Saddam Verdict Opinion Differs Worldwide
Pastor Dale Morgan
Nov 5, 5:49 PM EST
*Saddam Verdict Opinion Differs Worldwide*
By WILLIAM J. KOLE
Associated Press Writer
Saddam Hussein's death sentence was celebrated by some on Sunday as
justice deserved or even divine, but denounced by others as a political
ploy two days before critical U.S. midterm congressional elections.
Worldwide, the range of reactions - including a European outcry over
capital punishment and doubts about the fairness of the tribunal that
ordered Saddam to hang - reflected new geopolitical fault lines drawn
after America's decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose its dictator.
The European Union welcomed the verdict but said Saddam should not be
put to death. At the Vatican, Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict
XVI's top prelate for justice issues, called the sentence a throwback to
"eye for an eye" vengeance.
"This is not the way to present the new Iraq to the world, which is
different from Saddam, who was behind hundreds of thousands of deaths as
well as death penalty sentences," said Hands Off Cain, an Italian
organization working to rid the world of capital punishment.
Islamic leaders warned that executing Saddam could inflame those who
revile the U.S., undermining President Bush's policy in the Middle East
and inspiring terrorists.
"The hanging of Saddam Hussein will turn to hell for the Americans,"
said Vitaya Wisethrat, a respected Muslim cleric in Thailand, which has
its own Islamic insurgency in the country's south.
"The Saddam case is not a Muslim problem but the problem of America and
its domestic politics," he said. "Maybe Bush will use this case to tell
the voters that Saddam is dead and that the Americans are safe. But
actually the American people will be in more danger with the death of
Saddam."
Praising the Iraqi judiciary for its independence, the White House
denied arranging for the verdict to be announced just two days before
pivotal elections in which Democrats are fighting for control of Congress.
"The idea is preposterous," said Tony Snow, Bush's spokesman.
Yet there was a touch of contempt as well, reminiscent of the
international response when the United States failed to find the weapons
of mass destruction Bush insisted had made Saddam such a threat.
Intervening militarily was "a grave error," said Spanish Prime Minister
Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero, whose country withdrew its troops from
Iraq, contending that conditions there have worsened since the U.S.-led
invasion.
Although some voiced doubts that Saddam would actually be hanged, the
International Federation for Human Rights denounced the death sentence,
warning that it "will generate more violence and deepen the cycle of
killing for revenge in Iraq." The Council of Europe called it "futile
and wrong" to execute Saddam.
Louise Arbour, the U.N. high commissioner for human rights, urged Iraq
to ensure a fair appeals process and to refrain from executing Saddam
even if the sentence is upheld.
In Pakistan, an opposition religious coalition claimed American forces
have caused more deaths in Iraq in the past 3 1/2 years than Saddam did
during his 23-year rule, and insisted Bush should stand trial for war
crimes.
"Who will punish the Americans and their lackeys who have killed many
more people than Saddam Hussein?" asked Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, a senior
lawmaker from the Mutahida Majlis-e-Amal coalition, which is critical of
Pakistan's military cooperation with the United States.
In the Arab world, some Muslims saw the sentence as divine retribution,
but others decried it as a farce.
"Saddam is being judged by traitors, Americans and Iranians, and those
who came on the backs of American tanks," said Mahmoud al-Saifi of the
Arab Liberation Front.
Iran, which fought an eight-year war against Saddam's Iraq and is a
bitter opponent of the United States, praised the death sentence and
said it hoped that Saddam - denounced by one lawmaker as "a vampire" -
still would be tried for other crimes.
Key U.S. allies - including Britain and Australia - welcomed Sunday's
verdict, which had been widely expected.
"Appalling crimes were committed by Saddam Hussein's regime. It is right
that those accused of such crimes against the Iraqi people should face
Iraqi justice," British Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett said in a
statement.
Amnesty International questioned the fairness of the trial, and
international legal experts said Saddam should be kept alive long enough
to answer for other atrocities.
"The longer we can keep Saddam alive, the longer the tribunal can have
to explore some of the other crimes involving hundreds of thousands of
Iraqis," said Sonya Sceats, an international law expert at the Chatham
House foreign affairs think tank in London.
"The problem really is that this tribunal has not shown itself to be
fair and impartial - not only by international standards, but by Iraqi
standards," she said.
Chandra Muzaffar, president of the Malaysian-based International
Movement for a Just World, also voiced concerns that Saddam's trial
"violated many established norms of international jurisprudence."
Even so, "Saddam was undoubtedly a brutal dictator, and even though I
wouldn't subscribe to the death penalty, he deserves to be punished
severely for the enormity of his crimes," he added.
Konstantin Kosachyov, the Kremlin-allied head of the international
affairs committee in Russia's State Duma, or lower house of parliament,
said the sentence would deepen divisions in Iraq.
But Kosachyov expressed doubts that Saddam would actually be executed.
The verdict, he said, was mostly symbolic - "retribution that modern
Iraq is taking against Saddam's regime."