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sabra Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 11:26 AM
Original message
Saddam: 'I Am Not Afraid of Execution'

http://www.tribune-democrat.com/feeds/apcontent/apstories/apstorysection/D8EA61L04.xml.txt/resources_apstoryview

Saddam: 'I Am Not Afraid of Execution'

Saddam Hussein said in a heated exchange with the judge Monday that "I am not afraid of execution" during an unruly trial in which the first witness took the stand and testified that the former president's agents carried out random arrests, torture and killings.

The outburst was one of several by Saddam or his co-defendants during the session that also saw a brief walkout by his defense lawyers.

Following the witness' testimony, Saddam defended his actions and told the court that he understood the pressures upon it in his trial. He and his seven co-defendants could be executed if convicted on the charges stemming from the deaths of more than 140 Shiites in 1982.

"When I speak, I speak like your brother," he said. "Your brother in Iraq and your brother in the nation. I am not afraid of execution. I realize there is pressure on you and I regret that I have to confront one of my sons. But I'm not doing it for myself. I'm doing it for Iraq. I'm not defending myself. But I am defending you."
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Gman Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 11:41 AM
Response to Original message
1. If you think the Milosovic trial was a circus
you ain't seen nothing yet!

This trial is nothing but a tar baby for Bush. This is the ultimate lose-lose situation for Bush. If Saddam is convicted, Bush must execute. If he executes, civil war erupts. If he doesn't execute, civil war erupts and he's branded as lame. If Saddam is acquitted, all hell breaks lose everywhere including the RW. Bush has everything to lose and nothing to gain with this.
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VaYallaDawg Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 11:52 AM
Response to Reply #1
2. And Ramsey Clark is going to get crucified just for offering a defense
to Saddam.
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rainy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 11:58 AM
Response to Reply #2
4. Ramsey Clark should be commended for his bravery in this matter.
He has risked his whole reputation for the cause of truth and peace. He now has access to ALL classified documents that the people of the world would never know about. I trust Ramsey Clark will expose all the lies of both governments. The whole story may be known to the world because of his bravery.
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XNGH Donating Member (77 posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 04:49 PM
Response to Reply #4
13. Put him back ?
If Saddam is found not guilty ... should he not be put back in charge of Iraq ?
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rayofreason Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 09:55 PM
Response to Reply #4
19. Clark's reputation...
...hmm.

Defense council for a Nazi concentration camp boss, a Rwandan Hutu genocide leader, and Serbian leaders who unleashed hell on the Bosnians. Now he excuses Saddam's brutality, saying "He had this huge war going on, and you have to act firmly when you have an assassination attempt"

http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/29/international/middleeast/29iraq.html?pagewanted=all

Actually, I think that defending Saddam strengthens Clark's reputation.
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geek tragedy Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-06-05 10:31 AM
Response to Reply #19
22. You'll like this cartoon.
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rayofreason Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-06-05 03:45 PM
Response to Reply #22
24. Indeed!
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daleo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 02:18 PM
Response to Reply #2
8. He has stood up for lots of unpopular causes
He will deal with it.
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enigma000 Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 12:00 PM
Response to Reply #1
5. This isn't an American decision
Whatever fate awaits Saddam, and most certainly it is a hangman's noose, will be seen as an Iraqi decision.

The Shia and the Kurds won't complain if he is executed. Neither, I suspect, will most Sunni.
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daleo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 02:19 PM
Response to Reply #5
9. Nope, everything will be sweetness and light
Just like it is now.
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Oversea Visitor Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-06-05 09:15 PM
Response to Reply #5
25. Haha
:rofl: Wiseman knows all
Anyway :rofl: if it blow up what the heck just more Americans soldiers dying. :rofl:

THE CIRCUS IN TOWN. Watch the clown kill the LION. And the hyena eat the clowns after that.
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liberal N proud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 11:53 AM
Response to Original message
3. Executing Saddam would make him a martyr
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MrMonk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 12:04 PM
Response to Reply #3
6. To whom?
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liberal N proud Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 12:13 PM
Response to Reply #6
7. Last week there were several post on Iraqis wanting to allow
Saddam to run for president.
I would assume the group that wanted that for one.
I am also sure the "insurgents" would use it to motivate their ranks
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daleo Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 02:23 PM
Response to Reply #6
10. He will make a better rallying point dead than alive
Once someone like Saddam is dead, their negatives will be forgotten and only their opposition to foreign powers will be remembered. Saddam's memory could become a very powerful nationalist rallying cry, in Iraq and around the Arab world.
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rfkrfk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 10:15 PM
Response to Reply #10
21. when dead, his potential as a possible future leader is ended...
Edited on Mon Dec-05-05 11:01 PM by rfkrfk
since the Sunnis still hold grudges
about the Crusades, I don't think
one more martyr makes much difference
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DinahMoeHum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 03:59 PM
Response to Reply #6
12. He would be a martyr to the Iraqis in the "Sunni Triangle"
particularly in Tikrit, his hometown.

He's from their tribe, after all.

:evilfrown:
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Drum Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 03:29 PM
Response to Original message
11. A question:
If it's entirely possible for the US president to pardon whomever he likes---like Ford did for Nixon after Watergate---is it completely unthinkable that someone in Iraq might do the same for Saddam during or after his trial?

Unlikely, yes...but can you imagine the fits it would give the neo-cons here in the US??
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madmark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 07:14 PM
Response to Original message
14. He's not afraid of execution because he knows that Satan is waiting
to date him in hell.
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Cha Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 07:52 PM
Response to Reply #14
15. Unlike bush who is scared of
of horses and will have a date in Hell with the Devil, too.
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Judi Lynn Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 08:53 PM
Response to Reply #15
17. Bush was afraid of completing his contract with the Texas Air Nat'l Guard.
He's also afraid of attending the funeral of any of the people he has sent to his/her death because of right-wing dreams of world domination.

That sounds just like a Satan, in my view, even with his claims of colossal holiness.



World's most bloodthirsty saint.
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VegasWolf Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 08:57 PM
Response to Reply #17
18. and consoling mothers who have lost their sons in Iraq. nt
:puke:
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goclark Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 08:44 PM
Response to Original message
16. Why do they need to go back to '82? I thought he

was killing his own people right before 911?

That is what GW told me.

Didn't he?
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rfkrfk Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Mon Dec-05-05 10:12 PM
Response to Reply #16
20. prosecutors have a lot to work with...
I would guess they chose one of the simpler potential cases,
which would not necessarily be a recent case.
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superconnected Donating Member (1000+ posts) Send PM | Profile | Ignore Tue Dec-06-05 10:42 AM
Response to Original message
23. I don't care if saddam was ruler of Iraq,
Edited on Tue Dec-06-05 10:44 AM by superconnected
I consider him a murderer who should be executed as a murderer.

Being president doesn't let people off for murder, imo.

I suspect Bush has ordered executions. If he hasn't then I still think he should be tried for the death of Thousands of iraqis, and hung, along side saddam.

Jmo.
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