Do you agree it was the right decision to execute Saddam?

[Batgirl]

The former Iraqi dictator, Saddam Hussein, has been hanged for crimes against humanity.

Do you think this was just punishment for the man the Telegraph described in its obituary as " as murderous a tyrant as any yet witnessed by history"?

By executing Saddam, did the current Iraqi authorities ensure that justice had been done? Or did they - and their US and British allies - stoop to Saddam's own level?

Was this, in fact, an example of "victors' justice" in action? Was his trial - marked by the assassination of three defence lawyers, accusations of political interference, the departure of two chief judges and walkouts by the defendants - fair?

What do you think of the broadcasting of footage of the hangman's noose being tightened around Saddam's neck? Was it a form of catharsis for a traumatised country or just plain barbarism?

And who are we in the West to judge how the Iraqis should mete out justice? Is it any of our business?

Telegraph

Do you agree it was the right decision to execute Saddam? Will his execution finally close the bloody chapter on Saddam?

[Grimmy]

His guilt was so beyond question that any kind of trial was pointless but the process was served.

To your first question, I say an unqualified yes.

Next, I say, it was the Iraqi's call and I'm glad they made it. The moral question ie: "stoop to their level" denies the reality that in the mathematics that governs all things, lowest common denominator is one of the rules that must be obeyed. Having the "moral high ground" is good, but if the enemy is allowed free run in the low areas, those high grounds become isolated outposts that can be over run at will. An enemy must not only be met face to face in whatever moral valley they reside, but even then tunnels should be dug to undermine them and come up in surprise in their midst.

Third question: It was a dangerous time in a dangerous place. There's no such thing as perfect. The forms were met and the process completed. He got more grace than he ever gave and his guilt was beyond question.

Next: the video taping was a mandatory necessity. If it hadn't been done and hadn't been broadcast, we'd already be hearing of Saddam sightings in Yemen, Syria, Iran, Paris, etc etc. He had to be shown dieing and dead. To do otherwise would have made it impossible to beat down the propagandists and deceivers.

Then: Yes, we should have some say, but not over riding say. We're bleeding for them, it's not a free ride for them for as long as we do continue to bleed for them. But they followed the forms and did as well as could be expected and anyone gainsaying them is no friend of any but the tyrant.

Yes, it was the right and proper decision. For closure questions, you'd have to ask the Japanese, Germans or former USSR and Warsaw folk. Only those that have lived under such a tyranny can say what finally puts it to rest and for how long that takes.

[AmericanGirl]

I have to say, it wasnt the Brits or Americans that chose to hang him, it was the Iraqis... I would say for the most part he deserved to hang, but the evil sadistic side of me thinks he should be stuffed in an 8 by 8 cell for the rest of his days, given only bread and water and tormented and tortured daily... Just like he did to so many of his own people.... or maybe tie him to a post in the middle of a stadium and sell tickets so that those families he decimated could stone him to death... now that would have been a just punishment for the butcher of baghdad. But alas we live in a civilized society and hanging has to be good enough...

[Grimmy]

Someone's been a bad influence on you AG.

Here. I'll sing you a song to help you through the day.

Ding! Dong!
The Shit-head's dead!
The Shit-head's dead
No tears I'll shed!
Ding Dong
That nasty Shit-head's dead!

[AmericanGirl]

Nah, I can be wicked, evil, and twisted all by myself, thank you! Although being around this forum isnt exactly conducive to achieving sainthood.

Ths scary part is, I've had "ding dong the butchers dead, the malevalent butcher of baghdad is dead... " running through my head for the last two days

[RR691983]

What's done is done... Was it right? Maybe it was and maybe it wasn't but justice was done and that part of history has been written.

That said, I'm glad the bastard is dead.

cadet Wheelden,

[SGRock]

I wonder why someone, besides an Iraqi Sunni, would disagree.

[MRoss83]

In my opinion the bastard got it a LOT better than those people he tortured for so long. Compared to what he did to them I'd say he got off easy. But at least the a**hole's never gonna do it again.

[cplmpes30]

Methinks that executing him has created a martyr for some parts of the population.

By trying him on each and every account, then closing him up for life would have brought a continuous flow of information that would have detached him more in image from the greatest part of the population.

Also, I am not for the death penalty, but that's my belief.

Cheers

Personally I think my 4th Division borthers should have like let the grenade drop into his little hole in the ground and turned him into swiss cheese.

Secondly Saddam deffinatley should have been tried for all the atrocities that he commited.
Hanging him sure, he is dead, will not change anything that we have to deal with as far as AQ goes, even though technically we did not hang him, we are blamed.

Remember Saddam was not part of the attack on the United States on 9-11, he was happy it happened but had nothing to do with 9-11.

He is dead now, so things must move forward

Oh my answer at this time is NO

[ClutterbusterNY]

Saddam got was he deserved! He was a mass murderer and the world is a better place with him gone.
AP just announced that his brother Barzan Ibrahim and the former intelligence chief Awad Hamed al-Bander have also been hanged. That's good too.

Not saying these 3 had anything to do with 9/11...they didn't have to.
I rejoice with and for the families of all those these men slaughtered.