Iraqi PM hails Saddam's sentence

Found on BBC News on Saturday, 04 November 2006
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The Iraqi prime minister has hailed the sentencing of Saddam Hussein to death by hanging for crimes against humanity as "a verdict on a whole dark era".

The former Iraqi leader was convicted over the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail following an assassination attempt on him in 1982.

Mr Maliki welcomed the conviction in a televised address, saying it did "not represent a verdict for any one person", but "a verdict on a whole dark era... unmatched in Iraq's history".

"Maybe this will help alleviate the pain of the widows and the orphans... and those who have paid at the hands of torturers," he said.

President Bush called the verdict a "milestone" in the efforts of the Iraqi people "to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law".

Mr Bush's Republican Party is at risk of losing control of Congress, in part because of voter dissatisfaction over its handling of the Iraq conflict.

How convenient. At a time where Dubya is in troubles and risk loosing his grip on the US, the Saddam card is played. Besides of that, he shouldn't welcome this verdict; after all, he's responsible for by far more deaths than Saddam; not to mention all the torture in Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay. Someone who wants to be seen as the world's saviour should refrain from violence instead of supporting the torture of (political and differently minded) detainees. But as always, the winner writes history. Looks like it's true: one man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter.