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From The Times

December 28, 2006

Victor's justice will deepen rifts that threaten Iraqi unity

Bronwen Maddox: World Briefing

The rapid confirmation of the death sentence against Saddam Hussein is a long step backwards for Iraq. It is a brutal, if inevitable, display of victor’s justice that offends the principles that the US said it sought to uphold in toppling Iraq’s dictator. It will deepen the rifts between Shias and Sunnis, perhaps already fatal to Iraq’s unity.

The loud welcome that the US gave yesterday to the Iraqi court’s ruling was ugly. It sounded like an attempt to extract some proof of success, for want of any other. But if Iraq achieves stability, it may well now be under a Shia “strongman”, not quite the contrast to Saddam that the US intended.

When Saddam’s trial began, there seemed justification for it, if fragile. One hope was that, when Sunnis saw that he was dead, the insurgency would lose heart. But the vitality of that movement has shown that there are more where he came from. A second hope was that Sunnis could be convinced that the trial was fair, and would be reassured about their prospects as a minority. But the trial shed the appearance of fairness, and the past months of sectarian killing have been the worst since the invasion.

The proceedings were not, at the start, as flawed as many had feared. Witnesses did appear, despite intimidation; evidence (of a kind) was presented; Saddam did keep a defence team despite the killings of his lawyers. But rules for presenting evidence changed, and the defence was not given a proper chance to confront the storm of rumours hurled at the former dictator.

Most important, the court failed to maintain an appearance of independence from the Shia-led Government; the chief trial judge resigned this year, citing unbearable interference. Nouri al-Maliki, the Prime Minister, predicted a guilty verdict weeks before it came. Sunday’s confirmation of the death sentence came from Mr al-Maliki’s national security adviser, not the appeals court.

By announcing the sentence after this first trial on the killings at Dujail, the court decided that other charges were redundant. Yet those might have better established that the chain of command ran all the way to Saddam. They would also have supplied a longer record of Saddam’s atrocities, part of any value of such a trial.

At this point of turmoil, the death sentence is particularly regrettable. Tony Blair has hidden behind the clumsy formula that he opposes it, but that Iraqis are free to run their country. He had good grounds to say that this is a bad way to do so. The European Union is against the death penalty on principle, and Paul Bremer, the first US administrator of Iraq, scrapped it, fearing it would inflame the country. Britain still helps Mr al-Maliki to control Iraq and Mr Blair had every right to ask for a reprieve, even if he was bound to be rebuffed.

The Iraqi Government should have spared Saddam the death penalty. When it did not, Mr Blair should have condemned it: first, on principle, for adding to the brutality of a country already awash in blood; and secondly, on the pragmatic grounds that it will inflame Iraq’s sectarian wars even further.

Undoubtedly, Bush & Blair brought Saddam Hussein’s matter into the court to result in a death penalty. I might suppose at first they hoped a democratic Iraqi court could be fair; however this did not happen because Iraq has not become particularly democratic but this did not bother them. The court’s decision has dirtied the UK and US’s justice system also. Since that moment those countries’ officials are deprived of the right to teach others about human rights.

Alexey Smirnov, Auckland, New Zealand

I can't believe people are actually comparing President Bush and Tony Blair to Saddam Hussein. Saddam is a murdering, torturing rapist. His entire country was his stomping ground. We went in to Iraq to help free a people that deserve to be treated as people and not playthings for a murderous tyrant. How can anyone condemn that? Do the Iraqi people not deserve to live in a country without fear of being raped, tortured and then killed? If you people from the United States and other democratic countries were born in Iraq, would you not pray for and be thankful for someone trying to help free you? I am a Christian who very much believes in the death penalty. The Bible tells of God's punishment on the evil of the world and Saddam Hussein is as evil as anyone I have ever seen and heard. God also sent his people to war when it was needed. I truly believe that the war in Iraq and the execution of Saddam Hussein is justified.

Anita, Maiden, North Carolina

It is times like this I'm ashamed of my country, what is the matter with you people, should we have sat back and let another Holocaust happen? We freed the people of Iraq, we should be throwing a thank you party for our President, not condemming him. Wake up before you have a terrorist at your door. Where is the backbone of the American people? I pray for all.

Thank you Mr President.

BARBARA B COX, GRIFFITH, INDIANA USA

Regardless of Saddam Hussein's crimes, the Prime Minister and Margaret Beckett have shown just how unprincipled they are. They profess to be against capital punishment but find it convenient not to officially protest the hanging. If they had the courage of their convictions, then they should make it clear at the highest levels, as has the Pope, Italy and France, that killing another human being in the name of justice does not have the approval of the British Government. But of course, priinciples mean nothing to 'new' Labour.

David Cunard, Los Angeles, United States

Blair and Bush should also be brought to trial, and the many people who have made a fortune out of the war.

Ken Hart, Rockhampton, Australia

Ken Hart, rockhampton, australia

If there were a trial in the UK where both the defence lawyers and defence witnesses got shot and killed in various separate incidents would we still consider that the accused had received a fair trial?

Ian Josephs, Monte Carlo, Monaco

ian josephs, monte carlo, monaco

Interestingly not many of the posters who disagree with the sentencing laid down by the Iraqi court have mentioned Had's comment above - an Iraqi who knows exactly what Saddam was like and what he deserves.

Foaming at the mouth about Bush and Blair being tried is just ridiculous and lazy thinking.

Izzie, Cornwall

Izzie, , cornwall

His own countrymen as disposing of him in the manner they see fit. If any country wants to step forward and house a potential martyr for the rest of his days, let it step forward. However, I would suggest that holding Saddam is likely to make his host a target.

I wonder if we will even care what happens in the Middle East in one hundred years. With the oil gone, who will care? The world will simply have less well financed terrorists.

Jamie, Charleston, WV, USA

It is very sad that people are calling for the execution of Saddam Hussein. However cruel he may have been, the present cry for so-called "revenge" is uncalled for. Sparing him the gallows will hopefully bring peace.

Ali, Tiruchi, India

What a load of rubbish. Saddam should have been executed years ago...he's just feeding the insurgents hope of a revived Sunni state. He had a trial, the penalty is appropriate, justice is served. Move on.

Robin C Lindner, Gig Harbor, WA USA

Life in prison no parole.

Anon

, ,

Are you nuts?

The values now held by European intellectuals are simply out of touch with reality.

Jim Downs, Oceanside, California

It saddens and scares me to note the animal-like behaviour of the more and less educated and intellectuals alike. Saddam, like Osama, was a piece in the US jigsaw puzzle against the Iranians and Russians respectively in the 80s and early 90s.

Disagreements could have been sorted out, or was the "NEW WORLD ORDER" about world domination through using these people as the last scapegoats?

I think that HATRED is the only outcome of such US led misgivings, I do not defend the Iraqis animal like behaviour at all, but I DID expect a LOT more SENSE from the US than it has so far displayed, childish manipulation of the media and countries for a despicable end for all.

Will the US do its REAL job PLEASE? Heal don't hurt?

Imran O Kazmi, Dubai, UAE

It is astonishing to read these comments and see how people wring their hands and whine over the death of a tyrant.Did any of you lament the death of one nameless, faceless person he tortured, gassed, dismembered and threw into an unmarked grave? Why is it that his celebrity makes you feel as though he must be pitied more so than those he killed? The hypocricy that is displayed here is truly depressing.

Awilde, , USA

It is very true, those live by the sword, die by the sword. Saddam Hussein is the latest example. I wonder, will this be true for Bush and Blair also, the people who imposed this unjustified war on the moral fabric of the world. Will they also fall from the grace or as the Hindus and Buddhist say, May be in the next life they will reap the fruits of their lies. One can see from the comments of the readers, whole world is feeling bullied by Bush and Blair, it seems only a certain minority of diehard Bush fans are trying to defend their leader’s action.

iqbal, Bern, Switzerland

So many good comments. I agree that I have not heard much of a fanfare from the national media about Hussein's execution. Most people I know do not favor an immediate death sentence, particularly since the trial was certainly monochromatic and then hurried along before circumstances, outcomes, and facts regarding the Iraq invasion saw the light of day. I agree with so many of you.

Suz, Minneapolis, MN USA

I don't think it's a case of "victor's justice". More a case of showing any future potential tyrannical dictator that he's not beyond the reach of justice. Seeing Saddam - and I never can quite understand why he's know by his first name - hang like a common criminal is a good symbol. Sure, there'll be a backlash of some kind, but it sends a strong statement that "resistance is futile"

Jack Lee, Austin, TX

I oppose the death penalty, but not for the likes of Saddam. However, I always felt Saddam Hussein should have been tried in as meticulously fair and as open a process as Miloscevic got in the Hague - preferably outside Iraq. This is not because such a court would have been more lenient, but for the sake of the historical record, which is far more important for the healing of a country's strife than any sentence.

I believe that the reason this possiblity has been foreclosed is that the United States - in particular its intelligence and military bureaucracies - have not wanted Saddam to tell from a witness stand everything he knows about the close collaboration between the American governments of the 80s and his military, which aimed to eradicate the Islamic regime in Iran. Saddam's weapons for this struggle (the remnants of which were the so-called "weapons of mass destruction") were provided by the United States, which knew all about and tacitly condoned his genocides.

Bruce, Albuquerque, New Mexico, United States

I do not have a problem with what is going to happen to Saddam Hussein because he deserves it by his ruthlessness over the years. What I do have is a problem with is the manner in which the court acted. For all the people who agree with the sentence and applaud it, they would be singing a different tune if a court in this great USA did something similar and the judge announced weeks ahead of the final verdict that your son, daughter, mother or father was guilty, disallowed the lawyer to have proper closing arguments, didn't cross-examine the witnesses and had no physical evidence whatsoever. This was a horrible display of improper process of law. A fair trial would, I believe, still have the same outcome but it was wrong to allow the sentence to be given out and passed down before the trial was even over and not even by a member of the court.

Jim Mackey, Beaufort, SC

Absolutely correct.

The only place for a fair trial was in The Hauge. This verdict will do nothing but incite even more killing.p>

F.S. Summers, London

FS SUMMERS., LONDON.,

The problems were always there. Saddam kept a lid on the pot, brutally, to stop it boiling over, with the blessing of the West. Remove Saddam and hey presto! Hanging Saddam solves absolutely nothing, he now is not even a part of the Iraq tragedy, but a sad degrading side show in which no party emerges with merit and part of the sad history of the region. The individual factions are now fighting for power, the same factions whose ambitions Saddam kept a lid on! Perhaps the cost of democracy is to high a price for Iraq to pay!

Kevin Sullivan, London, UK

Saddam was an evil and terrible man but what we have now is equally as evil and as terrible. We have not improved the situation but made it worse. I don't agree with executing anyone. I feel that he should have faced international justice, Bush doesn't want that because too much would have come out about US support.

Maurice, Cardiff, Wales

Sadly more of the same from Blair. Has the man no dignity, no integrity at all? How long must we wait for him to stand trial for his crimes against humanity in Iraq?

Dr Alan Marsh, ,

It's obvious that all the insurgents care about is killing. They don't care who they kill and will always find some excuse to kill people. Whether Saddam is executed or not won't make a difference. If it's the west that they hate, why are most of the people they kill Iraqis?

John Vinters, Abbotsford, B.C. Canada

There was government and continuity in Iraq under Sadam Hussein's presidency and the brutality was no less than has happened in other countries as part of the political infighting. The Bush/Blair invasion has brought death and chaos in Iraq and they are the ones who should be tried.

Robert Thomson, London, UK

It is an insult to Sunni Iraqis to claim that Saddam's execution will result in antagonising the Sunni community and add fuel to sectarian warfare. Saddam was a brutal dictator, and under his reign, all Iraqis - regardless of ethnicity, religion, or sect - lived under immense fear, and knew no justice. The only losers are Baathist loyalists who wish to bring back this nightmare on Iraq, and all those who oppose democracy in the region. Just because so many in the West oppose the death penalty in principle, does not mean that the end Saddam is meeting is an unjust one. It should be taken as a lesson to all despots that there is only one victor in the end: the people's right to life and liberty.

Ahmed, Oxford, UK

Why is it that the world always thinks that goodness is gained through force and violence. For is not the case that the victor always proclaims the vanquished were evil men and never so the victorious?

Alan Grocock, Huntingdon, Cambs

No matter what Saddam has done, the death sentence is equally barbaric, and will cause numerous deaths. The nations who provided arms and supplied weapons are equally guilty.

John Travers, Perth, Australia

John Travers Boylebonjoyle2, Perth, Australia

I normally agree with you Ms Maddox and, if by "victor" you mean the Iraqi people over a brutul dictator, I still do. Otherwise, your blanket condemnation of the death penalty even when it is the most appropriate "justice", doesn't help your argument, it only weakens it.

M. Fernandez, San Francisco, California

Alive Saddam is a risk, dead he is just that, dead. I could not care less what happens to him, he has been found guilty by his own people so just get on with it.

John, York, England

The US supported the Hussein regime with military supplies and logistical support precisely when he was committing his atrocities against the Kurds and slaughtering his enemies, particularly among the Iraqi working class leadership in the trade unions and in the socialist political parties. When he was killing and torturing leftists the US and its allies cheered him on and gave him the guns and equipment to complete the job. Hussein is a murderous tyrant who deserves to be tried for his crimes against the Iraqi working class by the Iraqi workers themselves under an Iraqi workers government.The present government of Iraq is a puppet government "elected" at gunpoint under the duress of military occupation of Iraq by the US and its allies. It's as legitimate as the Vichy government was. Therefore, the verdict of this kangaroo court is illegitimate and the hanging of Saddam will be seen by most Iraqis for what it is: just another murder committed by Bush and Co., who should themselves be tried for crimes in Iraq.

Varlet, Haymarket Sq., IL, USA

It seems clear that some Iraqis will always believe that a comeback by Saddam will be possible for as long as he lives. In that light it is understandable that he should go. It's just sad that his execution will represent the general lack of desire for peace and reconciliation. Too bad claims of "justice" (no matter how legitimate) have superseded the chance for forgiveness that Iraq so desperately needs.

Dave, Washington DC, USA

The insurgents will still continue murdering and killing with or without Saddam alive/executed. Don't we owe it to his many hundreds of thousands of dead victims and those tortured in his prisons to ensure justice?Posters here are naive beyond belief about the depth of hatred that militant Islam has for the west even before the Iraq invasion. Blair and Bush were right to do it, just US military were typically ineffective at finishing the job. The rise of militant Islam against the west gets closer, wake up and smell the coffee before the next tube bombing.

Giles, Tel Aviv, Israel

Official Washington is about to bury Gerald Ford as some kind of national hero for refusing to try Richard Nixon for crimes he may have committed while president, including war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. Yet no one in the Bush administration can see the clear moral logic of sparing Saddam's life in order to help bind the wounds of Iraq, which is incomparably worse off than the USA was in 1974, thanks in large part to the sort of catastrophic military intervention that should have been inconceivable following the Vietnam debacle. More proof, if more were needed, that there is one law for America and another for the rest of the world - and that America gets to enforce them both.

Tariq Alvi, Toronto, Canada

This will just be another thorn in Bush's legacy which is already tarnished beyond redemption. Blair will go down in history as a lapdog and justly deserved.

Walt Delaney, Duncan, BC, Canada

Walt delaney, Duncan, Bc, Canada

The punishment let alone the killing of Saddam seems extremely distasteful bearing in mind that he was once perceived as an ally and that he held a fractious country together, while Blair/Bush and others have caused mayhem and are not being held to account in similar fashion.

Robert, London, UK

Yes. I agree the Saddam trial was not fair and the death sentence has come at very bad time for Iraq.

Mohasin Khan, Nijmegen, Netherlands

Mohasin Khan, Nijmegen, netherland, Netherland

Why shouldn't Saddam recieve the death penalty? The leaders of Nazi Germany were condemned and executed for their crimes against humanity, what makes Saddams crimes any less horrible? I'm personally against the death penalty, but I think there are certain people who commit certain kinds of crimes that do deserve it, and Saddam is one of those. The fact that the EU is against it is almost laughable, the EU is against ANYTHING that isn't profitable for the EU or some of it's biggest members.

Considering what is taking place outside of the court, I'm amazed there was even this much of a fair trial.

Saddam's death by hanging won't make a wit's difference in the situation inside Iraq, so let it happen, with good riddence.

Joshua Haught, Buckeye, Arizona, USA

Bronwen Maddox has written an admirable account of what she rightly calls "victor's justice" regarding Saddam. Her description of the procedures involved in this trial strikes one as impeccably dispassionate. And her priorities in condemning the moral brutality of the result, ahead of its pragmatic inadvisability, reflect judgement of the highest quality. The Times is indeed fortunate to have a person of such stature occupying the position which Maddox occupies.

Henry Laycock, Kingston, Canada

henry laycock, kingston, canada

Loud welcome the US gave? I did not hear any loud welcome here. Is Ms Maddox sure she heard a loud welcome, or did Ms Maddox simply assume there would be one?

Bill Fletcher, Avalon, CA, USA

However hard one tries to avoid drawing cynical conclusions sometimes it is impossible. Saddam Hussein - very bad man, needed punishing. But surely the whole point, if we are on a civilizing mission is to aim to occupy the moral high ground. This was indeed a golden opportunity squandered for a thoroughly impartial and profound examination of the brutality of this odious man's regime. His bloodiest act was, I imagine, the Iran/Iraq war in which a million lost their lives in a bitter struggle - with the West cheering on the sidelines. It is hard to avoid a reading of history in which western "real politik" created Saddam Hussein the monster in much the same way as it created Osama Bin Laden and Al Queda in Afghanistan. No wonder they are anxious to avoid detailed examination.A UK public enquiry (or lack of one) is, under this scenario even more shameful, but much of a piece with Mr Blair's recent performance especially the Saudi corruption enquiry...

cuffleyburgers, Lucca, Italy

While I have no argument with the execution itself, I wonder if the book on Hussein was closed too soon. I would like to have heard details of other charges, for instance; I would like to have heard his side of the story also. If executions in the US occurred 5 days after sentencing, the legal/prison system would be quite different.Did this hanging make Hussein a martyr? It's too soon to answer that.

Tony, Upstate, NY

If Saddam was not to be hanged, what would the other choice be? Life in prison without parole. That does no good because an entire country will be paying with their own hard earned money to keep this tyrant in prison. It would also allow a leverage or bargaining chip for terrorist to use.

Michelle, , South Carolina

The trial of Saddam Hussein resembles nothing so much as a Stalinist show trial. So much for "due process of law." By its involvement, the USA has irrevocably stained its reputation.

RFW, Victoria, BC, Canada

Violence perpetrates violence. This act of violence will most certainly perpetrate more violence. When will we ever learn.

Norm Martens, Vernon, Canada

norm martens, vernon,b.c., canada

People who murder us, need to be executed to protect us.

People who commit mass-murder, need to be executed to protect us.

John Walls, Lancaster, California, USA

john walls, lancaster, california, u.s.a.

Saddam is condemned for killing 148 Iraqis. George Bush and Tony Blair are free to kill hundreds of thousands of Iraqis every day.

San-Ying, Montreal, Canada

San-Ying, Montreal, Canada/QC

I enjoy nothing more than watching the so-called "civilized" Europeans wring their hands over the death of a brutal, thug dictator.

Is it any wonder that Europe, as a whole, has been unable to defend itself for over a century?

The question is, with all of the American-bashing that is so popular, will we come?

Dennis, Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base, NC USA

The execution of Saddam Hussein will polarise Iraqis. Those who suffered the most under his brutal rule, notably the Shia and Kurdish communities, would assert that the punishment entirely fits his crimes. In this, citizens in Kuwait and Iran who also endured terrible losses at his hands would join them. I suspect the Sunni minority is more inclined to view the event as a political rather than a judicial development. It may serve to add to their resentment that they no longer exercise the influence in Iraq that they did when the Baathists held sway.As someone who is totally opposed to the whole scale damage to UK laws, traditions and Parliamentary sovereignty by unelected, unaccountable bureaucrats in the EU, I would never say that Iraq should treat its citizens other than within its own laws. Saddam was given far more fairness and objectivity than he ever gave to the thousands of his victims.

Cllr Keith Standring, Bexhill-on-Sea, UK

He may well have deserved to be hanged, but the way in which it was done does not demonstrate justice to anyone. Not only were three of his defence lawyers killed, but his defence was blocked and the rules changed during the course of the trial.Killing Saddam will not solve the insurgency problem, or the civil war in Iraq. If anything, it will exacerbate it, and more innocent people will die as a result.Saddam should have been tried in the Hague, under international law, where the trial would, at least, have been fair and impartial. That should have been followed by the trials of the war criminals Blair and Bush, both of whom have breached international with their war.

Guga, Rockall,

Partisans shot Mussolini and then hanged him upside down. Judicial hangings followed the Nuremberg trials. Yet neither vigilantes nor court-appointed hangings have ever stopped other world-stage villains. The trials themselves, then and now, are subject to debate both about their legitimacy and their efficacy. Vigilante, appointed hangman, or slow disintegration in isolation? I prefer the last: not only because I am opposed to the death penalty but also because a life in a cell ensures the diminution of the figure in history. Who today can name Rudolph Hess? Where is Manuel Noriega? The grim fascination with an execution ensures a certain perpetual fascination with the evildoer. But a cell slammed shut forever reduces these figures to their place in history: to the shadows and the footnotes. Put them in jail, throw away the key, and turn your attention to their victims.

anne armitage, Beverly, MA, USA

It's a shame that we are stooping to Saddam's level and the middle eastern law of an eye for an eye. The violent retribution will unfortunately grant him martyrdom and make the U.S. appear the malevolent evil force. There is a gruesome and barbaric tinge in the air as we prepare to execute a world leader. He probably deserves worse, but we are a civilized nation and he is not our citizen. Not really our responsibility. Let his blood be on someone else's hands. America needs to take the higher ground and return to its moral roots. God forgive us and save our country, please.

paul falstad, long beach, United States

It is really sad that this is being done. Many a times the same thing was done by British in India.He did what has to be done in Iraq. America did support him earlier and they had also supported shah of Iran. Kids of Iraq will remember how America killed their president and he will become a Martyr and a legend. He should have been allowed to die a natural death.

Deepak Singh, New Delhi, India

An excellent summing up and the points about Tony Blair deserve wide acceptance. But where were the appeals for clemency from the European Union, the Pope etc? Perhaps I missed them. This judicial murder drags the Western world down to the level of its worst foes. It is depressing that so few people have had the sense or the courage to raise their voices against this squalid act.

David Barchard, York, UK

What makes them think that they have the RIGHT to terminate a life and decide the death of Sadam? By doing so, those who think that executing him is the right thing to do, are behaving in the same mindset as Sadam himself and sending the message that killing is somehow “justifiable” under the right conditions and circumstances… Are we ever going to learn? When are the governments and its leaders ever going to operate without the violence mindset?

Sergio Jimenez, Chicago, IL

I also heard no loud welcome or any welcome at all when this news was released. I wish the sentence was life imprisonment rather than death, but I think this is an Iraqi decision. I hope the Iraqi people will soon have peace in their country.

Margaret Erbele, Souderton, Pa./US

What a terrible shame to throw away an opportunity to demonstrate a moral superiority to Saddam's regime! Instead, the US and allied are implicated in his killing, and are thereby descending towards his own level. How much better it would be to proclaim and uphold the simple principal that killing, judicial or otherwise, is wrong. Saddam could then serve out his remaining years in hard labour, in conditions that would be a far greater deterrent to other potential criminals against humanity, than the martyrdom that will surely follow this execution.

Martin Symington, Biddestone, Wiltshire

Justice is balance. One cannot balance that which is already lost. Saddam's victim's are now out of the balance trays; what is left must be kept in balance, "justified".

More killing is not the means to that end, but rather to yet another state of imbalance. The paradoxical skew of our world view is that more damage will bring us to a better place. This is nothing but a symptom of an ill will. This paradox has no chance of yielding justice.

The choices are simple - change now, or suffer later.

Richard, Toronto, Canada

Richard, Toronto,, Cda

In the long run, I don't believe Saddam's execution will have much effect, one way or the other. Certainly, there will be an upsurge in violence in Iraq. But sparing him will not bring peace or even a respite to the Iraqi people.

Jerome Long, Milton, Wisconsin, US

Saddam will simply become a hero forever by this act of hanging. It seems might is always right and victor's justice still prevails.

Iqbal, Bern, Switzerland

iqbal, Bern, Switzerland

Undoubtedly, the execution of Saddam will provoke more violence. However, capital punishment, right or wrong, is part of the Iraqi legal system. Surely another "sanctimonious" interference from the West would be a greater source of violence, firstly because it is an interference and secondly because it would lead to endless violent blackmail to have him released.

Dr. Jacqueline Joseph, London, UK

Dr.Jacqueline Joseph, London, UK

Sadam's execution could not have come at any better time. It is high time that the world got rid of these monsters. Those with ambitions to become monsters like Sadam will learn a lesson after Sadam is finally put to death. After all the offence he committed needs nothing less than his life. The world should not sympathise with killers. Do not do to others what you would not want them to do to you. He's apologised, let him die a repentant person. Iraq will be peaceful without him.

Comrade Katongo Gondwe, Lilongwe, Malawi

Killing him will not solve anything.

Allison, Woodstock , IL, USA

allison, woodstock , il, USA

The death penalty is a monstrosity, a "punishment" unworthy of any so-called advanced civilisation.

But as usual, it's complicated to explain why it is barbaric, and very easy to claim that this penalty is "justice".

First, even the worst tyrant of all history should not be executed because civilisation loses its moral grounds when it's behaving like the men it pretends to judge.

Secondly, death is irreversible. No humain judgement is absolutly sure and fair.

Olivier, Grenoble, France

Olivier, grenoble, France

Olivier, Grenoble, France

Olivier, grenoble, France

The trial and conviction of Saddam Hussien is no more "victor's justice" than the prosecution of Pinochet. In fact it has the added validity of being conducted in the country where the crimes were committed as opposed to some European state with the arogance to award its courts "universal jurisdiction".

Doug Forbes, Wheeling, USA

Reading the comments and as an Iraqi, I regret how misinformed those people are. Saddam and his gang committed unbelievable atrocities against Iraqi people and only Iraqis know who Saddam is and what he has done. Saddam deserve to be hanged a million times for what he has done to Iraqi people. This is justice. You say human rights, ok, but what about the rights of the people who Saddam has killed? Stop this propaganda. Saddam and his gang are still killing Iraqi people. They used to kill people secretly and now they kill them in masses in front of the western cameras and no one defends their human rights.

had, london, uk

I cannot understand this hand wringing about Saddam Hussein. What is the point of having a trial if everyone has their own foregone conclusion about its judgement? What is the point of having justice, if only one kind of justice is expected? The point being missed by everyone for and against Saddam is that his country carries the death penalty – an option available to judges. In his case, the enormity of his crimes have prompted the judges to use that option. They could have used others but they made their judgement.

If the rule of law anywhere is to have any authority, weight or influence we must stop telling the judiciary what it should do. We should stop trying to impose our own judgements where the case has been deemed to be fairly tried but the judgements do not conform to our expectations – especially in clear cases where the weight of the evidence suggests that the sentence is wholly merited. We really cannot have victory for both Saddam and his victims.

Elaine Sihera, Maidenhead, United Kingdom

It's clear from reports that Saddam's henchmen committed many atrocities in Saddam's name, atrocities for which Saddam himself has been found guilty, and is now to be hung within 30 days. But, this leaves me puzzled! Just where does this leave Bush and Blair? They committed troops to invade Iraq, in my opinion, by duping the rest of us into believing Saddam had weapons of mass destruction! (A matter now proven by weapon inspectors over and over again to be totally untrue.) So in due respect are Bush and Blair themselves going to be made to stand trial before an international war crimes court for allegedly causing death/atrocities on tens of thousands innocent Iraqi victims? What is good for the goose should also be good for the gander, surely?

Stan Embling, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire, England

Stan Embling, Scunthorpe, Lincolnshire., England

I fear that we are moving back towards the Middle Ages with this kind of ruling which was again clearly decided in advance by the Iraqi Government under occupation.

I cannot understand why Blair & Bush - being practicing Christians - have supported this. Are we going back to the crusades?

D Datta, Kolkata, India

D Datta, Kolkata, INDIA

I agreed with this briefing. This administration just always wants to look tough (macho), but instead they look like fools.

Bill, Denver, CO