Would you like some death with your bubbly? Hussein execution on Sunday

[AlexMack]

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16384738/

Originally Posted by msnbc

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins this Sunday.

The hanging could take place as early as Friday, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.

The U.S. military received a formal request from the Iraqi government to transfer Saddam to Iraqi authorities, NBC reported on Thursday, which is one of the final steps required before his execution. His sentence, handed down last month, ordered that he be hanged within 30 days.

Oh god someone could so make a drinking game out of this. But seriously, opinions?

[valkyrie]

I am opposed to the death penalty in all circumstances.

[honeychile]

While I'm not opposed to the death penalty, and if anyone deserves it, this clown does, I do wonder about the possible repercussions concerning his execution.

[JamesBond007]

I tried to do the bastard in myshelf. Public execution ish cool with me too, but not shophishticated enough for my shtyle.

[jon1856]

Some "thoughts" from the Media on the subject:
http://cagle.com/news/SaddamDeath/main.asp

[Drolefille]

I really don't know what I think. I'm not a fan of capital punishment, but I agree that if anyone deserves it, it's this guy. He's not going to repent in prison or anything. Alive or dead he'll be the cause of more violence. On the plus side this is the Iraqi court's decision to make for themselves on the minus side, our troops are still going to have to deal with the consequences.

[dekeguy]

I am generally philosophically opposed to capital punnishment in most cases. In this instance I am pondering exactly what I think. Dead he could be seen as a martyr, alive he could be a rallying point for the Ba'ath party.
Legally the appropriate courts have heard the case and rendered their decisions, both at first instance and on appeal. Morally there is very little to recommend him, not much in the way of mitigation. On a practical note it is probably better that he be removed to bring closure to a terrible chapter in the history of that nation. If he was jailed for life there is always the possibility that he could be released in the future and stir up things again.
If I were the one making the decision I would follow the law as I had sworn to do. From a personal point of view I would have no problem shooting him in combat but I have some reservations about state sanctioned executions in general which to me seem to diminish the majesty of the law by lowering the state to the level of the one who is being executed. "An Eye for an Eye" was an easy concept to grasp a couple of thousand years ago, but I think we have come to understand things a bit better since then.
An old Jesuit priest once told me that God reveals Himself and His will to us as we become capable of understanding and comprehending Him and His will.
As a convinced man of faith I figure I am responsible to try to understand and comprehend what we are supposed to do. So, to quote the late Yul Brenner in his role as the King of Siam, "Is a puzzlement"!

[DeltAlum]

Without comment one way or another on the death penalty, at least we're not sitting through (literally) years of appeals.

[AlexMack]

Originally Posted by dekeguy

I am generally philosophically opposed to capital punnishment in most cases. In this instance I am pondering exactly what I think. Dead he could be seen as a martyr, alive he could be a rallying point for the Ba'ath party.
Legally the appropriate courts have heard the case and rendered their decisions, both at first instance and on appeal. Morally there is very little to recommend him, not much in the way of mitigation. On a practical note it is probably better that he be removed to bring closure to a terrible chapter in the history of that nation. If he was jailed for life there is always the possibility that he could be released in the future and stir up things again.
If I were the one making the decision I would follow the law as I had sworn to do. From a personal point of view I would have no problem shooting him in combat but I have some reservations about state sanctioned executions in general which to me seem to diminish the majesty of the law by lowering the state to the level of the one who is being executed. "An Eye for an Eye" was an easy concept to grasp a couple of thousand years ago, but I think we have come to understand things a bit better since then.
An old Jesuit priest once told me that God reveals Himself and His will to us as we become capable of understanding and comprehending Him and His will.
As a convinced man of faith I figure I am responsible to try to understand and comprehend what we are supposed to do. So, to quote the late Yul Brenner in his role as the King of Siam, "Is a puzzlement"!

An eye for an eye is not biblical. It goes all the way back to Hammurabi's code.
I'm not comfortable with the execution, but then I remember what he's done to thousands of his people over the years. I hate the death penalty, but Iraq is a different country with different beliefs so...

[DeltAlum]

Originally Posted by centaur532

An eye for an eye is not biblical. It goes all the way back to Hammurabi's code.

That's interesting. You learn something every day. What is the approximate date of Hammurabi's Code?

Sorry for the (hopefully) quick hijack.

Never mind...I had time to Google it and it says about 1780 BC

[honeychile]

Originally Posted by DeltAlum

Without comment one way or another on the death penalty, at least we're not sitting through (literally) years of appeals.

Way too true!!

[AlphaFrog]

Ok, all you anti-capital punishment mushy-mushies are making me feel bad.

I personally think that hanging is too nice of a way for him to go. But then again, I'm a blood to quench the masses kind of person. He needs to pay for what he did, and all that.

[OtterXO]

I'm not sure how I feel about it. I wouldn't mind knowing he was spending the rest of his life rotting in a jail cell... somehow killing him seems to be giving him the easy way out. Like someone said above, I also worry that in his death he'll become a martyr for extremists and encourage more violence.

[Tom Earp]

Hmm, he must have been miss understood as a child!

What is amazing if anyone cares, this was the cradle of the rise of a Relegious "Awakening"?

He will be a martyer for some and not others, Si?

He is physoctic and no doubt about it.

But, in his own mind He did nothing wrong as a head of state.

[ann.coulter2]

Jesse Jackson says Saddam shouldn't be executed

CHICAGO The Reverend Jesse Jackson says U-S forces should not turn Saddam Hussein over to the Iraqi government for execution.
Jackson says that to allow the former Iraqi leader to be hanged as what he calls "a war trophy" would be a "barbarity" that would only inflame tensions.

Jackson says making Saddam spend the rest of his life in prison would be a better way to "break the cycle of violence in Iraq."

-- Associated Press.

Praise Allah