A sentence with the words "Bush" and "credit", with the latter applying to the former, is simply bizarre this early in the morning.

Good morning JB: Of course Bush and credit need to be co-mingled carefully -- and I think I am careful here. I want Bush's chest=thumping about the Hussein verdict to be coupled with all of the other problems Bush has unleashed...

Best, Steve Clemons

I guess I am old-fahioned, but I thought a FAIR TRIAL was an American value. I guess like other aspects of our Constitution and the widespread American endorsement of torture, American values are not what they used to be. I am grateful for your assurance that Saddam is guilty; indeed my inclination is in that direction. However, I am a little surprised by how cavalierly you put aside the notion of whether Saddam received a fair trial...probably this is a quaint notion. I wonder if in Sunni areas (or elsewhere in the world where there remains vestigial affection for fair legal process )accepting the news of the verdict will occur with the same sangfroid. I was told, growing up, that in America a FAIR TRIAL was as important as the question of guilt or innocence...just another grandmother's tale of my youth I guess. There is also the story that after World War II, Stalin suggested the effective remedy for the high Nazi prisoners: up against the wall. But Churchill and Roosevelt, unlike the barbarian Stalin, said we needed a legal process, hence Nuremberg. I guess today we take more of old Joe's approach. Isn't it striking that in today's America we have a trial conducted under the auspices of our puppet regime, and when the judge is deemed too partial to the accused, it is not resolved "on appeal". Instead our puppet summarily replaces the overly favorable judge by a hanging judge. But of course the true measure of how far we have fallen from grace is that this is given scarce to no coverage in the press and instead we have to make do with assurances that Saddam is certainly
guilty "regardless of whether he received a fair trial". It does not help the state of things in this country to abet this assault on basic bedrock principles such as fair legal process.

Perhaps someone here can elucidate the difference between Saddam's theory of collective punishment of the town from where someone tried to assassinate him, and our theory of collective punishment, e.g., the Falluja operations. I'm sure there is one, but is it purely in the stated intent? Or is there something more?

It would have been far more satisfying to see Osama bin Laden on trial, don't you think???

Donald Rumsfeld and Saddam Hussein
http://youtube.com/watch?v=NDABe8AOuCQ

Why did Mr Rumsfeld stab Saddam Hussein in the back?

Golly, Is Saddam going to be hung from his neck for killing far less Iraqis than George Bush has? Who is going to hang for the 500,000+ kids that died as a result of the sanctions? Are Rummie and Cheney going to hang for selling Saddam the gas he alegedly used against the Kurds? Or is Saddam going to hang for the pre-Kuwait invasion Iraq he created, where women enjoyed unprecedented rights, health care and educational opportunities were of a previously quality unheard of in the Muslim arena, and radical Islamic extremism was not tolerated? Are the Bush senior people going to hang for giving Saddam the wink and a nod he recieved when ne warned us he was going into Kuwait?

For over 16 years now, WE have committed crimes of EPIC proportions against Iraq and its people. And that INCLUDES Saddam Hussein.

Who will hang for this debacle in Iraq, that since 1991 has killed far more that 1 million Iraqi men, women, and children?

Who will hang for the soon to number three thousand American service-people that have been murdered by the lies and the criminal acts of agression committed by the Bush Administration?

Who will hang for the generations of Iraqi people that will suffer the cancers and illnesses caused by the act of saturating thier environment with deadly DU dust?

Who will hang for the death and mayhem wrought upon the Lebanese people by the American made cluster munitions that were sprayed willy-nilly all over the Lebanese countryside by these monsters in the Israeli leadership?

If Saddam should hang, justice demands he has company.

I think the timing of this show-trial's verdict and sentencing is fascinating.

Talk about a November Surprise.

"...unleashing the virulent currents of sectarian killing and convulsion in Iraq..."

I think "fomenting" or perhaps "inciting" is the verb you're looking for here in place of "unleashing". Sticky American fingerprints are all over the violence. It's called the Salvador option--arms, training, and a wink to "our" death squads, here and there some black ops by special forces for Shiites to blame Shiites for, and vice versa...

So America's erstwhile ally and former valuable CIA asset goes down. I look forward to the next trial, when leading American officials are in the dock for their crimes against humanity.

correction (I should have previewed): "...for Shiites to blame Sunnis for..." Apologies.

Riverbend:

http://riverbendblog.blogspot.com/2006_11_01_riverbendblog_archive.html#116274961239136314

"t’s not about the man- presidents come and go, governments come and go. It’s the frustration of feeling like the whole country and every single Iraqi inside and outside of Iraq is at the mercy of American politics. It is the rage of feeling like a mere chess piece to be moved back and forth at will. It is the aggravation of having a government so blind and uncaring about their peoples needs that they don’t even feel like it’s necessary to go through the motions or put up an act. And it's the deaths. The thousands of dead and dying, with Bush sitting there smirking and lying about progress and winning in a country where every single Iraqi outside of the Green Zone is losing.

One of the talking melonheads asked today what to think of Hussains trial and being executed. Unfortunately the designated receiver mumbled platitudes. The truth is that the trial was a farce, right out of the gulag. The truth is that Hussain should suffer a thousand deaths, and even then he would be getting a discount.

Once more Dear Leader costs the US its honor and shows his daddy. How much more of this crap can the US and the world take?

Name an assassination conducted in a more cowardly manner or at greater cost.

Everyone knew Saddam was guilty but yet we still had to cheat to get him convicted. 2.267 trillion dollars and millions of ruined lives were too expensive a price to pay for the most expensive show trial in history.

How long did it take for 148 innocent Iraqis to be killed by George W. Bush's shock and awe? An hour... maybe two? Saddam will hang by the neck until he is dead, dead, dead. Mr Bush will be in sunny Florida lying his rear end off.

Cost of war: $ 2,267,000,000,000.00
Cost per living US citizen: $ 7,556.67
Cost to kill one person: $ 3,446,184.34
Number of US citizens each chipping in $ 7,556.67 to kill one person: 456

isbister--if it's any consolation, Bush may not end up in sunny Florida lying his ass off, but in Paraguay, where he recently purchased nearly 100,000 acres of land. Future compound for war criminals fleeing justice?

Saddam gets the death penalty-Bush declares it a great victory for Iraq! Yes a great victory indeed. One guy is gonna be hanged, but the rest of the country is in tatters.

As a 17 year old of the United States of America i feel that the hanging of Saddam Hussein was not a wise choice. I feel we should have kept him as a prisoner until there was a truce, surrender, or agreement of some kind instead of killing someone that meant so much to the people loyal to him. I understand there is alot going on that America is not aware of so your probably thinking she knows nothing so who is she to have an opinion, but then again i live in this country so i should have just as much say as anyone in office. I just pray to God that our government, whoever "they" may be, doesnt bring death upon the U.S. because of their mistakes and poor choices. Although our enemies have killed our neighbors and family members i still feel as if we are being tricked (or so to say) into actually caring about them. Life is no longer based on Love or caring for one another but on greed, money, selfishness, and envy. I wish i could get my real opinion across but it is simply foolish to express true feelings about the war when my point of view makes no difference even though my generation is the future.
Peace and Love-Micci

ps. All i want is for my 9 year old sister who loves Love and 6 year old brother who will someday make a great movement in the Church to live happy lives without having to worry about whether they will be bombed the next day or what. I would rather be a prisoner of war and die a thousand of the most painful deaths and go to Hell then have them die before they get a chance to live or live in fear. May God have mercy on our souls.

hell is fictional... so is god :)