| Page 3 of 3 < |
Iraqi Court Upholds Hussein's Sentence
|
TOOLBOX
   Resize
COMMENT
 Discussion Policy
 CLOSE
Comments that include profanity or personal attacks or other inappropriate comments or material will be removed from the site. Additionally, entries that are unsigned or contain "signatures" by someone other than the actual author will be removed. Finally, we will take steps to block users who violate any of our posting standards, terms of use or privacy policies or any other policies governing this site. Please review the full rules governing commentaries and discussions. You are fully responsible for the content that you post.
Who's Blogging  |
Other residents wondered what the future would bring in a world without Hussein. "Executing Saddam is achieving justice on earth and in heaven," said Hussein Mahmoud, 28, a police officer. "But will executing him bring Iraq as it used to be or will it make Iraq a burnt land?"
In Mosul, college student Sardar Mohamad Hassan, 25, said Hussein should not be executed because he still faces charges of crimes against humanity in at least a dozen other cases.
In the current phase of the trial, Hussein and six co-defendants are accused of orchestrating the killing or wounding of hundreds of thousands of Kurds with poison gas and other weapons during the so-called Anfal campaign of the late 1980s. Hussein is scheduled to return to court on Jan. 8.
Ridha said the Anfal trial would continue even if Hussein is executed and that Kurdish victims would get the justice they seek. "If Saddam Hussein is gone, it doesn't mean all these guys go free," he said.
In the northern city of Tikrit, Hussein's home town, residents reacted angrily to the decision. "We should not pour oil on the fire," said Khairallah Muhammad 45, a merchant. "This verdict is going to be the end to America, and it will be another Vietnam."
At Hannah restaurant in Baghdad's Karrada neighborhood, employees and regular customers crowded around the butcher's table to talk about the possible execution. Each said he had a relative or friend who had been imprisoned or killed by Hussein's government.
Sadiq Esa, 31, said he wants more than to see him executed. "I swear to God, I will kill him with my own hands," he said, sipping a cup of sweet tea at a table covered with raw meat and blood.
Jafar Hani, the 22-year-old butcher, called Hussein a "monster." As he diced and skewered pieces of meat, he said, "The whole world wants him to be put in the center of Baghdad so everyone can see him hang."
Special correspondents Saad al-Izzi, Naseer Nouri, Waleed Saffar, Muhanned Saif Aldin and other Washington Post staff in Iraq contributed to this report.
