Iraq hangs 13 insurgents (first executions since invasion)

[sabra]

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/11744259/

Iraq hangs 13 insurgents
Deaths mark first executions of militants since U.S.-led invasion

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq hanged 13 insurgents Thursday, marking the first time militants have been executed in the country since the U.S.-led invasion ousted Saddam Hussein nearly three years ago, the government said.

The Cabinet announcement listed the name of only one of those hanged, Shukair Farid, a former policeman in the northern city of Mosul, who allegedly confessed that he had worked with Syrian foreign fighters to enlist fellow Iraqis to carry out assassinations against police and civilians.

"The competent authorities have today carried out the death sentences of 13 terrorists," the Cabinet statement. It said Farid had "confessed that foreigners recruited him to spread the fear through killings and abductions."

In September, Iraq hanged three convicted murderers, the first executions since the 2003 ouster of Saddam. They were convicted of killing three police officers, kidnapping and rape.

[MadMaddie]

1. Wow democracy is working real great in Iraq isn't it!!

:sarcasm:

[cantstandbush]

23. Didn't we criticize Saddam for executing "insurgents" against his gov?

didn't we say we invaded to unseat Saddam for his killing of his own people? Silly, silly me.

[endarkenment]

33. thats different

why do you hate the baby jesus?

[LynnTheDem]

2. See? Torture DOES work!

And look how open & democratic Iraq now is, thanks to bush-gawd!
RAH! RAH! RAH!

...bloody fucking hell...

[MaineDem]

3. "competent authorities"?

They have those in Iraq?

Too bad we can't find any here at home.

[sabra]

4. too bad the State Dept. just released a report on how incompetent

the Iraqi authorities are....

[central scrutinizer]

5. I'll bet their trial was real fair, too

probably like one of those "trials" during Stalin's years.

[cali]

6. WTF?????

Trials? Only the name of one ? This is so fucked up I don't know what to say. Summary executions. Yep. Nothing like a fundtioning justice system.

[Auntie Bush]

7. I wonder how long he was tortured before he confessed. n/t

[greyl]

8. What a fine example of non-violence for the citizenry.

I'm sure that'll calm everyone down.

[Jayhawk Lib]

9. If they are some of the ones that are

killing our troops with ied bombs they got what they deserved.

[saigon68]

12. Actually the local people believe the occupying troops

Are getting what they deserve

[Jayhawk Lib]

22. Minority of people

After talking to 3 relatives that have been there the major majority of the Iraqi locals are glad we are there. It is a minority of the people that are causing the problems. According the them, the news for the most part is not really telling what it is really like over there. The insurgents have run out of idiots to do suicide bombing so they are resorting to ied bombs.

I do not know because I have never been there. I find it hard to go against the ones that have been there. They are more believable than those that have not.

[Xithras]

26. Most people here don't want to hear that.

I work with several expatriate Iraqi's and they have said the same thing in the past themselves. They're upset that the US has bungled the occupation so badly, but most are still happy that we're there and that Saddam is gone. Very few Iraqi's (a militant minority of Sunni's mostly) actually support the insurgents attacking our troops, since the insurgents have no problem setting bombs that will kill 50 civilians in the hopes that one or two American's will get caught up in it. There have also been many instances where the insurgents will set off one bomb in a crowded place, wait for the police, EMT's, and American military so show up, and then set off an even bigger bomb.

It doesn't get reported much here, but there's also apparently a big lynching issue in Iraq because of all this. The Iraqi people don't trust us to protect them, they consider the Iraqi police to be inept, corrupt, or both, and yet they STILL want the insurgents out of their towns. When suspected insurgents are caught, they're increasingly being beaten and killed by mobs of angry Iraqi's...sometimes while our own soldiers stand by and watch. I even read about one case where several insurgents moved into a village outside Baghdad. The people in the town seized them, tied them all up, and on the orders of their imam, threw them into the river.

It's a pretty screwed up situation over there, and anyone trying to simplify it into an "us vs. them" scenario doesn't have a good grip on what's actually happening. Very few of the people fighting us have the best interests of the Iraqi people at heart...most are trying to push some kind of agenda. Some want Iraq to become an Arab Somalia, with no central government to speak of. Others are looking to set up a vassal state. Others want a Taliban-style strict Islamic nation. Some simply want civil war in the hopes of personally profiting. They do all agree that the American's should leave Iraq, but very few of them are actually interested in what the Iraqi people themselves have to say about it.

[tabasco]

29. That's right.

People here want to hear the truth.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0429/dailyUpdate.html

[saigon68]

32. The truth is they don't want the crusading Yankee Christians in their hous

Kicking in doors and throwing Grandpa to the ground

[tabasco]

28. I have some swampland in Florida for sale.

I too have talked to lots of troops who have been there, since I am a troop myself. Plus, I read objective sources from inside Iraq, like the Iraqi bloggers, and international media that are not afraid to walk the streets of the cities.

http://www.csmonitor.com/2004/0429/dailyUpdate.html

The Iraqi people do not want us there. Since we have arrived, there has been neverending bloodshed, instability, and chaos. There is no chance of stability until we unass the AO.

US troops are doing nothing to secure law and order in the cities of Iraq. There's not enough of them in the first place, and it's not a priority mission. Anyone who believes we invaded Iraq for the good of the Iraqi people is a moron.

There are a lot of other people who have been there besides your three relatives. I suggest you investigate what they have to say.

BTW - if you are interested in seeing for yourself:

www.goarmy.com



edit typo

[Karmakaze]

31. Sorry, but they are wrong...

IED's have been in use, and the major weapon of Iraqi resistance fighters, since day one. There have been far more IED attacks than suicide bombings. So if your sources claimed that IED's are a recent development, then that makes them suspect. Also the whole bullshit line about the news media not telling what is really going on over there comes straight from the White House.

In a way, it is right, because the media are trying their damndest not to say how BAD it is, but in the context used by the media and your sources, it is pure spin to cover up the utter failure of the Bush admin and the US military.

[physioex]

13. Maybe.....

But there is a lot more of where that came from. How much longer?

[Bacchus39]

25. not to mention all the innocent Iraquis killed

n/t

[endarkenment]

34. so if they capture our soldiers then they should execute them? nt.

[Jayhawk Lib]

36. You ca n bet they will

just like they are doing to their fellow citizens, women and children included that are not harming them in the least bit.

The insurgents are the minority and they are the bastards doing the brutal killing. They are the ones that have beheaded the reporters.

Go ahead and stand up for them. That is your choice..

[turbo_satan]

10. Actually, if I'm not mistaken, Iyad Allawi himself was said to have...

... executed a couple of insurgents himself.

[Inland]

14. You're not mistaken. Here's a link.

http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2004/07/16/1089694568757.html?oneclick=true

[rodeodance]

16. I recall that!

[saigon68]

39. Allawi another Quisling Thug

Guarded by dozens of Black-Water mercenaries

[chelsea0011]

11. Only one named? Line'm up and kill them. New Iraq..same as the old Iraq

[rodeodance]

15. I am not a believer in the death penalty--and this is a good example of

why not. To much secrecry in the hands of the 'elected' officials.

[951-Riverside]

17. HANGINGS?????

What the fuck, this is probably the worst way to die.

[Xithras]

27. New Hampshire and Washington still allow hangings.

And it's not the worst way to die. Far from it...if everything is calculated correctly, it's instantaneous and painless. It snaps the spinal cord removing all nervous activity, and it compresses spinal fluid into the skull causing instant unconciousness.

The problem with hanging is that it isn't always calculated correctly. Too short on the drop and the person slowly strangles. Too long on the drop and you rip their head off their body. There were enough instances of that happening to cause most states to eliminate it as a method of execution.

[endarkenment]

35. NH hasn't executed anyone since the '30's. nt.

[Xithras]

38. True, but it's on the books. n/t

[Dr Fate]

18. I'll bet that will smooth things over. n/t

n/t

[DavidDvorkin]

19. 13 new martyrs

That's how resistance movements usually frame this sort of thing.

[ckramer]

20. Finally, Iraqis killing Iraqis - publically!

That's what this Iraq war is all for, right?

[HuffleClaw]

21. "listed the name of only one of those hanged"

oh, so its SECRET executions now? this is what bush calls 'freedom on the march'?

[coalition_unwilling]

24. Please stop calling them "insurgents," they're "resistance fighters."

"Insurgents" implies that, at some point they were satisfied but became insatisifed and rose up.

As the historical record makes clear, Saddam and the Mukhabarat had put a cell-based resistance structure in place before the invasion of March '03. In other words, Saddam and his general staff decided not to fight the war our Pentagon wanted to fight, i.e., one with large set-piece battles a la Desert Storm ca. 1990. Instead, starting in January 2002 (15 months before the invasion), Saddam gave his general staff orders to read up on Vietnam War and adopt "irregular" force structure tactics, a la Viet Cong ca. 1956.

[Puglover]

30. Finally EXECUTIONS in Iraq...

The Idiot Prince must have a HUGE hardon.

[daleo]

37. They have hanged 12 people but not released their names?

I think elementary legal principles hold that you should have to identify the people you execute.