Saddam death 'ends dark chapter'
Found on BBC News on Friday, 29 December 2006
Saddam Hussein's execution has closed a dark chapter in Iraq's history, Prime Minister Nouri Maliki has said.
The former Iraqi leader was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November over the killings of 148 Shias from the town of Dujail in the 1980s.
Iraqi state TV showed images of Saddam Hussein, 69, being taken to the gallows in a Baghdad building his intelligence services once used for executions.
However the moment of his execution was not shown. Pictures of his body wrapped in a shroud were later broadcast on TV.
Saddam's death won't change much at all, if anything. There won't be suddenly peace and rejoicement in Iraq or the whole middle east. Religious groups are fighting, not Saddam's followers; anybody who followed the news at least a little bit can see that. Besides, the reason for his death sentence were 148 killed people? That's not much for the world's most dangerous dictator; during his five years as governor of Texas, Bush sent 152 people to death (yes, yes, it's civilians vs criminals, but that's a moot point to discuss). Perhaps they even created a martyr; after all, killing the leader didn't work 2000 years ago either. It would have been more of a punishment to keep him locked up for the rest of his life; especially since Saddam was a big friend of and supported by the USA not too long ago (until he decided to play against their rules). Plus, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, who said that "our respect for human rights requires us to execute him", obviously has to learn a lot more about human rights.