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Iraq
Shiites Clamor for Saddam to Be Executed
2004-01-20
EFL:
Thousands of Shiite Muslims marched through Baghdad on Tuesday clamoring for Saddam Hussein’s execution in the latest show of strength by people oppressed for decades by the former dictator.
"Yarrr! String 'im up!"
"Hey! Watch it with that pitchfork! You could put somebody's eye out!"
The 5,000-strong crowd was believed to be the first public demonstration in Iraq demanding death for Saddam since he was captured by U.S. forces Dec. 13. The Pentagon has said Saddam is a prisoner of war and that designation will not keep the deposed Iraqi president from standing trial before an Iraqi tribunal. "Saddam is a war criminal, not a POW! Execute Saddam!," the crowd chanted.
Sounds good to me, but the Red Thingy would calve on the spot. And the Frenchies would come down with group apoplexy...
Shiites also staged a smaller protest of several hundred people in the southern city of Najaf. "We call for the execution of Saddam the infidel, who killed our sons and kept them in mass graves," said Karima Hanoun, 40, speaking through a black veil at the demonstration. Another demonstrator, 43-year-old Samira Hassan, said, "Every good Muslim woman and every honest human being wants Saddam to be executed. How can America make him a POW?"
Don’t worry, Samira. He’ll be executed, just give it time.
Prisoner of war status under the Geneva Conventions grants Saddam certain rights, and many Iraqis fear that the status will shield him from a trial in his country. International Red Thingy Cross officials have said the conventions would not prevent the United States from handing Saddam over to an Iraqi tribunal, as long as a fair trial is guaranteed.
But we can't hand him over to an Iraqi angry mob? Damn. That's too bad.
Oh, it’ll be fair. And then he’ll go to the block.
A statement by the demonstrators said Saddam should be tried by an Iraqi court for crimes against humanity. "We emphasize our rejection and condemnation of the unjust American decision" to term him a prisoner of war, it said. "Did America forget, or is (it) forgetting the screams of the children, orphans, and the tears of women who are crying at the graves of their sons and husbands?"
No, we didn’t forget. There’s just some who don’t want to hear you.
Posted by:Steve

#6  Shipman may be right, but it chaps me that these Shiites are directing their anger at the US.

It does seem that they are rather demanding assho^H^H^H^H^H people, aren't they?
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-1-20 5:03:15 PM  

#5  Shipman may be right, but it chaps me that these Shiites are directing their anger at the US. These people are becoming a major headache. Their mob approach to issues (potentially rent-a-mob, directed by Iranian agents) is making me very nervous about the future of Iraq.
Posted by: remote man   2004-1-20 1:38:38 PM  

#4  Shipman... don't worry about it. A stopped clock can tell the right time occasionally (even if it stopped in the 7th century...).
Posted by: snellenr   2004-1-20 12:38:32 PM  

#3  I'm worried that I'm agreeing an Iraqi Shite Mob.
Posted by: Shipman   2004-1-20 12:04:36 PM  

#2  "Saddam is a war criminal, not a POW! Execute Saddam!," the crowd chanted.

What they said.
Posted by: Mike   2004-1-20 11:06:06 AM  

#1   International Red Cross officials have said the conventions would not prevent the United States from handing Saddam over to an Iraqi tribunal, as long as a fair trial is guaranteed.

It's amazing how the Red Cross would have the nerve to say things like this, even as over a quarter million Iraqis died at the hands of Saddam's henchmen without the benefit of a fair trial themselves. At the very least, remaining uninvolved in this matter by witholding comment on it would have been a more honorable position.
Posted by: Bomb-a-rama   2004-1-20 9:56:42 AM  

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