Posted on 01/07/2007 12:45:17 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
Prime Minister Tony Blair believes that the way in which former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed was "completely wrong", his official spokesman at Downing Street has said.
The hanging, which was took place amid taunts and jeers from bystanders, "shouldn't have happened in that way", the spokesman said.
Mr Blair has come under growing pressure - including from Labour MPs - to comment publicly on the December 30 execution and the release of mobile phone footage of Saddam's final moments, but has so far stayed silent.
He is yet to make a personal statement on the hanging, however it is understood Mr Blair will make his view clear in public comments over the coming week. He is also expected to confirm his support for the Iraqi Government's investigation into how scenes of Saddam being taunted came to be filmed and broadcast.
The Downing Street spokesman would not confirm when Mr Blair would make his statement, but said: "He supports the inquiry by the Iraqi authorities. He does believe that the manner of execution was completely wrong, but this shouldn't lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam committed, including the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."
The comments from Number 10 come after Chancellor Gordon Brown used a TV interview to denounce the manner of Saddam's death as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable".
Mr Brown's denunciation of Saddam's hanging echoed the comments of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who last week said that the way it was done was "deplorable" and those responsible should be "ashamed".
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt also today added her voice to the criticisms of the conduct of those responsible, describing the treatment of Saddam before his hanging was "very shocking".
In an interview recorded yesterday, Mr Brown told BBC1's Sunday AM: "Now that we know the full picture of what happened, we can sum this up as a deplorable set of events.
"It is something, of course, which the Iraqi Government has now expressed its anxiety and shame at.
"It has done nothing to lessen tensions between the Shia and Sunni communities.
"Even those people, unlike me, who are in favour of capital punishment found this completely unacceptable and I am pleased that there is now an inquiry into this and I hope lessons in this area will be learnt, as we learn other lessons about what has happened in Iraq."
Mr Brown acknowledged that mistakes had been made in the handling of Iraq following the 2003 war, and did not rule out a future inquiry into what went wrong.
"Personally I think hangings should always be conducted with the utmost courtesy, mainly as a way of showing contempt for the hangee."
It is the white man's way (or western civ.). Whether policing , or warring, or executing, we always favor non-emotionalism, it is simply a job that needs to be done, it is evidence of cultural superiority.
"So, is Blair against the execution itself, or just the way Saddam was taunted?"
Both I'd guess. He has previously made his general opposition to the death penalty clear. Whenever discussing Saddam, he's always added the rider that it was for the Iraqis to decide on punishment, etc.
Since we liberated them, instead of taking the country, we must accept the way they admistered their justice.
Blair deplores the WAY it was handled (taunts, etc.). He did NOT deplore the hanging itself. Your headline is false, which probably is consistent with your communist, pro-terrorist bias."
Did someone change the article linked or something? Because the headline from the article linked isn't the same as the one at the top of this page and it isn't from the Sunday Times. I didn't know Rupert Murdoch was a communist pro-terrorist these days though...
Did you change the article title, or did they? Not that theirs is any better...
The "reservations" are the fact that thugs from al Sadr's militias, (the same militias that are attacking and killing American and British soldiers) took center stage at the execution.
They made the execution of the tyrant Saddam, made possible by the shedding of American and British blood, into a propaganda dog and pony show for the benefit of this man:
Hammer Nail... the article as I read it completely was in error with the title. Blair only stated that he was against the barhouse treatment of Saddam (probable based on his cultural superiority complex). But it does not suggest that he was actually against the mass murderer getting his deserved due.
Blair may be a bleeding heart, but the article did NOT prove what it said in honesty whatsoever.
Well, then I guess there should be a "do over" to make him feel better. sarc off/
Right on. Iraq is a sovereign nation and it's nobody's business if their laws and constitution allow for (or at least don't prohibit) dressing a prisoner in drag and pelting him with rotten vegetables before they hang him.
I think some of your need to do some reading before you utter some rather stupid statements.
Tony Blair deplored how it went down (as we ALL SHOULD, It was a frickin disgrace)
Blair like almost every other UK politician OPPOSES the death penalty.
Sorry folks, I support it, but we'll just leave you guys with the Iranians, Saudis and Chinese on that one.
If Blair has come out in favour of the death penalty, it would be one of the biggest UK political stories in many many years, considering his life long opposition to it.
HOWEVER, what some of you ignorant folks haven't bothered to read is that Blair has also said he respects the Iraqi governments right to carry out justice.
You could also be excused for not knowing that the idiotic tabloids over here have hounded the PM for days for just a slight comment.
They are that pathetic and desperate in their attempts to get at him when the UK government position has already been outlined.
So those anti war types hate him, and now some of you do too. I guess thats the price of him staying loyal to you guys, calling the guy and idiot.
Switzerland was his stance as far as I can tell.
Mr Blair has come under growing pressure - including from Labour MPs - to comment publicly on the December 30 execution and the release of mobile phone footage of Saddam's final moments, but has so far stayed silent
He is yet to make a personal statement on the hanging, however it is understood Mr Blair will make his view clear in public comments over the coming week. He is also expected to confirm his support for the Iraqi Government's investigation into how scenes of Saddam being taunted came to be filmed and broadcast.
" The hanging, which was took place amid taunts and jeers from bystanders"
That was the very least he deserved....
What dignity should have been accorded to this arrogant monster?
He should have been skinned alive in the public square
if you ask me , and even that would have been less than he deserved.
The ivory soft , kid glove , political correctness is going to be the end of the western world as we know it if we are not careful.
'They' need to fear us deeply....
Saddam looked liked a thuggish, arrogant, frenchy, lunatic bastard (literally) with his stupid grin, sunglasses and beret... but Sadr looks plain EVIL.
Lord Falconer intervened after Derbyshire Constabulary decided not to release pictures of Jason Croft and Michael Nixon, both 28, who absconded from Sudbury open prison in November. Croft, also known as Jason Fox, from Salford, and Nixon, of Blackley, Manchester, were near the end of life sentences for murder and had been given day release and allowed home visits.http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,2-2533610,00.htmlCroft was given a life sentence in 1996 after stabbing a youth in the chest as he lay unconscious in a street in Moston, Manchester.
Nixon was also jailed for life in 1996 after he dropped a concrete block on a teenager’s head in the Newton Heath area of the city.
Derbyshire police said that a number of factors had been considered in reaching the decision, including the possibility that publication breached the prisoners’ human rights.
The force also insists that the two men pose a minimal risk to the public as they had been assessed as low risk before the Prison Service transferred them from a closed to an open prison
Agree with that. I think it does indeed show cultural superiority.
I do find it hilarious that those who are noisiest about denouncing the way this execution was executed are also generally the loudest about how we should not try to force other societies to adopt our cultural norms.
Which is it?
Sun Jan 7, 11:08 AM ET
LONDON (AFP) - Prime Minister Tony Blair believes the manner of Saddam Hussein's execution was "completely wrong".
Blair has been under fire for refusing to speak on the subject, and criticism of his silence mounted after both his deputy and his finance minister condemned the hanging of the deposed Iraqi dictator as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable".
In his first engagement since returning from a New Year holiday in Miami, Blair said he would speak about the execution next week.
Downing Street declined to say when and how Blair would make his comments on Saddam's hanging.
"In terms of what he will say next week, we don't think there are going to be any surprises on where he stands," a spokeswoman said Sunday.
"He supports the inquiry by the Iraqi authorities. He does believe that the manner of execution was completely wrong, but this shouldn't lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam committed, including the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."
The execution was carried out at the start of a key holiday while leaked mobile phone video footage showed Saddam being taunted as he stood on the gallows, prompting Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki to order a probe.
He's dead. That's right enough for me.
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