Iraqi leader under Saddam Hussein to be executed, official in Baghdad says

[Freddie Stubbs]

Source: CNN

Baghdad (CNN) -- Tariq Aziz, one of the best-known faces of the Iraqi government for more than two decades, will be executed next year, after U.S. forces have pulled out of the country, an adviser to Iraq's prime minister told CNN on Monday.

"It will definitely take place, and it will take place after the Americans leave Iraq," said the adviser, Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi, about Aziz, who served as foreign minister.

A lawyer for Aziz said he was surprised. "I did not expect the government would be that stupid, by doing this they will drag this country to the edge of the abyss," said Badi Arif in a telephone interview.

Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/05/world/meast/iraq-aziz-execution/index.html

[Ken Burch]

1. This kind of thing tends to happen after a war in a lot of places.

What is your feeling about this, Freddie?

[Freddie Stubbs]

2. It should be up to the Iraqis, not the US

[Ken Burch]

3. And, apparently it is, yet you felt we should see this story.

What message do YOU take from this story?

[harmonicon]

6. The decision to execute someone should be up to no one.

I can not take seriously a government which murders and have no problem saying that it's completely wrong. Should it be up to each government if they torture? Rape? Use slave labour? I think the larger human community should be capable of passing judgement on this.

[Ken Burch]

10. Just so you know, I wasn't defending the execution here or any other execution

Just saying that, sadly, it tends to be part of the usually course of events in such situations.

[mazzarro]

4. Shouldn't they be in the healing process rather than exacting vengance?

I fear that they may be reopening some wounds and it does not look like anyone is ready for forgiveness or dialog aimed at rebuilding the trusts between communities!

[Ken Burch]

5. That is a great risk.

It doesn't look like Iraq will be done with score-settling for awhile, though.

It does also raise some questions as to whether the war was really worth it, if things like this are still happening.

[christx30]

7. I think the question

whether the war was worth has been answered a couple of trillion times as "No". But yeah... this looks like a case of "Meet the new boss, same as the old boss."

[castnet55]

8. Hanging

My question is what does the Iraq's' know that is not being told to the worlds public? They had some reason for the sentence of death and we by no means are privy to it by way of the media Islam= an eye for an eye and we should not forget that as we condemn them for what they do. This doesn't sound like religious prosecution to me

[BB1]

9. Damn.

I liked the guy. He got his cigars from Fidel Castro.

[stockholmer]

11. Ex-Foreign Minister Tariq Aziz to be executed, Iraqi official says

Source: CNN

Baghdad (CNN) -- A member of Iraq's governing coalition has told CNN he expects Tariq Aziz, Iraq's top diplomat under Saddam Hussein, to be executed next year.

Saad Yousif al-Muttalibi said in an interview in Baghdad: "It will definitely take place, and it will take place after the Americans leave Iraq."

A lawyer for Aziz, who served as foreign minister and later deputy prime minister, said he was surprised. "I did not expect the government would be that stupid; by doing this they will drag this country to the edge of the abyss," said Badi Arif in a telephone interview.

"What about the national reconciliation that this government has been calling for? The government's position will be even weaker if they carry out the execution after the American troops leave the country and this will lead to more conflict among Iraqi factions."



Read more: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/12/05/world/meast/iraq-aziz-execution/index.html