I refuse to contend with ethical issues. However, as per the video leaking to the net, it is only a matter of time. I have already viewed several still shots taken from the video.(the fact that he refused to wear a hood and the reported echo of his neck cracking will serve to hasten it's appeal to the masses that await such horrid things.)

As per the hanging itself, I find it most fitting that he was executed in one of his own torture centers.

As per proof of his demise, there shall always remain the doubt. Remember Hitler?

Videos are already available. One without sound, officially released, and another "illegal" one WITH sound, which portrays the incident as much more of a lynching than an execution.

I'm another who is firmly anti-death penalty. It isn't just moral considerations but also ethical and political ones that make me feel the way I do. I don't have a vigilanty bone in my body, I'll admit, and I'm a pacifist by nature and philosophy. I have been hurt, people I know have been hurt, and I still fail to see how the eye-for-an-eye mentality really brings about justice, or closure. It is revenge, and maybe that satisfies some people in a way that only leaves a bitter taste in my mouth. I don't relate.

Strangely enough, though, that all being the case, I actually have no strong moral feelings about Saddam's execution. The objections I have to the whole situation are almost entirely political. As an American I have a pretty strong feeling of guilt with regard to Hussein, bin Laden, all manor of other bad situations and people in the middle east and elsewhere. The US has been pretty darn short-sighted when determining allies and enemies in that particular arena over the last few decades. It isn't just Hussein we armed and trained. The baddies in Afghanistan were our allies against the hated Russians. Are we ever sorry now! And ten or twenty years from now, what will we reap from this current situation? What monster are we helping to create now? No, Saddam Hussein can't be BLAMED on the US. But American policy helped to shape his power and his regime, and as an American, I feel guilt. And that guilt adds to my disquiet over his trial and his execution. It isn't just the possible martyrdom that upsets me. It's the feeling that Hussein was hanged for sins shared.

I really believe most thoughtful, serious minded people are uneasy about capital punishment. As somebody pointed out in an earlier post, the guilt stemming from a wrongful execution would be too much for most people to bear, myself included.

While I don't generally condone the death penalty, I believe it should be implemented in special cases - the hitlers, mansons and saddams of the world. These are not average criminals, but people who are driven by a deep evil of some sort. But that point, I suppose, becomes moot if one doesn't believe in the concept of good and evil in the first place. In the end, it's about semantics and what we individually choose to believe about life in general.
My approach to Saddam's demise is almost a pragmatic one on some level. After having executed and tortured untold thousands of innocent men women and children, the guy has simply used up his airspace. By his refusal to show any sort of remorse or adhere to what we globally think of as 'civilised behaviour', he forfeits the right to be dealt with on the same level as one might deal with somebody capable of reform.

As an American, I am exhausted from feeling remorse about things I am not guilty of in the first place. I was nicely raised, I don't think I'm better than people from other countries, and enjoy the company of folks from around the world. I DO feel remorse about the way my particular country was settled [ nay - snatched] from it's native tenants during frontier days. I also regret certain American policies in the past, and look forward to a much more subdued, thoughtful way of dealing with the world in the future.

I don't personally feel guilty for what complete strangers did two hundred or five years ago. Such a posture in life is a handicap - it cripples one's thinking, blurs the future and at the very least makes you act funny.

ktstew has echoed my sentiments rather well. I too have many issues with the death penalty, although I can't say that I am absolutely against it. I think in cases where an individual is clearly guilty (being caught in the act or confessing when the evidence supports the confession) and express a desire to be executed rather than incarcerated, I see nothing wrong with granting that wish. However since Canada doesn't have a death penalty, it's rather a moot point and a definite transgression from the main thrust of this thread.
I agree with ktstew that there are some individuals who deserve the death sentence, regardless as to their wishes, and Sadam is one of these. He's already been shown an awful lot more consideration than he showed the people he had tortured and killed.

Well, He might not have been a model muslim in his lifetime but now occupies a significant positive mindshare among the 75% of the world's population.

By hanging HIM, the 'Legitimate' government of the Green Zone in Baghdad has successfully conducted yet another brillant conversion (or shoudl I use Transformation) of a ruthless tyrant to a religious and righteous matryr.

Of course, Mr. Hussein also played his cards well (and no-one can sully his image anymore).

To be honest, I was surprised with the kind of solidarity expressed here by a lot of Hindus (even Hindu extreme right wingers) with the Hussein Cause.

The way the 'fare trial' was held, the day of execution (Fun Trivia Bonanza: How many people were leagally executed on Christmas day in US?) all adds to the credibility to the discredibility of the entire process.


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Summary: I am extremely disgusted that the man who has gassed people (as if it was afternoon enteraintment show) is now being Venerated by half of the world's population. Brillanto

I have been away from all media until today and was unaware that Saddam Hussein had been executed.

I confess to feeling nauseous at the news. The taking of human life is sickening to me, under all circumstances. Can one death avenge thousands?

O.k I`ve just watched two of the videos of Saddams` execution. One of the videos was patchy (it was a mobile phone video) but you could see him drop and hear the neck breaking and the other was the video shown on news programs. All in all it wasn`t much to see at all. Saddam grimacing when the cloth is placed around his neck ( at that moment I thought "yes you b%#@%$d that`s what it feels like to have something around your neck") then the rope. Watching him die the only feeling I had was one of satisfaction that another killer wouldn`t be able to kill again.

Quote:

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I`ll make a prediction regarding this butchers future........short.
Even if he is convicted "only" for the illegal invasion of Kuwait he will still be executed. Leaving him alive would be far too dangerous for the current Iraqi government,the coalition forces,the Arab world and the world in general.

The sooner he faces either the firing squad or the rope, both current methods of legal execution in Iraq, the better.

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From here.