November Surprise - Death penalty for Saddam Hussein

[flamesong]

The long awaited October Surprise - a device to win sufficient votes to swing the US mid term elections for the Republican Party - never materialised.

Death penalty for Saddam Hussein
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6117910.stm

Saddam Hussein has been convicted of crimes against humanity and sentenced to death by hanging.

The former Iraqi president was convicted by a Baghdad court for his role in the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982.

His half brother Barzan al-Tikriti was also sentenced to death, as was Iraq's former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar

Former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan got life in jail and three others received 15 year prison terms.

Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted.

When called to court, Saddam Hussein, dressed in his usual dark suit and white shirt and carrying a Koran, walked to his customary seat and sat down.

Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman ordered Saddam Hussein to stand while he read out the verdict, but the former president defiantly refused to do so and had to be moved from his seat by court attendants.

As the judge began reading the death sentence Saddam Hussein shouted out "Allahu Akbar!" (God is Greatest) and "Long live Iraq! Long live the Iraqi people! Down with the traitors!"

'Triumphant smile'
The former leader looked shocked and furious as the sentence was passed, and continued to shout, denouncing the court, the judge and the US-led occupation force in Iraq.

But the BBC's world affairs editor John Simpson said that after his tirade, which was clearly deliberate, as he was led away from the courtroom, Saddam Hussein seemed to have a small smile of triumph on his face.

"It was as if he was thinking 'I've come here and done what I intended to do'," our correspondent said.

Judge Rauf Abdel Rahman quickly called the defendants one by one
Shortly after the verdict was announced celebratory gunfire could be heard across Baghdad.

In the Shia district of Sadr City there was jubilation on the streets, with people driving around in cars, beeping their horns. There were also jubilant scenes in the holy city of Najaf.

The Baghdad celebrations were in defiance of a 12-hour daytime curfew banning all vehicle and pedestrian traffic which was placed on the whole city of six million people amid fears of violence from Saddam Hussein's Sunni Arab supporters.

The government cancelled all army leave and the city's civilian airport was closed.

Hometown anger
Immediately after the sentencing violence reportedly broke out in the mainly Sunni Azamiya district of Baghdad, with machine guns and mortars being fired.

The Verdicts
Saddam Hussein, former Iraqi president: found guilty and sentenced to death
Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam Hussein's half-brother: found guilty and sentenced to death
Awad Hamed al-Bandar, Chief Judge of Revolutionary Court: found guilty and sentenced to death
Taha Yasin Ramadan, former Iraqi vice-president: found guilty and sentenced to life in jail
Abdullah Kadhem Ruaid Senior Baath official: found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in jail
Abdullah Rawed Mizher, Senior Baath official: found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in jail
Ali Daeem Ali, Senior Baath official: found guilty and sentenced to 15 years in jail
Mohammed Azawi Ali, Baath official: acquitted

Three nearby provinces, including Salahuddin, which contains Saddam Hussein's hometown of Tikrit, are also under curfew.

Thousands of people also defied the curfew in Tikrit, but there it was to voice support for Saddam Hussein and to denounce the verdict.

Sunnis in Tikrit marched through the city, chanting "We will avenge you Saddam."

Almost three years since Saddam Hussein was captured, soaring sectarian violence has brought Iraq to the brink of civil war.

Few Iraqis think the trial verdict will ease conflict, the BBC's Andrew North in Baghdad says.

Even those Iraqis who want to see their former leader dead do not believe his execution would make things any better, our correspondent says.

Saddam Hussein and his co-defendants will be given the right to appeal, but that is expected to last a few weeks and to end in failure for the defendants.

Many critics have dismissed the trial as a form of victors' justice, given the close attention the US has paid to it.

Before the session began former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a note in which he called the trial a "travesty".

Saddam Hussein's defence team have also accused the government of interfering in the proceedings - a complaint backed by US group Human Rights Watch.

And the former leader's lawyers have attacked the timing of the planned verdict, which comes days before the US votes in mid-term elections.

US President George W Bush's Republican Party is at risk of losing control of Congress in part because of voter dissatisfaction over its handling of the Iraq conflict.

[conspiracy analyst]

one of his wives and even the ex-foreign minister for the old USSR Primakov who was an expert in Arab affairs for 20 odd years doubt that is the real Saddam...

Here is another two sites...


http://cagle.msnbc.com/news/SaddamWhere/main.asp

http://www.orwelltoday.com/saddamosama.shtml

[jason67]

Great timing as usual.

[Banish]

Said it since the spider hole, it aint Saddam

[L8O1S5T]

Um, no effence lol but that looks like Saddam to me. The two top pictures, his lower teeth are the same. Hair line is the same, nose etc. How is it not him? He's lost a little weight but it looks like him.

[numeral]

[uselesseater]

I think it's him. In my humble opinion the question over the identity the defendant is a bit of a red herring, intended to distract attention from premature conclusion of the trial.

'Saddam verdict date 'rigged' for Bush'

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/section/story.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10409222