Bar Moved
The talk before Saddam’s execution was that it might cause a spike in violence. So far, it hasn’t.
Hence al-Reuters’ indignation that it failed to reduce violence. Also, of course, that three years and a trial later, it was rushed. This wire service article makes an interesting case stuy in the way it utterly dispenses with any consideration of a non-partisan presentation of the news, instead provding Reuters clientele with newsitorial:
Saddam Hanged but No Let-Up in Iraq Violence
By REUTERS
Published: December 30, 2006BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein was hanged at dawn on Saturday for crimes against humanity after Iraq’s prime minister rushed through an execution few believed would help stem the sectarian violence tearing the country apart.
The former president, toppled by the U.S. invasion four years ago, was shown on state television going calmly to his death on the scaffold. He was to be buried within hours near his home city of Tikrit.
… The bearded Saddam, still robust at 69, refused a hood and declined to have a cleric present, but said a brief prayer on the gallows once used by his own secret police.
Three decades after Saddam established his personal rule by force, the execution closed a chapter in Iraq’s history marked by war with Iran and a 1990 invasion of Kuwait that turned him from ally to enemy of the United States and impoverished his oil-rich nation.
However, as President Bush said in a statement, sectarian violence pushing Iraq toward civil war had not ended.
By the way, 20-odd paragraphs down:
A witness in the Dujail trial said he was shown the body at Maliki’s office: “When I saw the body in the coffin, I cried. I remembered my three brothers and my father whom he had killed.”
Saddam was convicted of killing, torture and other crimes against the population of Dujail after militants from Maliki’s Dawa party tried to assassinate him there in 1982.
There remain, of course, deeply troubling ongoing questions about Saddam’s guilt, and Reuters adds;
After complaints of interference by Shi’ite politicians in the trial, the speed of the execution may add to unease about the fairness of the U.S.-sponsored process.
Topics: Uncategorized
Posted by Jules Crittenden at 11:33 am on Monday, January 1, 2007
12 Responses to “Bar Moved”
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January 1st, 2007 at 1:49 pm
Saddam was relevant as long as he was ‘in power’, ie, as long as he could command his army and murder anyone who struck his fancy.
Now, he is ‘dead’. I wish Reuters would grow up, and smell the formaldehyde.
January 1st, 2007 at 2:40 pm
I vaguely was noticing that the al-Reuters coverage of this was abnormally fevered and slathered liberally with editorial comment posing as news
January 1st, 2007 at 4:15 pm
Catch of the day, Jules
January 1st, 2007 at 4:44 pm
Saddam’s Execution-Milestone or Millstone
At last George Bush has done it-got his revenge for his father, who could not finish off Saddam. After 15 years Bush Junior has proved to his father that he can do something his dad could not.
He must be feeling great. And he has described the execution as a ‘Milestone in Iraq’s history’.
But more likely this untimely execution which has once again proved how insensitive the West can be to other cultures, may become a ‘Millstone’ around the neck of USA.
George Bush may feel that he has won a battle, but in his own words he has admitted that the ‘war is not being won’. That is the war he started illegally against the opinions of the whole world and which is causing death and destruction to Iraq and also put thousands of American soldiers in harms way.
George Bush and his administration has a lot to answer for and he is compounding his crime daily. The latest example is the hasty execution of Saddam to which he must have given his blessing. The puppet government of Iraq has done his bidding, but they may be the one along with the Iraqi people who are going to face the consequences of the deepenig division in Iraq.
May be George Bush has an hidden agenda here, which could be the ultimate partition of Iraq on sectarian lines, giving him the control he has sought over the oil fields.
I wish the Arabs (not only those living in Iraq, but in the whole Middle East) realise soon the devious tactics of USA and pull themselves out of their myopic alliance with USA.
They have the wealth and the resources and if they need help there are other countries like the European Union, Japan, China, India and even Russia available. They must realise that they are not dependent on USA and cut their losses.
Will it happen soon enough?
January 1st, 2007 at 4:53 pm
But more likely this untimely execution which has once again proved how insensitive the West can be to other cultures, may become a ‘Millstone’ around the neck of USA.
Sure, just like all the Nazis that danced at the end of a rope after the war ended. Big “millstone” they were…NOT.
Smug “culturally insensitive” lot we were.
The capacity of the left to excuse tyrants is amazing. I believe there’s some sort of psychological projection going on here.
January 1st, 2007 at 5:27 pm
I’m rather disappointed. You’re reacting as if all this is some sort of surprise?
It doesn’t take much prescience to know the death of a tyrant would be a millstone to those who embrace such, or more closely, those who refuse to define justice in concrete terms.
Nuance prevails, common sense fails.
January 1st, 2007 at 6:24 pm
my gosh, the adorable aucklander is a … a…. BANKER!! Bury your money in the backyard, Kiwis, where it is safe from such woolly “thinkers”.
January 1st, 2007 at 7:30 pm
Probably had his “oil for food/terror” gravy train interrupted and is none too happy about it ;->
January 1st, 2007 at 8:03 pm
Hmmm…
Our pals the Iraqi Army can take a leisurely 3-4 years to train before they respond to the insurgents…
…but the insurgents have to respond overnight?
No neocon double standands here, eh?
January 1st, 2007 at 8:58 pm
I wish the Arabs (not only those living in Iraq, but in the whole Middle East) realise soon the devious tactics of USA and pull themselves out of their myopic alliance with USA.
The syntax in this sentence makes me suspect an ethnic alliance that may be clouding judgment. Either that, or A.A. is becoming unhinged by the failure of the coalition forces to fail.
January 2nd, 2007 at 12:26 pm
Saddam’s cheerleaders are taking his bad break kind of hard. Maybe like his neck, they’ll snap out of it so they can find some new mass murderer to form a crush on.
January 2nd, 2007 at 3:27 pm
Jack, I think they’ve made a big strategic error in going with the Saddam “product” here.