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| Iraq |
| EU opposes death penalty for Saddam |
| 2006-11-06 |
| Reuters, but no photos, so probably OK. The European Union urged Iraq on Sunday not to carry out the death sentence passed on Iraq's former leader Saddam Hussein after his conviction for crimes against humanity. "The EU opposes capital punishment in all cases The U.S.-backed U.S. White House spokesman Tony Snow said the judgement was a "good day for the Iraqi people", while British interior minister John Reid said the ruling should be respected. Around the region, the outcome satisfied countries that Saddam invaded, but caused resentment amongst some Arabs who see him as the victim of a U.S.-inspired show trial. |
| Posted by:Diebold |
| #35 #26 Troll - Lemme explain the rules around here. Trolls have certain responsibilities here, first among which is to be entertaining while we bat you around and use you for a chew-toy. You're boring, non-original, and totally uninspiring. Shape up or get lost, troll-boy. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-11-06 23:04 |
| #34 The collected works of Celine Dion on repeat. Gah! You diabolical maniac. Few could withstand even the first go 'round. Those who miraculously survived even a single cycle would begin to envy the dead. Saddam was one of the world's worst eco-terrorists, when he blew up the Kuwaiti oil wells, spewing crude oil all over the ground and water, and making huge toxic clouds of oil smoke. Damn good point, AP. Saddam should swing just for that environmental mayhem alone. I'd wager that more people suffered serious health complications from those burning oil wells than did from Chernobyl's meltdown. Just the wildlife death toll by itself must have been horrific. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-11-06 22:25 |
| #33 Rantburg needs a Troll Booth, LOL! On a more serious note, Saddam was one of the world's worst eco-terrorists, when he blew up the Kuwaiti oil wells, spewing crude oil all over the ground and water, and making huge toxic clouds of oil smoke. But I did not hear too many outraged squeals from our EUnik buddies. |
| Posted by: Alaska Paul 2006-11-06 22:06 |
| #32 The collected works of Celine Dion on repeat. If people are going to complain the US is torturing prisoners, let's use real torture. |
| Posted by: Eric Jablow 2006-11-06 21:15 |
| #31 SAIC already has the prototype working, NS. LOL |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-11-06 19:14 |
| #30 I sort of liked the concept of a toll booth driving down the interstate and then plopping itself down in the road to extort moeny, sort of like the volunteer fire department used to do in the country towns on the way to my grandfathers. Or maybe a motorized E-Z Pass scanner that surreptitiously zaps you asw it whizzes by. |
| Posted by: Nimble Spemble 2006-11-06 19:01 |
| #29 That should be 'troll' of course. ;-) |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-11-06 18:55 |
| #28 Our driveby toll is posting from Dubai. That does explain why he is completely incoherent. And why I first read his name as jim-bob. One wonders how many times the poor thing is his own first cousin... and how much extra it's going to cost his father to find someone willing to let their daughter marry him. |
| Posted by: trailing wife 2006-11-06 18:53 |
| #27 Our driveby toll is posting from Dubai. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-11-06 18:44 |
| #26 Worst punishment Make him a member of the republican |
| Posted by: Hibjobol Abjub 2006-11-06 18:29 |
| #25 The stealth coup must be opposed. Then get with it before your eliteists get all of us killed. Europe's citizenry had best begin violently opposing Eurabian policies or be prepared for some massive ass-kicking, be it Islamic or American. |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-11-06 15:37 |
| #24 Saturday: Listen to Cher's "Do you believe in Love after Love" record Can't decide if that's worse than waterboarding . . . Then obviously you've never heard it. I almost drowned once, so I'm guessing the fear and discomfort I experienced is pretty similar to waterboarding. But nothing prepared me for the sheer horror of listening to Cher. Five or six minutes of that, and Saddam will be begging for the gallows. |
| Posted by: mcsegeek1 2006-11-06 15:19 |
| #23 The EUnich oppose the death penalty for everyone - except themselves. That they're helping to hasten, idjits that they are. |
| Posted by: Barbara Skolaut 2006-11-06 15:07 |
| #22 Why no Captain Beefheart "Trout Face" playing? That can break the strongest in the shortest time. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-11-06 14:23 |
| #21 Some compassion might be in order. He would only have to listen to the Cher song three times an hour during the 16 non sleeping hours. |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-11-06 14:12 |
| #20 Saturday: Listen to Cher's "Do you believe in Love after Love" record Can't decide if that's worse than waterboarding . . . |
| Posted by: spiffo 2006-11-06 13:59 |
| #19 well instead of hanging him they could put him on the following schedule: Sunday; Waterboarding Monday: Viewing a random 16 hour stretch of the OJ trial Tuesday: Waterboarding Wednesday: Greatest hits of William Hung Thursday: Back episodes of The VIEW Friday: All day on hands and knees at the mosque Saturday: Listen to Cher's "Do you believe in Love after Love" record |
| Posted by: mhw 2006-11-06 12:15 |
| #18 Europe has a long and sorted history of the people waking the heads off of leaders gone wrong. It's no wonder they are opposed to it, the people of Europe just might start holding "their" leaders accountable! |
| Posted by: 49 Pan 2006-11-06 12:14 |
| #17 Britain needs a real conservative party. The Tories have lost that mantle, because they embrace both the EU and do not stand up against socialism. Their platform is straightforward: pro-death penalty, pro-prison construction, severe restrictions on immigration, retention of Common Law as superior to European Law, retention of the Pound, re-creation of a English army and navy, and conscription of petty criminals to be given five years of military training in the Falkland Islands. The EU Constitution can go bugger itself. They should also insist that the Crown no longer can remain a passive monarch, but that it has a responsibility to help provide funding for the restoration of England's military. That "Knighthoods of the Realm" only be given to senior combat military officers who have served in combat. Then let's see what the English public would think. |
| Posted by: Anonymoose 2006-11-06 10:56 |
| #16 I just love the way it was portrayed in the paper (SanFran Chron): “Saddam sentence divides Iraq!” Yes I am sure that a SMALL part of the Iraqis population doesn’t want to have him executed but I doubt very much that it “divides” the Iraqis as much as the headline suggest. |
| Posted by: Cyber Sarge 2006-11-06 10:15 |
| #15 Ya just cant win with these loonies .. |
| Posted by: MacNails 2006-11-06 10:14 |
| #14 I posted that, and I know I changed the name back, but the cookie apparently didn't cooperate. |
| Posted by: Jackal 2006-11-06 09:00 |
| #13 Personally, I think it is time to 'bitch slap' these pompous asses. Demand that Congress appropriate the moneys and land to return our buried servicemembers from the wretched lands. Nothing would say more than that act to how we now feel about what passes as leadership in Europe. |
| Posted by: Procopius2K 2006-11-06 08:41 |
| #12 "he was such a nice man . . . so generous with those oil contracts." |
| Posted by: Mike 2006-11-06 08:28 |
| #11 Most of BBC readers say Bush and Blair should be hanged too. Disgusting how warped people are! |
| Posted by: Jesing Ebbease3087 2006-11-06 08:24 |
| #10 Yeah, they're all wringing their hands and weepin' over Ol' Moneybags. |
| Posted by: mrp 2006-11-06 08:24 |
| #9 #3 No gorb, we feel its more like a mature man trying to take care of an old parent with senile dementia. |
| Posted by: gromgoru 2006-11-06 08:17 |
| #8 Let's make everybody happy: split Saddam down the middle and hang only half of him. |
| Posted by: Hyper 2006-11-06 08:06 |
| #7 Roger Simon accuses the EU of magical thinking: Our friends in the European Union are urging the Iraqis not to give Saddam the death penalty. Pretty predictable, I'm sure most would agree. But as one who is (almost always) opposed to the death penalty, I think this view on the part of the EU is not only narcissistic (in the routine sense) it is quite crazy and self-destructive. If there is one class of person who deserves, and indeed needs to have, the death penalty, it is the mass murdering tyrant like Saddam. If given life sentences, these autocrats almost always have many adherents who devote their lives to springing the dictator so he can return to power and kill again. These die-hard adherents (we've seen plenty already in Iraq) will do this either directly via insurrection or prison break or indirectly via hostage-taking that could go on and on and result in many deaths. It would be as if Hitler had been captured at the end WWII, incarcerated for life, only to be freed by power-hungry ex-Nazis to reopen Auschwitz. Will the EU answer an argument like this? No, they will ignore it because their position is indefensible and based entirely on magical thinking - magical thinking that at its root is a highly-disturbed cocktail of self-loathing and jealousy/hatred toward the US. Though they deny it, in their heart of hearts, they want the Iraqis to fail in their quest for democracy. They want Saddam back. Nothing could be more obvious. |
| Posted by: doc 2006-11-06 08:02 |
| #6 Right ... The EU would rather condemn Saddam to Death by Boredom ala Milosevic. |
| Posted by: doc 2006-11-06 07:43 |
| #5 "Someone needs to tell Europe" Erm. The EU does not speak for the peoples of Europe. Please don't allow yourself to beleive this as your deference gives them authority. The stealth coup must be opposed. |
| Posted by: Bright Pebbles in Blairistan 2006-11-06 07:23 |
| #4 Surprise, surprise, so does RUSSIA ala LUCIANNE.com + WORLDNEWS.com. |
| Posted by: JosephMendiola 2006-11-06 03:43 |
| #3 Do you ever feel like the US/EU relationship is sort of like that of a parent/teenager? Where the teenager is idealistic, clueless, and highly opinionated? And the parent is schitzophrenic! |
| Posted by: gorb 2006-11-06 02:57 |
| #2 The UN can't collect on those oil for food contracts if the paymaster is dead! |
| Posted by: badanov 2006-11-06 02:15 |
| #1 Shielding genocidal Hezbollah terrorists? No problem. Executing a mass murdering tyrant? No, never! Someone needs to tell Europe that what Iraq does after trying and convicting its greatest oppressor is none of their damn business. Bugger off you wankers! |
| Posted by: Zenster 2006-11-06 00:45 |