Posted on 01/16/2007 7:36:07 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
George W Bush yesterday said that the execution of Saddam Hussein bore the hallmarks of a sectarian "revenge killing", in his most critical assessment of the hanging of the former dictator.
The US President criticised the circumstances surrounding Saddam's death and the recent execution of two top aides, including Saddam's half brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, for their roles in the massacre of 148 Shia men in Dujail in 1982.
"I was disappointed and felt like they fumbled the – particularly the Saddam Hussein execution," Mr Bush said in an interview by public broadcast television's Jim Lehrer.
"The message is confusing. It basically says to people, 'Look, you conducted a trial and gave Saddam justice that he didn't give to others. But then, when it came to execute him, it looked like it was kind of a revenge killing."'
Bush at first welcomed the hanging of Saddam on December 30 for crimes against humanity as "an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy", and declared "good riddance". He later said, however, that the execution should have been carried out "in a more dignified way".
An early official video appeared to show that Saddam's execution had been conducted with dignity. However, a leaked video taken by mobile phone later showed the deposed Iraqi leader, a Sunni, being taunted by Shia Muslims as he stood on the gallows with a noose around his neck. The trapdoor was opened before he had finished his prayers.
A government video of this Monday's execution of Barzan, Saddam's former intelligence chief, showed that the hangman's noose decapitated him, leading to claims by leaders of the Sunni minority in Iraq of deliberate mutilation.
Mr Bush said yesterday the hangings showed the Shia-dominated government of prime minister, Nouri al-Maliki, charged by many with compounding the sectarian violence in Baghdad, "has still got some maturation to do".
He also admitted that he was "frustrated by progress" in Iraq. "A year ago, I felt pretty good about the situation. I felt like we were achieving our objective, which is a country that can govern, sustain, and defend itself. No question, 2006 was a lousy year for Iraq."
The comments came as it was revealed that Barzan had written to the United Nations pleading for his life before he was hung.
Barzan told Ban Ki-moon, the UN secretary general, that he had "nothing to do" with the killings in Dujail for which he had been condemned to death.
"I request your interference to rescue my threatened life," he wrote, in a five page handwritten note circulated yesterday by one of his lawyers, Giovanni Di Stefano. He said most of the evidence against him bore "the signatures of others and were dated after I resigned from the government at the beginning of 1983."
Mr Di Stefano, who returned from Iraq on Sunday, said he had sent a letter to the International Criminal Court asking for a full investigation of the executions, which he claims were carried out illegally.
He said the hanging of Barzan and Awwad al-Bandar, the head of Saddam's judiciary, had not been authorised by Jalal Talabani, the Iraqi president, as required by Iraqi law.
"He could not sign them because he was in Syria. I think they were worried that he would commute the sentences if they waited for him to return. He has made his position clear that he was against the hangings," said Mr Di Stefano, who lodged a request for the sentence to be commuted on Boxing day.
He added that the two men had been rushed to execution in order to protect the names of several international companies who had sold chemicals to Iraq. He said he had evidence from the FBI centre in Qatar that companies in the UK, the US, Holland, France, Germany and Italy had sold chemicals which were later used in the Anfal campaign in which as many as 100,000 Kurds were killed. He said the naming of the companies would have been part of the defence strategy if Saddam and Barzan had lived to testify in the trial.
The WOT is being fought on many fronts right now thanks to our President, George W. Bush and our military men and women. For that alone, he deserves our gratitude and respect, IMHO.
If you're waiting to dole out respect for someone until "we win this damned war", you'll have to do it from your grave. No offense intended, but I am not so ignorant as to believe that this WOT, the Islamic terrorists, Iranian threats, N. Korea, China, and even Russian threats can be as quickly solved as one would see in a "made for t.v." movie.
I add to the WTF????? chorus.
At the risk of proving myself a fool: Without reading/researching further than the headlines, I:
A: Primarily believe that this is a misquote of President Bush, or at least taken out of context.
B: Agree, that for international political and practical reasons, that Saddam's execution was apparently incompently botched by the Iraqis who allowed things to get out of hand, or did so intentionally to exacerbate sunni-shiite tensions.
C: If it IS an accurate quote, I can only assume that the constant attack by the ignorant, irrational Left on President Bush has finally driven him insane.
My only comment is that his administration, Sec. Rice in particular, was surprised that the Palis elected Hamas.
Talk about misunderestimating; I'm surprised they didn't tear his body apart afterwards. The president should feel lucky he's not having to answer questions about that.
They're muslim for Pete's sake. Surely he's not believing his own bull about them being a religion of peace, I hope.
Bush is losing it. Laura, you are traveling too much. Get home and take care of your man.
The way to clean up Iraq is to destroy the governmnet in Iran and Syria - not occupy them - just destroy them.
Iraq is only a battle in the war with Islam. Unfortunately, most Americans don't realize this ISN'T Viet Nam. We can't just walk away from this one.
If we do, there will be another Iraq somewhere else - perhaps much closer - like in our baackyard since Americans are apparently unwilling to stop these vermin from coming in here.
Revenge killing? So when he was governor of Texas, all those execution orders he gave were not revenge killings .... in what way exactly is the difference?????................In Texas the governor does not order execution orders and also be advised the governor can not halt an execution. Only the board of pardons and paroles has that ability and the governor has no control over that.
Since when do a few verbval taunts rise to "get out of hand." I assume that all or most of the Iraqis present at the hanging had directly or indirectly been victims of Saddam's monsterous behavior that sent over 300,000 to mass graves and tortured hundreds of thousands more. Is it not a perfectly understandable human emotion to express some visceral feelings at the moment of execution of this tyrant? Based on the video, Saddam was not manhandled or physically abused. He was given far more respect than he deserved.
I am tired of this bleating by Western elitists about whether Saddam and his henchmen should be executed at all and the manner in which it was done. Have they forgotten what was done at the end of WWII at the Nuremberg trials or the rough justice handed out to Nazi collaborators by citizens in the streets? Or the hanging of Mussolini in a public square? Or the execution of Romania's President Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife, Elena, by a three-man firing squad after a two-hour trial by military tribunal and then their bullet ridden bodies were shown on television?
All of this criticism about the executions stems from the anti-war political agenda, i.e., the Iraqis are not worth defending. I am surprised that Bush would contribute to this nonsense. Hopefully, he was taken out of context.
> I guarantee over the next 2 yrs we'll (unfortunately) be seeing a different Bush than the past 6
He's not going to change those things that really would give him a good legacy, like strengthening the border.
Why does he think that caving and mushmouthing will bolster his legacy? It will never win him Dimocrat friends, and it will destroy the qualities that once made him a President I looked up to.
So another words, only what you see in the MSM.
There are many great Iraqis that love their country, their people and even the west. There are many who are glad we are there but scared to death (of death?) to openly support us or resist the extremist terrorists.
I'm not sure of the sites but there are several that show the 'real Iraq', the progress and the good people, not just the terror & destruction the MSM sells.
NBC
ABC
CBS
MSNBC
FOXNews
PBS
So your presumption that "what I see in the MSM" doesn't hold a drop of water.
I do read news accounts of the sectarian violence that is going on between Sunni and Shia Muslims. I am familiar with the level of violence that has been present in the Middle East for the past couple of Millennia. In that context, Saddam's execution was dignified.
I wouldn't doubt that there are "many great Iraqis that love their country", etc. - but it seems that they weren't present at Saddam's execution. Mookie's guys were.
???
God help us.
"there" s/b "their". Sorry. Thanks.
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