Saddam death penatly

Same answer I suspect - both

You can't have both. If the reason is vengeance then it isn't just.

bush and blair are quite stupid for giving that sentence now iraq are going to hit us where it hurts like portsmouth harbour so they can weaken our defences and dadalus all of our main army navy marines and royal air services will be attacked we will have nothing left

Big_Spark said:

Saddam was condemned by his own actions, the world will be a better place without him.

However, I also believe that SERIOUS questions need to be asked in both the UK and US about the manner in which he was removed from power and the manner the war was prosecuted.

Needless lives have been lost on ALL sides, with the vast bulk being the Iraqi population.

If we fail to ask the difficult questions, and we fail to take action to correct any wrongs that are found to have taken place, then we are no better than Saddam and we had no right to judge him in the first place. We cannot set ourselves up as better, if we behave without compassion, justice and honesty.

However I think we all know that Blair and Bush only made decisions based on information given to them by others with their own political agendas, they may be ultimately responsible, but it is the advisers who lied in reports about WMD's that bear the blame for this fiasco,and they SHOULD be held accountable, as should Bush and Blair.

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Home for the winter James?

I think the whole thing stinks.

The US and UK make a big song and dance about they don't 'do' state-sponsored assasinations as if that gives them a moral high-ground. However, in order to circumvent this, they have trumped up a war, puppet government and show trial to get the same result at the cost of (according to who you believe) between 100 and 650,000 extra lives. And it didn't even have the legitimacy of the UN to give it some veneer of respectability, so they may as well have just gone down the assasination route anyway.

The decision is also wrong in my opinion, as it sends out the message that New Iraq is really no better than Old Iraq. Look at how South Africa has managed its transition - not perfect, but definitely better - through truth and reconciliation commissions.

I think the US are hoping that Saddam is going to start crying or try to run away from the gallows and diminish himself in the eyes of the middle-East, but the very opposite is going to happen and he will be a hero and a martyr to many out there.

Also, the image of some old man with a bag over his head is going to be inescapable come the early new year, and I don't much care for a world where that is the case.

Hopefully the Iraqi president will commute it to life imprisonment, as he still has to sign off the whole shebang.




P.S. For lilwoodworker - I'm not going to pick holes, but I don't think you should worry about an attack on Portsmouth Harbour by Iraqis and HMS Daedalus closed down as a military facility about 4 years ago, so I think that's safe too (I did an Air Acquaintance course there for a week in the '80s - Glory Days).

b-a-s leaves. B_S returns. How odd.

Hm. I think I'll look out my metal-bodied digital camera...

so what would you have done with hitler if he had survived?

Begged for mercy?

Thermo said:

so what would you have done with hitler if he had survived?

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I'd have kept him in prison until he was able to both sensibly explain the reasoning behind his actions, and admit them. Then I'd put him back in prison until he died of old age.

Oh, and I'd probably make sure that he had a black Jewish cell mate.

eggplant said:

Should bring back hanging here too, would save us a fortune.

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Some of you guys really would like us to return to the Dark Ages. Sad.

Why is it sad? people that bash old people, kiddy fiddlers and people that kill people who are asleep for no reason should, IMO be out down. Dont we pay enough tax as it is? why should we, honest hard working people have to pay to feed and home this scum? not only that, im sure it would act as a great deterent.

eggplant said:

im sure it would act as a great deterent.

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Doesn't work in the usa, what makes you think it will work here?

Big_Spark said:

Saddam was condemned by his own actions, the world will be a better place without him.
.

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In what way will it be better? It was a better place when he was still in power, in case you haven't read a newspaper in the last year.

eggplant said:

Why is it sad? people that bash old people, kiddy fiddlers and people that kill people who are asleep for no reason should, IMO be out down. Dont we pay enough tax as it is? why should we, honest hard working people have to pay to feed and home this scum? not only that, im sure it would act as a great deterent.

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Well, I think it's sad: just my opinion. I don't share your views, eggplant, though I do understand where you're coming from. I really don't believe your notion of justice would make the world a better/safer place, even if you do end up keeping more of your hard-earned cash.
Let me give you a little story that I heard the other day: there exists a tribe in Africa who have this thing they do when a woman is pregnant. The other women in the tribe lead her off to a secluded place and there they create a song for the unborn child. This becomes that child's song, which is sung when he/she is born and at various special occasions throughout that child's life. If at some point that child (or adult) does something wrong, then instead of being punished, the person is brought into the group and his song is sung to him by the other members of the tribe. This has a healing effect on the person, which lets him see the error of his ways and allows him to be re-integrated into the tribe again. Words such as compassion, love & forgiveness come to mind.
Now, I'm not saying that is the exact answer to our particular problems with what to do with those who break the Law, especially those who do so in such vile ways, but perhaps it's something to think about?