A Victory for Justice

The death of Saddam Hussein is a victory for justice. The end came at a former military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad's Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah, the site of so many unspeakable gruesome murders against Iraqis who never had the benefit of a fair judicial process.

President Bush summed it up:

STATEMENT BY THE PRESIDENT

Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial -- the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.

Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein's tyrannical rule. It is a testament to the Iraqi people's resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people's determination to create a society governed by the rule of law. ...

A Moment in History

Is that tight enough for you Saddam?


Contrast the above with how the Italian people dealt with the dictator Mussolini and his mistress near the end of World War II (photo right).



Iraqis Celebrate

Iraqis in much of Iraq and in places as distant as the large Iraqi community in Dearborn Michigan were elated with the news that the monster is dead.

A Victory for Justice and Iraq
An Iraqi flashes the victory-sign as he rides through the Shiite-majority Baghdad suburb Sadr City during celebrations of ousted dictator Saddam Hussein's execution early this morning 30 December 2006.

No Connection between Saddam and Osama?

Many Iraqis jubilant over the demise of the monster celebrated by burning his image. They hauled out old photos, old money and in this case, a page from a pre-invasion magazine which had Saddam pictured (right) next to arch-terrorist Osama bin Laden.



U.S. Iraqis Celebrate

The large Iraqi community in Dearborn, Michigan was a scene of celebration for Iraqis living in the United States. Many of these were victims of Saddam's regime and forced to leave their homes and flee to freedom in the U.S.

We're reminded of the thanks to President Bush offered by Michigan resident Betty Dawisha waving her purple-stained finger after she voted in the Iraqi election (video download here):

"Anybody who doesn't appreciate what America has done and PRESIDENT BUSH, let them go to hell."


Saddam's Victims in Kuwait Also mark his passing. A Kuwaiti follows former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein's execution on TV in Kuwait City 30 December 2006. Kuwaitis welcomed the hanging of Saddam Hussein today, remembering with bitterness the Iraqi dictator and "enemy of the Islamic nation" who invaded their Gulf state 16 years earlier. Iraqi forces, acting on Saddam's orders, invaded the oil-rich Gulf emirate in August 1990 and occupied it for seven months before they were expelled by a US-led international coalition.

Despot Lovers Despondent

Few events provide such clear insight into the nature of those who steadfastly oppose U.S. led efforts to foster a more peaceful world.

"By their fruits you will know them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? Just so, every good tree bears good fruit, and a rotten tree bears bad fruit. [Matthew 7 16-17]

It's pretty clear there is a lot of rotten trees bearing bad fruit in the world. No better illustration could be found than Communists in India protesting the death of Saddam. No doubt they haven't been this worked up since Stalin died.

At right, Communist Party of India (Marxist) (CPI (M)) leader Brinda Karat addresses activists of various Indian leftist organisations during a protest near the American Centre in New Delhi, 30 December 2006, against the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussain.

Communists and radical Muslims alike were outraged by Saddam's execution. Here, an Indian Muslim shouts anti-US slogans while holding a placard during a protest in Mumbai, 30 December 2006. No doubt taking the slogans from a Moveon.org rally, Indian Muslims comparing Bush to Hitler while worshipping the monster shows quite well the extent to which evil has been successful in poisoning the minds of many throughout the world.


Similar attitudes were on display in Pakistan where protestors carried signs (see right) claiming that Saddam is a "Hero of Islam" and President Bush is the "Kileers of Saddam + Muslims."

One wonders if these people are aware that Saddam killed Muslims by the hundreds of thousands?


Or perhaps the protestors don't count Kuwaitis, Iranians and Shiites as real Muslims.

A Warped View of Human Rights

Using a tunnel vision perspective, the editorial license of the photograph at right is appropriate. Protestors representing The Human Rights Council of Pakistan carry a banner demanding: "RESPECT HUMAN RIGHTS, DO NOT HANG SADDAM HUSSAIN."

Again, we wonder whose rights these people represent?

Certainly, Shiite Iraqi man Ghirayer Ali might take a different view. He's shown at right, kissing the skull of his son, Rahim, as his remains are unearthed at a former government cemetery for those who 'disappeared' during Saddam Hussein's regime and which opened to Iraqi citizens after Hussein was overthrown by the U.S.

Where were all the human rights activists when this crime against humanity was occurring?


Finally, it's an older photo of Muther Sheehan. But we imagine she's also distraught at the execution of Saddam. After all, she claimed that there is nothing worth fighting for and defended the savagery of Saddam.

The View from Iraq the Model

Celebrating Justice...
Saddam drew his path to hell long time ago…he chose this fate the day he chose cruelty and oppression as a way to deal with his people. He built his reign with blood and terror and vowed to make death the fate of anyone who dared say no to him.

Saddam lost his humanity the day he committed his first crime, so the one I saw walking to the rope this morning was no man to me.

It was him who rejected humanity to become the monster that the weak feared and prayed to see him dead for years to be safe from his crimes.

Outside Iraq people will divide over his hanging, just like they divided over his life and rule but here in Iraq most of us feel that today justice has been served. Those who mourn him are a few and are still living in the past that has no future in Iraq.

To those who didn’t like justice I say that his death means life to many.
Executing the dictator renews the hopes of not only Iraqis but also of other oppressed peoples in the world in having a better future where they enjoy freedom. It's time for other tyrants to learn from this lesson and realize that a similar fate is on the way if they refuse to change.

Yes, it was the people though their elected government who put Saddam on trial and who says otherwise should go back and learn about how Saddam humiliated, murdered and tortured Iraqis and plundered their fortunes in his stupid adventures.
He deserved to die—our people are still suffering from his crimes till this moment, maybe not in person anymore but through the murderous terrorist machine he built and expanded over years; his orphans are still murdering our people in cold blood trying to deny us the right to build a model of life away from the culture of death the dictator created. ...

Marie's Two Cents has more on this historic event.