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Saddam Hussein's Execution

 

 

 

 

 

Iraq in a Nutshell
80 pages
$7.95

Death Penalty

Saddam Hussein was sentenced to be hanged on November 5th for crimes against humanity in connection with the killing of 148 men and boys from the Shiite Muslim town of Dujayl after an attempt there to assassinate him in 1982. He was executed soon after the U.S. handed him over to Iraq's Justice Ministry.

Hussein supporters and some human rights advocates have called his trial illegal and politically motivated while international critics (including the Vatican) condemned the decision to employ capital punishment deeming the practice cruel and immoral.

Other critics have expressed concerns that his death would stoke the flames of extremists who might elevate him to martyrdom status. Sunni Muslims in Iraq were outraged they saw video images of onlookers taunting Hussein with chants of "Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!, referring to Shiite cleric Muqtada al-Sadr who heads the Mahdi militia accused of torturing and killing Sunni Arabs.

Hussein's death, moreover, precludes any opportunities to question the dictator about his motives, alliances and other vexing topics. It also means that he can never be tried for other crimes -- for example, the genocide against Kurds in the 1980s. Some also argue that allowing him to testify about his involvement in crimes and destruction could deflate his image in the eyes of Sunni insurgents.

Among the unanswered questions: 

  • The location and status of billions of dollars that Hussein transferred to foreign accounts before 2003.

  • The fate of tens of thousands of Iraqis who had been taken away by his security forces.

  • His reasons for invading Iran and Kuwait.

  • The extent of support Hussein received from Western governments and corporations.

  • The names of foreign companies complicit in his corruption of the UN Oil for Food program.

  • Hussein's reasons for misleading the world to believe that he had Weapons of Mass Destruction.

  • His relationship (if any) to international terrorist organizations.

 

 

"We came here despite the curfew as a fulfillment of the debt we owe to this hero who taught us the meanings of Arabism, courage and composure." Mohammad Sadoon, a Hussein supporter speaking after Hussein's martyr's burial ceremony.

 

 

 

 

 

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