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The Hanging: Beyond Travesty
The Washington Post ^ | January 05, 2007 | Charles Krauthammer

Posted on 01/04/2007 9:34:57 PM PST by 21stCenturyFreeThinker

WASHINGTON -- Of the 6 billion people on this earth, not one killed more people than Saddam Hussein. And not just killed, but tortured and mutilated -- doing so often with his own hands and for pleasure. It is quite a distinction to be the pre-eminent monster on the planet. If the death penalty was ever deserved, no one was more richly deserving than Saddam Hussein.

For the Iraqi government to have botched both his trial and execution, therefore, and turned monster into victim, is not just a tragedy, but a crime -- against the new Iraq that Americans are dying for, and against justice itself.

(Excerpt) Read more at realclearpolitics.com ...


TOPICS: Editorial; Foreign Affairs; Front Page News; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: capitalpunishment; execution; hanging; hussein; krauthammer; saddam; saddamhussein
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker
...but this is a country on the verge of civil war.

So says the media.

NOT so says at least one FReeper who has been residing in Baghdad and surrounding areas for the better part of three years.

Just sayin...

21 posted on 01/04/2007 9:58:19 PM PST by Allegra (Vote Dulcie / Finbar 2008)
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker

Exactly HOW was the trial a travesty? They presented evidence. They gave him a chance to defend himself. They gave him a lawyer. There was a verdict. There was a sentence. He had a chance to appeal. He appealed. His appeal was denied. They carried out the sentence, albeit with a lot of inappropriate behavior at the time he got the drop. Nobody's perfect. Now suddenly, because he acted like he was on the Jerry Springer Show throughout the proceedings, the trial is a travesty? Blow it out your ear.


22 posted on 01/04/2007 9:58:55 PM PST by Eleutheria5
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker
I couldn't agree more with Krauthammer. The just and deserved execution of Saddam Hussein came off as Shiite revenge. The fact that some of Sadr's goons were hand picked by the Iraq government to serve as Saddams's executioners is a definite sign that the Iraqi government has no intention of sharing power with the Sunni's and likely intends to crush them.
23 posted on 01/04/2007 10:01:30 PM PST by TAdams8591
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker
For the Iraqi government to have botched both his trial and execution,

Botched? He was found guilty, which he was; and he died from the hanging. I don't consider that botched.

24 posted on 01/04/2007 10:02:45 PM PST by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker

I think Krauthammer gets it all right in this piece.
And that's even while leaving out an entire aspect of why the Trial Of Saddam was so disappointing all the way along its long, long journey to the inevitable guilty decision and subsequent hanging. I didn't expect the trial coverage would be presented like the O.J. trial, but it was just left alone and allowed to happen, through all its bloody twists and turns, and our own government seems to have bowed out of any interest in the actual details of what transpired in the trial. I KNOW (at least as rumored) that we didn't want it to happen as it happened, so suddenly and crudely, with the sectarian revenge motif taking center stage. I recognize the fact, of course, that the Media thinks they own the story, and they could do with it what they wanted: for us to try to control the flow of information and put any kind of spin on it would be judged as propaganda.


25 posted on 01/04/2007 10:04:30 PM PST by supremedoctrine ("Talent hits a target no one else can hit, genius hits a target no one else can see"--Schopenhauer)
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker

Handwringer alert!


26 posted on 01/04/2007 10:06:16 PM PST by Mad_Tom_Rackham (Well, it's 2007. Time to get ready for 2008.)
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To: wodinoneeye
I really doesnt matter what happened, as the libtard press would find some complaint to whine about
Krauthammer is hardly a liberal.
Saddam was responsible for his crimes and received Justice, just as the libtards are for theirs and hopefully will also face their own repercussions.
This has nothing to do with politics in our country. The Sunni's in Iraq are the ones who feel insulted. Iraq needs a stable government, not a civil war.
27 posted on 01/04/2007 10:06:24 PM PST by 21stCenturyFreeThinker
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To: Clemenza

Precisely. I would think Krauthammer was immune from Leftist tactics by now. Apparently not. Hey, Charles: There should have been MORE taunting for this uber-murderer, like I imagine there was for Mussolini. Solemn is for funerals of worthies. Raucous yelling is for hangings of mass murderers. And has been forever.


28 posted on 01/04/2007 10:09:52 PM PST by JennysCool (Well done, President Ford.)
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To: o_zarkman44
The MSM has turned the execution into victimization of Saddam ...
The MSM isn't the problem here, politics in Iraq are.
Saddam is dead. he got what he deserved. He was a perp, not a victim.
No doubt. But it's amazing they could make this monster look civilized with the whole sloppy process.
29 posted on 01/04/2007 10:13:09 PM PST by 21stCenturyFreeThinker
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To: Enterprise; 21stCenturyFreeThinker
No, this is Krauthammer's bug out. One of the arch neo conservative advocates and apologists of the war is signalling he is getting out of the Iraq trap by gnawing off Maliki's leg.

Funny, how all the neocons who led the charge to get us into this mess can now easily find someone else to blame it on.

We should not be surging American troops in defense of such a government. This governing coalition -- Maliki's Dawa, Hakim's SCIRI and Sadr's Mahdi Army -- seems intent on crushing the Sunnis at all costs. Maliki should be made to know that if he insists on having this sectarian war, he can well have it without us.


30 posted on 01/04/2007 10:16:02 PM PST by nathanbedford ("I like to legislate. I feel I've done a lot of good." Sen. Robert Byrd)
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker
Hey Charles...


31 posted on 01/04/2007 10:19:05 PM PST by GATOR NAVY (Naming CVNs after congressmen and mediocre presidents burns my butt)
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To: Allegra
For the Iraqi government to have botched both his trial and execution, therefore, and turned monster into victim, is not just a tragedy, but a crime...

Perhaps Krauthammer would prefer the Iraqi courts to have emulated the United States courts most recent famous case.. the O.J. Simpson trial..

I would say the Iraqis did a lot better than that LA court that tried O.J.... wouldn't you? Perhaps Krauthammer would have preferred the trial's outcome if Judge Samuel Alito had presided.

Perhaps their system should have stopped the death sentence because hanging is a cruel and unusual punishment. I wonder which nations justice system does that for lethal injections..which are as cruel and unusual as a flue shot.

I believe the Iraqi court and justice system in its most famous case, has done a lot better than the USA court System did in the O.J. case.

Typical Washington Journalist.... Krauthammer looks at Iraqi justice though the Washington eyes of perfection.. He ought to compare the Iraqi justice system to our own.

If he had he would not come off as the ignorant fool he apparently is.

32 posted on 01/04/2007 10:19:13 PM PST by Common Tator
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To: Allegra
Most were loyal to Saddam, and nothing will ever change this.>>>>>>>>>>

So very untrue. >>>>>>>>>>>>

How can people over here understand that not all Sunnis were in the Baath Party? There are now only a few die hards who supported Sadaam, and most of them were tribally connected around Tikrit, if I am not mistaken. If this were not so , there would have been riots in the streets, right? The impression I get here Allegra, is that the Saudis are very worried about a Shia dominated Iraq.A few weeks ago the Saudis began voicing their discontent at the Shia dominance in Iraq's government, and a visit from Cheny seemed to silence the Saudi complaints. Is something up? Are the Saudis going to come into Iraq with their military and reconstruction teams? Rumors abound.

33 posted on 01/04/2007 10:22:05 PM PST by Candor7 (Into Liberal flatulance goes the best hope of the West, and who wants to be a smart feller?)
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To: o_zarkman44

The taunting by the guards was no more abusive than the chant "Dead Man Walking" on the Green Mile. Saddam knew who he wronged. Saddam knew those people would seek revenge. He was lucky he got a fair trial at all because the people would have chopped him up in the streets in front of live tv and they would have been just as satisfied justice was served.



HAL: Now...what in the hell happened?

PAUL: An execution. A successful one.

HAL: How in the name of ****** can you call THAT a success?

PAUL: Edward Delacroix is dead...(looks at Percy)...isn't he?


34 posted on 01/04/2007 10:22:31 PM PST by Christian4Bush ('For the children", Nancy? You mean the ones that your party hasn't advocated aborting yet? - C4B)
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker

At least they didn't hang him with bungee cord or he'd still be bouncing around today.


35 posted on 01/04/2007 10:22:35 PM PST by Hillarys Gate Cult (The man who said "there's no such thing as a stupid question" has never talked to Helen Thomas.)
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To: dighton
The hanging looked technically sound, if a little short on decorum.

YES! LOL-LOL-LOL

36 posted on 01/04/2007 10:24:08 PM PST by onyx (DONATE NOW! -- It takes DONATIONS to keep FR running!!)
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To: Richard Kimball


ROTFLOL!!!!!!!!


37 posted on 01/04/2007 10:24:32 PM PST by onyx (DONATE NOW! -- It takes DONATIONS to keep FR running!!)
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To: 21stCenturyFreeThinker
I suppose it is never too late for CK to bemoan how Mussolini was put to wire.

God, it must hurt to wring hands so hard.

38 posted on 01/04/2007 10:24:35 PM PST by dersepp (I Am A Militia Of One)
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To: Allegra


Thank you, Allegra!!!


39 posted on 01/04/2007 10:25:17 PM PST by onyx (DONATE NOW! -- It takes DONATIONS to keep FR running!!)
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To: Mad_Tom_Rackham


LOL-LOL-LOL


40 posted on 01/04/2007 10:25:40 PM PST by onyx (DONATE NOW! -- It takes DONATIONS to keep FR running!!)
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