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Iraq-Jordan
'Distraught' Saddam begging for mercy
2004-09-20
Deposed Iraqi President Saddam Hussein is depressed and has begged the Iraqi government for mercy, Iraq's Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said in an interview published on Monday. "He is distraught and depressed," Allawi said of Saddam, the man who was Iraq's president for 24 years and is awaiting trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. "Saddam and his colleagues are not the giants that the media sometimes talks about," Allawi said in an interview with the pan Arab al-Hayat newspaper. "Saddam sent us an oral message in which he begged for mercy. He said that they were working in the public interest and did not mean any harm."

The portrait painted by Allawi differed sharply from that in a New York Times account published over the weekend, based on interviews with U.S. and Iraqi officials who have visited the former dictator in his air-conditioned 10-by-13-foot cell on the grounds of one of his former palaces. The newspaper said that according to its sources, Saddam has refused to acknowledge wrongdoing or show remorse for the people who were killed during his 24-year rule, whom he labels as traitors. At every encounter, the officials told the Times, Saddam insists he is still the constitutionally elected president of Iraq.
A legend now only in his own mind.
In his interview with the al-Hayat newspaper, Allawi also said he has survived four assassination attempts since his interim government came to power in June, the last just five days ago when his guards became suspicious of a car outside Baghdad's Green Zone compound housing the government and the U.S. and other embassies. The car then blew up and a battle between gunmen and his guards ensued. Two non-Iraqi Arabs were arrested, he said. Allawi would not give their nationality, but said they belonged to Islamist militant groups.
Posted by:Steve White

#15  lol Frank!
Posted by: Rafael   2004-09-20 10:48:57 PM  

#14  Saddam insists he is still the constitutionally elected president of Iraq

Saddam: "I feel for you, President Gore"!
Posted by: Frank G   2004-09-20 9:47:07 PM  

#13  Give him to the women.
Posted by: mojo   2004-09-20 9:20:21 PM  

#12  No mercy, into the shredder feet first.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2004-09-20 6:37:17 PM  

#11  Sammy might yet see freedom. Be wary.
Posted by: Rafael   2004-09-20 3:59:54 PM  

#10  I think they need to set up a lucite cell in one of Saddam's palaces and charge admission for his former subjects to watch him go at his day to day routine. Remember the ending scene from Bertolucci's "The Last Emperor" where the former Chinese emperor lived out his days as a gardener in Beijing? Something like that might be fitting for Saddam.
Posted by: Zhang Fei   2004-09-20 3:18:32 PM  

#9  I'll bet he is distraught.

There is some film documentation of his crimes, right? Every frame of footage in which he is seen begging the international community for mercy needs to be countered with footage documenting his ordering the torture and killing of Iraqis who committed no crimes. That would be only fair.
Posted by: jules 187   2004-09-20 1:56:03 PM  

#8  Now, come fellas.

Saddam is still a human being. We need to give that murdering bastard a fair trial. :o)
Posted by: badanov   2004-09-20 1:52:02 PM  

#7  How much mercy did Saddamn show when he had the chance? Nada, perhaps?
Posted by: Steve from Relto   2004-09-20 1:48:49 PM  

#6   He said that they were working in the public interest and did not mean any harm.

Remember this, folks. Anytime someone says their working for the greater good, this is what they are talking about.
Posted by: BH   2004-09-20 1:37:01 PM  

#5  ..He said that they were working in the public interest and did not mean any harm.”

Bwaaahahahahahahaa!!!!!

So all them dead bodies dug up so far were in the "public interest"??

I'll say it again: "Bwaaahahahahahahaa!!!!!"
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-09-20 1:23:56 PM  

#4  That picture of the Prez in his cell is what's makin' him flip out.
Posted by: BigEd   2004-09-20 12:56:20 PM  

#3  Allawi said what he called Iranian interference in some Iraqi affairs did not mean Iran’s government was involved. “Rather it comes from some circles that support particular religious tendencies,”

That would be the government, such as it is, of Iran.
Posted by: Robert Crawford   2004-09-20 12:55:31 PM  

#2  I give it two days before the Red Thingy Cross whines about this and demands humane treatment for a man who doesn't deserve it.
Posted by: The Doctor   2004-09-20 12:53:00 PM  

#1  I got your mercy right here, Soddom.

I'll be glad to personally administer it, too.

You do know how merciful women are, don't you?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut   2004-09-20 12:51:49 PM  

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