what to think, what to think
From CNN.com 1-09-07
Video of the hanging, shot with a crude cell-phone camera and released on the Internet shortly afterward, showed Shiites taunting Hussein, a Sunni, moments before his execution. (Watch Iraqis pass around footage of execution )
The video angered moderate Sunnis and other Iraqis who criticized the way al-Maliki's government handled the execution.
The images fed Sunni fears that Hussein's death was a sectarian lynching by the Shiite-led government. (Watch how coalition forces struggle to police Sunni insurgents and Shiite death squads )
But al-Maliki, a Shiite, played down the controversy on Tuesday.
The video "was an isolated act committed by a man who acted naively and in violation of the law," he said. "We launched an inquiry, we detained the man, and he will get his punishment. (Full story)
"He took the pictures and shared them with some friends over mobile phones. Then someone forwarded the video to the media, and this man had no idea what kind of act he was committing or where his act would lead him."
The handling of the execution also prompted worldwide criticism, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair's first public comments on the matter Tuesday.
"The manner of Saddam's execution was completely wrong," Blair said. "But that shouldn't blind us to the crimes he committed against the people, including the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, 1 million casualties in the Iran-Iraq war and use of chemical weapons against his own people, wiping out entire villages of people.
"So, the crimes that Saddam committed doesn't excuse the manner of his execution, and the manner of the execution doesn't excuse the crimes. Now I think that is a perfectly sensible position that most people would reasonably accept." - cnn
1cent - the man we hung is now back in power, and the chaos we created, that he Ruthlessly crushed, we have reinstated.
Video of the hanging, shot with a crude cell-phone camera and released on the Internet shortly afterward, showed Shiites taunting Hussein, a Sunni, moments before his execution. (Watch Iraqis pass around footage of execution )
The video angered moderate Sunnis and other Iraqis who criticized the way al-Maliki's government handled the execution.
The images fed Sunni fears that Hussein's death was a sectarian lynching by the Shiite-led government. (Watch how coalition forces struggle to police Sunni insurgents and Shiite death squads )
But al-Maliki, a Shiite, played down the controversy on Tuesday.
The video "was an isolated act committed by a man who acted naively and in violation of the law," he said. "We launched an inquiry, we detained the man, and he will get his punishment. (Full story)
"He took the pictures and shared them with some friends over mobile phones. Then someone forwarded the video to the media, and this man had no idea what kind of act he was committing or where his act would lead him."
The handling of the execution also prompted worldwide criticism, including British Prime Minister Tony Blair's first public comments on the matter Tuesday.
"The manner of Saddam's execution was completely wrong," Blair said. "But that shouldn't blind us to the crimes he committed against the people, including the death of hundreds of thousands of innocent Iraqis, 1 million casualties in the Iran-Iraq war and use of chemical weapons against his own people, wiping out entire villages of people.
"So, the crimes that Saddam committed doesn't excuse the manner of his execution, and the manner of the execution doesn't excuse the crimes. Now I think that is a perfectly sensible position that most people would reasonably accept." - cnn
1cent - the man we hung is now back in power, and the chaos we created, that he Ruthlessly crushed, we have reinstated.