Saddam is Sentenced to Death, and Iraq Shrugs (Time lies again)

Time ^ | November 5 | APARISIM GHOSH

[PghBaldy]

The verdict against the former dictator, which the U.S. originally hoped would help the country exorcise its demons, won't make a difference to Iraqis' violence-filled lives

For those seeking omens on Saddam Hussein's day of judgment, Mother Nature obliged: Sunday dawned wet, cool and clean in Baghdad after overnight showers rinsed the city of several layers of desert sand. Late in the morning, Ahmed Hussein, a government-employed street sweeper, looked up into the overcast and still-rumbling skies and nodded approvingly. "This is the right weather for a day like this," he said. "The rain is God's blessing upon the verdict."

But for many Iraqis, the death sentence passed on their former dictator Sunday was not so much a cleansing autumnal rain as just another thunderclap — albeit a particularly loud one — in the middle of a terrible and unending storm. Once the clatter of celebratory gunfire that greeted the verdict had died down, Iraqis' thoughts returned to their own future, and the depressing realization that it is no less bleak than it was yesterday. "Whether Saddam lives or dies is not important to me," shrugs Imad Mohammed, a computer technician. "I'm not even sure whether my family and I will live or die."

This isn't how the trial of Saddam Hussein was meant to turn out in the imagination of U.S. officials back in the winter of 2003, when he was found in that Tikrit spider-hole. J. Paul Bremmer, the American administrator of Iraq, had hoped seeing Saddam on the dock would allow Iraqis to exorcise the demons he had unleashed upon them during his long reign. More recently, as the country descended into a sectarian war, some U.S. and Iraqi officials clung to the hope that the trial would remind Shi'ites and Sunnis how they had once been unified in misery under his rule.

Instead, the unrelenting sectarian violence in daily Iraqi life soon turned the trial into a televised sideshow. For those who bothered to watch anymore, the sight of Saddam in court sometimes had the exact opposite effect than officials expected — it evoked nostalgia for a time when, under the tyrant's yoke, Shi'ites and Sunnis were not at each other's throat. Although viewership spiked today, interest in the proceedings will quickly subside again.

What will not subside is the violence. Far from being collective therapy, the trial has only helped widen the sectarian divide. While Shi'ites celebrated the verdict, many of Saddam's fellow Sunnis protested. In his hometown of Tikrit, over 1,000 people staged demonstrations in defiance of the curfew. In Baghdad's mainly Sunni Adhamiya district, several mortars landed near the Abu Hanifa shrine, the most revered Sunni mosque in the country.

Anticipating an uptick in Sunni insurgent activity, the Iraqi government cancelled all military leave and put security forces on high alert. With much of the Sunni Triangle under an all-day curfew, pro-Saddam insurgents had few opportunities to express their reaction to the verdict; in Baghdad, there was only sporadic violence. Saddam's defense lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, warned in an open letter to President Bush that "this decision will set the country ablaze again and plunge the entire region into the unknown." However after the verdict al-Dulaimi told the Associated Press that Saddam had urged Iraqis to reject sectarian violence and to "not take revenge" on U.S. forces. Regardless, insurgent groups will undoubtedly up the ante when the curfew ends.

All convictions will be reviewed by an appellate panel of nine judges. There is no deadline for the panel to rule, but officials close to the trial process have said it is likely to be weeks rather than months. Once the panel has completed its review, any sentences must be carried out within 30 days. The panel has the authority to order a retrial, but that is thought to be highly unlikely.

Truth be told, there was never any doubt Saddam would get the death sentence; he had himself anticipated it weeks ago, when he asked that he be shot — like a soldier — rather than hanged. That request was not honoured. As the presiding judge, Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman, announced the verdict, the tyrant responded by shouting, "God is great," and "Long live the nation!" and an assortment of other slogans. But by his standards, it was a subdued performance; there was none of the bug-eyed ranting that has characterized many of his court appearances.

Joining Saddam on the gallows will be his cousin and enforcer, Barazan al-Tikriti, Awad al-Bander, who presided over many of the dictator's kangaroo courts. Saddam's former vice president, Taha Yaseen Ramadan, got life and three lower-ranking officials were each sentenced to 15 years. One official was acquitted for lack of evidence.

The verdict came nearly 13 months after the trial had begun in a high-security courtroom in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone. The eight men were tried for an incident that, until the trial began, most Iraqis had long forgotten. On July 8, 1982, at the height of the Iraq-Iran war, Saddam's motorcade was attacked by gunmen in the village of Dujail, an hour's drive north of Baghdad. During the trial, Saddam recollected the attempted assassination, saying, "Bullets were in front of me and here and there. [But] God wanted to save me."

The dictator's retribution was ferocious. Although the then outlawed Dawa Party claimed responsibility for the attack, it was the residents of Dujail who bore the brunt of Saddam's revenge. In al-Bander's "revolutionary" court, 148 townspeople were tried and sentenced to death. Many died from torture before the sentences could be carried out. Hundreds of others were forced to a desert camp. Large portions of the village were razed to the ground.

The Dawa Party is a major political force in post-Saddam Iraq; current Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and his predecessor Ibrahim al-Jaafari are both members of it. That meant the trial was always going to have political overtones, which tarnished its credibility with many Iraqis. The trial's first top judge resigned halfway through the proceedings of the Iraqi High Tribunal (IHT), complaining that Shi'ite and Kurdish political leaders were leaning on him for being too lenient toward Saddam's courtroom antics. The judge who was due to succeed him was blocked by Shi'ite officials because he had been a member of the Ba'ath Party. It didn't help that three defense lawyers were assassinated during the trial.

The trial process raised eyebrows, too: prosecuting attorneys were able to introduce evidence without allowing the defense opportunity to preview it. And in the end, Judge Abdel-Rahman simply ended proceedings when the defense was still supplying its own evidence.

The unseemly haste prompted accusations that the IHT had been pressured to pass judgment just before the U.S. midterm elections — accusations denied by American officials. "The Iraqis set the date for the delivery of the verdict," says a senior State Department official. "It's not something we control. "

In any event, most experts said the verdict would not temper widespread discontent among American voters about the way the war and occupation have been prosecuted. "I have a hard time believing this [verdict] will radically change people's minds," said Kenneth Pollack, an NSC staffer in the Clinton White House and now Director of Research at the Brooking Institution's Saban Center for Middle East Policy. "I think most people realize that Iraq is a pretty violent place, and any surge in violence is unlikely to shift many peoples view."

Pollack said the White House was unlikely to indulge in any mission-accomplished type crowing. "I think at this point in time the administration has learned to be a little more modest," he says.

Al-Maliki's government, on the other hand, could scarcely conceal its triumph. In a statement, the Prime Minister, a Shi'ite, said the "justice handed out to [Saddam] is a response to the call from thousands of sons and sisters of those sentenced and executed by [him]." President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd, declared that the trial was fair, because the defendants, "had the full right to say what they intended." If the review panel upholds the sentence against Saddam, Talabani must sign off on the execution. Although he has said he is on principle opposed to the death sentence, the President has allowed a deputy to sign in his place on other death warrants.

Saddam, meanwhile, has not had his last day in court. When his lawyers prepare to appeal, the former dictator will be back on the dock on Tuesday on another trial, for his alleged 1988 genocide against the Kurds.

[NickatNite2003]

Anyone who belives 'Time'..
fills their mind with sh*tty lies.

[SolidWood]

The daily dose of communist propaganda delivered by TIMES "Journalist" APARISIM GHOSH (cough...muslim...cough).

[FlingWingFlyer]

APARISIM GHOSH

Time becomes more and more like the Star Wars bar scene everyday.

[leftcoaster]

I suppose they would have made this same argument if he had been acquited?

(Yeah. Right.)

[woodb01]

Justice Stevens is likely retiring before the end of the year.  GET THE VOTERS TO THE POLLS!

http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1732428/posts

ONLY YOU CAN ENSURE THAT THE TERRORISTS DO NOT CLAIM VICTORY WITH A DEMOCRAT CONTROLLED CONGRESS!! 

CLICK THE IMAGE ABOVE, OR CLICK HERE AND SPEND 15 TO 30 MINUTES MAKING A FEW PHONE CALLS!  THAT'S ALL IT TAKES AND YOU CAN MAKE A HUGE DIFFERENCE! 

STOP THE ISLAMIC TERRORISTS FROM CLAIMING VICTORY, AND STOP THE JUDICIAL TERRORISTS FROM CLAIMING VICTORY!!  THE FUTURE OF OUR NATION IS AT STAKE!

If YOU have your own site, or your own blog, BY ALL MEANS, POST THIS CALL TO ACTION!

For more info, visit http://www.nodnc.com

[sgtyork]

For those of us who came near puking because of this c*&*%%, here is a real Iraqi opinion......


PJM in BaghdadNovember 5, 2006 4:26 AM
Pajamas Media Baghdad editors Mohammed and Omar Fadhil, of Iraq The Model, write their first impressions after Saddam Hussein’s death sentence was delivered.

I was overwhelmed with joy and relief as I watched the criminals being read their verdicts. For the first time in our region tyrants are being punished for their crimes through a court of law.

Until this moment and while I’m typing these words I’m still receiving words of congratulations in emails, phone calls and text messages from friends inside and outside the country. These were our only means to share our happiness because of the curfew that limits our movement.

This is the day for Saddam’s lovers to weep and I expect their shock and grieve to be huge. They had always thought their master was immortal so let them live in their disappointment while we live for our future.

This is a day not only for Iraqis but a historic day for the whole region; today new basis for dealing between rulers and peoples are found.

No one is above the law anymore.

I was particularly pleased by the way Judge Raouf Rasheed handled the session; he was reading the court’s decision and at the same time chastising members of the current government for their misbehavior and threatened to throw them in custody regardless of their ranks!

We are living a new era where there’s much hope despite the difficulties…our sacrifices have a noble cause, that is to build a new model that obviously terrifies other tyrants.

I believe it wasn’t Saddam alone who was shaking and shouting in hysteria when the verdict was read; I can see hysteria takes over all of Saddam’s followers and apologists.

Today we had turned a page that was full of pain and ugly crimes that were committed by the same criminals who were shaking in the hands of Iraq’s new justice.

We were among the first to bring Saddam’s crimes in Dujail to the surface in this blog almost three years ago even before cases were chosen or a tribunal was formed.

I did that because one of my friends was a direct victim of that crime when he was thrown in prison in the middle of the desert when he was only 7 years old along with his mother and a younger sister and lost 30 members of his extended family over the years of that tragedy.

Some people back then questioned the credibility of my friend’s story and couldn’t believe the crimes of Saddam were that cruel and inhuman. But today that the truth is out there for the whole world to see, the criminals stand small and shaking while the families of the victims stand proud seeing justice served.

Right now volleys of bullets ring not far from where I sit, some are fired to express joy while others are fired in a desperate expression of denial but I have no doubt who is going to prevail. Although the road is long but we are walking forward and will not look back.

I salute the honorable special tribunal that challenged threats and risks and insisted on keeping up the work until the end, and today it brought back the pride of the land that wrote the world’s first laws.

I salute the witnesses who risked their lives to reveal the truth and expose the crimes of the dictator.

I salute the brave men and women of the coalition who came to this land and made this day possible.

Congratulations to all my Iraqi brothers and sisters on this glorious day.
http://pajamasmedia.com/2006/11/the_day_of_justice.php

[savedbygrace]

The author of this story, Aparisim Ghosh, is one of the first reporters who broke the Haditha story:

http://www.alternet.org/waroniraq/36897/

He also got up-close with a homicide bomber:

http://www.onthemedia.org/transcripts/transcripts_071505_intent.html

[okie01]

Is Aparisim Ghosh a Time staffer...or a terrorist propagandist? Or both?

And is Aparisim Ghosh writing the truth about the Saddam verdict? Or is he writing what the MSM wishes were the truth about the Saddam verdict?

It would seem that the MSM is far more interested in reporting what they want to see, as opposed to what is really there to be seen.

[PhillyRepublican]

"Alleged 1988 genocide against the Kurds"? What? Time isn't sure that the gassings occurred?? What a bunch of pukes.

[Rocko]

I suppose, for Time, proof of the Holocaust is still up in the air, too.

[Chena]

NYslime bump.

[RasterMaster]

NYTs sponsors SADDAM'S EXTREME MAKEOVER. After the election, they will run a full-page ad for Saddam as a DNC presidential candidate in 2008.

[gb63]

"Alleged 1988 genocide"
Reminds one of the denials from the New York Times writer Walter Duranty that millions were being killed in the Soviet Union by the communists?

[Yardstick]

I'd like to see the Times send a reporter out to cover a construction site:

The ground is strewn with clods of red dirt, and covered here and there with a sprinkling of saw dust and the cut ends of two-by-fours. You must watch your step as you move around the site -- the workers wear boots, an acknowledgement of the danger. Some claim that progress is being made, and it's true that only months ago the frame that is now two stories high was only a bare concrete slab, but this is no comfort for the homeowners. They imagined a house with a roof and walls and a green lawn. After all, that's what the drawings showed. But now all they see on their lot is this, an uninhabitable structure of raw framing members and exposed wiring. The din of power tools only adds to the sense of disorder. Etc...

[Popocatapetl]

Of course, no mention that the US military has been preparing successfully for three months for this day. Now the preparations will turn to securing the upcoming elections in Iraq, hopefully with Saddam being executed after the current government has left office, but before the new government takes its place.

[RasterMaster]

Message from Iraq

[CharlesWayneCT]

But didn't some talking head liberals predict that Iraq would see a wave of violence if Saddam was found guilty?

[FrdmLvr]

They were celebrating like crazy in Dearborn Michigan today.

[dr_who_2]

No Kirk, the games not over!!!! To the last I will grapple with thee! From Hell's heart, I stab at thee!!! Ha! Ha! Ha!