a December 2002 memorandum that permitted such unlawful interrogation techniques as stress positions, prolonged isolation, stripping, and the use of dogs at Guantanamo Bay, and he should be held accountable, as should all those responsible for torture, no matter how senior.

There has yet to be a full independent investigation, and the content of some of the government's own reports into human rights violations in these prisons remain classified and unseen. If this administration is committed to transparency, it should immediately open the network of detention centers operated by the US around the world to scrutiny by independent human rights groups. It is also worth noting that this administration eagerly cites Amnesty International research when we criticize Cuba and extensively quoted our criticism of the violations in Iraq under Saddam Hussein in the run up to the war.
http://www.commondreams.org/news2005/0601-25.htm

[Aimz]

Definitely good news on this verdict! There ya go, short and sweet!

[Tim]

"I suggest you read their reports on Iraq and the Declaration of Human Rights signed and ratby the United States in 1948."

Forgive me if I choose not to read any hypocrisy written by the same organization that's responsible for oil for food scandals and gang rape in third world countries.

"Too bad the Bush gave up on Osama Bin Laden in TOra Bora.Then again if Bush were to actually catch or kill him, would be without his "Boogy Man" to instill fear in us."

Yeah, 9/11 was all a big hoax. Everyone loves the U.S.

"such unlawful interrogation techniques as stress positions, prolonged isolation, stripping,"

Please. You get worse than that in football practice.

[Timmer]

AMY -

Good article - and good points as always. Naturally, the wackos will be racing out of the shadows now with conspiracy theories about the timing. Some of this stuff is so predictable it's funny.

STRYKER -

OF COURSE partisan and corrupt organizations, like Amnesty International, the ACLU and NAACP get it right ocassionally...and you should applaud the times when they do and those who illuminate it.

All sides do the same thing with agreeable (or blundered) quotes from their opposition...don't Liberals just love to quote Cheney?

[Dim Bulb]

A short statement on The Catholic Church's position on capital punishment can be found here.
http://www.kofc.org/publications/cis/catechism/search.cfm

It should be read in the context of what is said about legitimate defense here:
http://www.kofc.org/publications/cis/catechism/getsection.cfm?partnum=3&SecNum=2&ChapNum=2&articlenum=5&ParSecNum=0&subSecNum=1&headernum=2&ParNum=2263&ParType=7

Cardinal Avery Dulles writes: "I know of no official statement from popes or bishops, wether in the past or in the present, that denies the right of the state to execute offenders at least in certain extreme cases. The United States Bishops, in their majority statement on capital punishment, conceded that "Catholic teaching has accepted the priciple that the State has the rght to take the life of a person guilty of an extremely serious crime." Cardinal Dulles' short but informative essay can be read here:
http://catholiceducation.org/articles/religion/re0461.html

[Mike]

Leave it to the Left to try and spin any positives coming out of Iraq or the GWoT.

[Amy Proctor]

The Catholic Catechism says this as official teaching about the death penalty:

==========================================
2265 Legitimate defense can be not only a right but a grave duty for one who is responsible for the lives of others. The defense of the common good requires that an unjust aggressor be rendered unable to cause harm. For this reason, those who legitimately hold authority also have the right to use arms to repel aggressors against the civil community entrusted to their responsibility.

2266 The efforts of the state to curb the spread of behavior harmful to people's rights and to the basic rules of civil society correspond to the requirement of safeguarding the common good. Legitimate public authority has the right and duty to inflict punishment proportionate to the gravity of the offense. Punishment has the primary aim of redressing the disorder introduced by the offense. When it is willingly accepted by the guilty party, it assumes the value of expiation. Punishment then, in addition to defending public order and protecting people's safety, has a medicinal purpose: as far as possible, it must contribute to the correction of the guilty party.67

2267 Assuming that the guilty party's identity and responsibility have been fully determined, the traditional teaching of the Church does not exclude recourse to the death penalty, if this is the only possible way of effectively defending human lives against the unjust aggressor.

=========================

The criminal can also receive a sort of penance through his punishment and receive redemption as a result. This is the ultimate correction a criminal can submit to.

Also, St. Paul, who before his conversion to Christianity ,was a Rabbi, both a student and teacher of the Law. He wrote this in his letter to the Romans (13:3-4):

====================================
"For rulers are not a cause of fear for good behavior, but for evil. Do you want to have no fear of authority? Do what is good, and you will have praise from the same;

"For it is a minster of God to you for good. But if you do what is evil, be afraid; for it does not bear the sword for nothing, for it is a minster of God, an avenger who brings wrath upon the one who practices evil."
====================================

The (executioner's) sword, or death penalty, acts as a minister of God. If a criminal escapes his justice, so be it, but we as a society are not entitled to allow the criminal an opportunity for anything but his personal penance.

[CalPatriot]

Amnesty International, Al Jazeera, and New York Times all will (and had) belittle(d) Iraqis who judged this case in their media and their own courts. It is sad how these groups and leftwing media play the ‘I’m better than thou’ game and belittle the Iraqis judicial system. The only thing they are doing is saying ‘ hey Iraqis, ‘you’re stupid.’’ I do not think that is very positive.

[Dim Bulb]

It's a good thing Saddam ain't a fetus. That's the title of a post I just did on Amnesty International. There is a movement afoot in Travesty International which, if its other regional conferences are as under-handed and heavy-handed as some in this country are, will probably succeed. That movement seeks to legalize abortion throughout the world and criminalize those who reject it. Indeed, they want to force health care workers who refuse to engage in or support abortion activity because of conscience to do it anyway. Amnesty International? How about Coercion Inc.?

[Amy Proctor]

Stryker, I wouldn't point out a President letting Osama go unless you are prepared to be smoked. Bill Clinton is the worst offender.

[Dim Bulb]

On a lighter note: "It is terrible to contemplate how few politicians are hanged." GK Chesterton. See the seond set of emoticons (or as Curt Jester calls them) voticons at his site. Which "voticon best expresses your vote on Tuesday?
http://www.splendoroftruth.com/curtjester/archives/007413.php

[Michael Failla]

I can't honestly say that Saddam isn't guilty and that he should not be executed. There is, however, a flip side to that coin. If Saddam Hussein was the leader of Iraq and he made the laws, how can one say that what he did while he was the leader is somehow illegal? If he's the leader and he decides what's legal and what's illegal, then I can see his point of view when he says "where's the crime?" I do believe that he should suffer the same fate that he condemned so many others to, but I don't go so far as to say that his actions were illegal.

[CalPatriot]

Here is something I noticed. The NYT has been hush about this.

Saddam Hussein invaded a sovereign country, Kuwait, because they were late on a payment-loan (big deal right?), while his men killed and rape Kuwaiti women and children and people think Saddam is a great guy that needs some type of sympathy at this point? Saddam took millions (Some say $26 million) from the Oil for Food Program of the secret covert ‘90s U.N. operations (remember Kofi’s son involvement – boy did Harvard faculty skew his hole on this issue) and put it to his use and starved his own people, some say, including U.N. members, that this cased many babies to die from starvation.

What about those people he affected, don't they demand justice too. Or are they just pawns or rocks? Is Amnesty International looking into this or are they like the NYT, all hushed-up at this point?

[spree]

Great post as usual Amy. Isn't it funny how some people get so hostile when presented with the truth and all they can do is keep repeating a "party line"? Keep up the good work.

[Clones to corrupt the poeple's minds]

DELETED

[Gayle]

I glimpsed at the above comment, Amy, but only glimpsed. Just long enough to know I'm not wasting my precious time reading such absolute garbage. You really made the idiots and traitors mad with this one, hon! LOL! Good job!

Yes, Striker does sound like Michael Moore, doesn't he? Good grief, there are some crazies out there! You're right, the NYT and the others will probably do just as you say; if they don't I shall be mightilly surprised.

Great work, Amy. Blessings, and keep on pissing them off! I noticed the above moron can't talk without using the "f" word. Too bad his mother never washed his foul mouth out with Borax! LOL!

[Dim Bulb]

Michael Failla,

How can you believe that Saddam should suffer the same fate as his victims if you do not think he broke any laws?

I guess you've never heard of the natural law. "The idea of a natural right order to which all things, including human beings, should conform is one of the most ancient and universal notions. It is a major principle in the religious and philosophic systems of ancient India, and China, as well as classical Greek philosophy...In western society, especially from the Roman jurists and the theologians of the Middle ages on, we find the doctrine of the natrural moral law for man. It is the source for moral standards, the basis of moral judgements, AND THE MEASURE OF JUSTICE IN THE MAN-MADE LAWS OF THE STATE. IF THE LAW OF THE STATE RUNS COUNTER TO THE PRECEPTS OF THE NATURAL LAW, IT IS HELD TO BE UNJUST. (Mortimer J. Adler,The Nature of Natural Law) Here is a good, short introductory essay to the topic: http://www.radicalacademy.com/philnaturallaw.htm

And here is the article from Adler I quoted from above.
http://www.radicalacademy.com/adlernaturallaw.htm

[Tim]

"Yes, Striker does sound like Michael Moore, doesn't he? Good grief, there are some crazies out there!"

Amy is just a victim of right wing propaganda. America is really a bunch of religous Christian fanatics like myself. I fully intend to starve the poor and feed the rich, and hire poor Mexican kids to make soccer balls for me at 10 cents an hour. Terrorism is just a myth, and 9/11 is one of our great hoaxes. Those people didn't really die, they just got brainwashed into the RNC. Pretty soon I'll be able to recruit the aliens that landed in Roswell to fly black helicopters into the mainland and convert everyone to Christianity.

For all of you who are already with me, I have a few tin foil hats if you need them.

[Amy Proctor]

Gayle, I finally got around to deleting that comment. I only feel badly that the person apparently spent so much time writing it. Did you see how long it was? Geesh!

[Amy Proctor]

CalPatriot,

I recently read and disagreed with a comment coming out of the Vatican, although I was happy to see it wasn't from the Pope, that Saddam shouldn't be executed because it reverts itself to an "eye for an eye." It'd be more like 1.5 million eyes for an eye. Even the Catechism, official teaching of the Catholic Church, teaches that execution is permissible, even good, in the case of extreme cases. I don't know, would anyone not consider Saddam's murders unextreme?

This isn't even addressing the issue of suppose Dems win; suppose we end up leaving Iraq prematurely; suppose Saddam is sitting in a jail cell somewhere; suppose the Sunnis bust him out; suppose he regained power. THEN WHAT THE HELL? Truly our soldiers deaths would be in vain.

[Tom]

Saddam Hussein has been tried, convicted and sentenced in accordance with Iraqi law, established and rooted in the new Iraq constitution. This is, as you say, Amy, a victory for the Iraqi people and a good sign of the (very) slow but steady progress which is happening in Iraq.
I'm reading now that Iraq's Prime Minister thinks that Hussein will probably be hanged before 2006 is out. I take absolutely no pleasure in his death, but I believe that the sentence was a just one. I hope that the knowledge that he will die within 2 months gives Hussein the motivation to look back on his deeds and repent as best he can before God.

Back here in the UK, our media is predictably wailing that Saddam didn't get a fair trial and the UN should have been involved, and that the timing of his sentence was engineered by the Republican Party in order to gain votes today. Our mainstream media is truly pathetic!