
BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Many Iraqis reacted with jubilation to Saddam Hussein's death sentence Sunday, while others took to the streets in protest. The Interior Ministry closed two Sunni satellite TV stations accused of inciting sectarian violence. Iraqi police and soldiers ordered the employees of First Channel [Zawra] and Salaheddin TV to leave their offices in Tikrit, Hussein's hometown. There have been no reports of widespread violence, and the measure to close the two TV networks is largely precautionary. A complete movement ban -- both people and vehicles -- was imposed on Sunday in the provinces of Baghdad, Diyala and Salaheddin, where Tikrit is located.
The former Iraqi dictator and six subordinates were convicted and sentenced for the 1982 killings of 148 people in a single Shiite town Dujail after an attempt on his life there. Saddam said those who were killed had been found guilty in a legitimate Iraqi court for trying to assassinate him in 1982.
Sunday's 50-minute court session was dramatic. Hussein entered with a Quran in hand, as he had in the past. He began shouting "Allahu Akhbar" -- God is great -- as the verdict and sentencing was read. He also argued with the chief judge and shouted, "Damn you and your court." As the judge ordered him taken away, Hussein said to one of the guards, "Don't push me, boy."
President Bush called the verdict "a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law." "It's a major achievement for Iraq's young democracy and its constitutional government," Bush said, speaking on the tarmac at the airport in Waco, Texas, before heading to Nebraska for a campaign event.
The White House praised the Iraqi judicial system and denied the U.S. had been "scheming" to have the historic verdict announced two days before American midterm elections, widely seen as a referendum on the Bush administration's policy in Iraq.
Iraqis, not the coalition, would carry out the executions.
"The Saddam Hussein era is in the past now, as was the era of Hitler and Mussolini," said Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, calling Hussein the worst ruler ever in Iraq. "We want an Iraq where all Iraqis are equal before the law," he said. "The policy of discrimination and persecution is over."
"It demonstrates that you've got an independent Iraqi judiciary and that they were applying their own laws," White House spokesman said.
But symbolic of the split between the United States and many of its traditional allies over the Iraq war, many European nations voiced opposition to the death sentences in the case, including France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and Sweden.
Lost in the drama of Sunday's death sentence was any mention of the failed search for the alleged weapons of mass destruction that Bush said led the United States to invade and occupy Iraq in March 2003.
EPILOGUE (or short version of the crap above)
Key words between the lines:
Iraqi dictator convicted and sentenced for the 1982 killings of 148 people. Campaign event two days before American midterm elections (referendum on the Bush administration's policy in Iraq). Iraqis, not the coalition, would carry out the executions. It demonstrates an independent Iraqi judiciary and that they were applying their own laws. European nations voiced opposition to the death sentence.
What about the alleged weapons of mass destruction that Bush said led the United States to invade and occupy Iraq and what about the genocide?
So I don’t get it, the good guys from U.S. (doin’ their JOB) came to free the people of Iraq from Saddam (bad), killing thousands in the process and in the end they convict him for death of 150? Talking about mismatch in body count…