Posted on 12/29/2006 7:25:33 PM PST by j_accuse
By Mariam Karouny 6 minutes ago
U.S.-backed Iraqi television station Al Hurra said Saddam Hussein had been executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (0300 GMT) on Saturday.
Arabic satellite channel Arabiya also reported the execution had taken place.
The former Iraqi president ousted in April 2003 by a U.S.-led invasion was convicted in November of crimes against humanity over the killings of 148 Shi'ite villagers from Dujail after a failed assassination bid in 1982.
An appeals court upheld the death penalty on Tuesday and the government rushed through the procedures to hang him by the end of the year and before the Eid al-Adha holiday that starts on Saturday, coinciding with the haj pilgrimage to Mecca.
The government had kept details of its plans shrouded in secrecy amid concerns it could spark a violent backlash from his former supporters with Iraq on the brink of civil war.
The execution will delight Iraq's majority Shi'ites, who faced oppression during Saddam's three-decade rule, but may anger some in his resentful Sunni minority.
Some Kurdish leaders had sought a delay so they too could see justice for the man they accuse of genocide against them.
Saddam's conviction on November 5 was hailed by President Bush as a triumph for the democracy he promised to foster in Iraq after the invasion almost four years ago.
With U.S. public support for the war slumping as the number of American dead approaches 3,000, Washington is likely to welcome the death of Saddam, despite misgivings among many allies about capital punishment.
But the hanging could complicate efforts by Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to heal Iraq's sectarian divisions with violence spiralling out of control and threatening to pitch the country into full-scale civil war.
Once the belligerent strongman of the Middle East, Saddam's power crumbled when U.S. tanks swept into Baghdad in April 2003. He fled and was captured in December that year by U.S. soldiers who found him hiding in a hole near his hometown of Tikrit.
During his three decades in power, Saddam was accused of widespread oppression of political opponents and genocide against Kurds in northern Iraq. His execution means he will never face justice on those charges.
Defiant to the end, Saddam insisted during his trial that he was still the president of Iraq.
He said in a letter written after his conviction in November that he offered himself as a "sacrifice."
"If my soul goes down this path (of martyrdom) it will face God in serenity," he wrote in the letter.
(Additional reporting by Alastair Macdonald, Ibon Villelabeitia, Claudia Parsons in Baghdad and Suleiman Khalidi in Dubai)
Looks like that's exactly what is going on; no surprise, either.
Their sorrow makes me HAPPIER!!! (need graphic of Snoopy dancing here)
Cheap bastage bought the plastic champagne flutes instead of glass!
LOL #3!!!!!!!!
But not too late for him to vote Democrat...
They don't have Cheetos in hell, do they?
I think we will have to watch it on the net because the MSM won't show it.
I would have preferred a life sentence, wtih pork sausage the only item on the menu.
But, what if it was NOT Saddam who was executed, but one of his many known doubles? Say Saddam was snuck out the rear door of the prison. What then?
"...It's time we recognized the nature of the conflict. It's total war and we are all involved. Nobody on our side is exempted because of age, gender, or handicap. The Islamofacists have stolen childhood from the world." [FReeper Retief]
"...That the totalitarian force pitted against freedom wears a religious makes this civil war among mankind all the more difficult to engage. Loving freedom as we do, it seems reprehensible to deliberate against a religion. But this is no ordinary religion as it demands absolute obedience of all to their religion at the cost of freedom itself." [FReeper Backtothestreets]
There is much weeping and gnashing of teeth over on the DU. Here are a few post titles on the DU tonight.
• “I feel like I’m gonna puke”
• “We are officially barbarians now”
• “One less witness”
• “Terrible News”
Yep. None of the noose oops news talkers have any idea of what a vicious killer Saddam was.
agreed, that's why i think freepers will find it first. I ust heard that 2 more were hung as well.
But he still gets to vote for the Dems... :(
then again, perhaps the Breck Girl can channel him...say that stem cells can cure rope burn, or something...
True, his half brother and a judge.
I am so proud to be an American right now. Congrats to George Bush and especially to ALL our servicemembers who faught together to help put the #!@*! in his grave!!!! Oh, and hey Saddam...say hello to Hitler, Marx and Stalin down there! Bet its hot!
Is anyone else cracking their New Year's Eve champagne early?
41, 43, Margaret Thatcher, John Major, Tony Blair, John Howard and an entire generation of American, British and Aussie troops can take a bow.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.