Should the Saddam execution footage have been shown on British television?

[Spin dryer]

I will not spill any tears for Saddam. I am resolutely against the death penalty, but for the future of Iraq it is probably the correct course. There is a strong argument that his continuing incarceration would inspire the insurgents and lead to more deaths than will ultimately occur with him dead.

I can see the sense in showing the execution footage in Iraq. This will presumably eliminate most conspiracy theories to the effect that he is still alive. However, I find it obscene that this footage was shown on British television and stills of it printed in all the papers today. The only purpose in showing this here is to pander to unwholesome voyeurism. As the Bishop of Rochester has commented, it depraves those who require it to be shown.

[StokeBloke]

In a very emotionally loaded debate, I have a simple stance. The death sentence is not acceptable in a civilised society under any circumstances.

This is my personal opinion from which I will not deviate. Nor will I use my reasoning or logic to proselytise the support of others.

[Gav]

To be honest this event has led me to reconsider my stance on the death penalty in general.

Of course, I'll waste no time mourning an evil man like that, but having it displayed in public has made me rethink my attitude. Oh, and I didn't watch it, nor have I seen the stills. I have no wish to either.

I always used to maintain that the death penalty was justified in certain situations. Of course those situations are hypothetical because we don't employ such a penalty. Only now, it's not hypothetical anymore. Someone known to the world has been hanged and I find it quite disturbing. It's all suddenly very real and I find the act of taking a life in cold blood quite unacceptable.

Apart from that I find the public display of this execution absolutely abhorrent. Are we as a society really so depraved that we enjoy the spectacle of someone's execution? I thought we had left the dark ages.

[Baruch]

The execution of Saddam was news, so in my opinion it was right to show the footage. The news footage stopped short of showing him actually hanging, so accusations of voyeurism or being overly graphic are without foundation.

Regardless of whether or not one is in favour of the death penalty, it happened so it's newsworthy.

[Missy D]

In a very emotionally loaded debate, I have a simple stance. The death sentence is not acceptable in a civilised society under any circumstances.

This is my personal opinion from which I will not deviate. Nor will I use my reasoning or logic to proselytise the support of others.

I am saying no more

[Double Trouble]

A bit like a road crash that you just cant help looking at, I did watch the footage.

I felt sick as I was watching.

I wanted it to stop and for him to be taken back to his cell.

I dont really know how I feel about him getting the death sentance, I just know it didnt feel right to know he was killed.

[FoxyFunkster]

The execution of Saddam was news, so in my opinion it was right to show the footage. The news footage stopped short of showing him actually hanging, so accusations of voyeurism or being overly graphic are without foundation.

Regardless of whether or not one is in favour of the death penalty, it happened so it's newsworthy.

In agreement with the above quote, it is a sad indication of the society we live in but it`s a fact that it will sell newspapers and people will watch the coverage, on the very emotive issue of the death penalty though i do think that there are circumstances when it is justified and i do think this was one of them, yes it was politically motivated but i also think this was a very important step in attempting to clean up the horrid mess that exists in the middle east, i may ad that some of which was of our own making.

[Baruch]

I, for one, won't shed any tears over the execution of an evil, mass-murdering, self-serving dictator like Saddam.

He got off lightly. If the families of his victims had been allowed to get hold of him, I'm sure his end would have been much worse.

[Genie]

But the actual footage of the execution was not shown. Stills and short footage of the scene before he was hanged are not that graphic. They are disturbing, yes. But no more so than the footage of dying/dead soldiers and civilians in a war zone. I think showing him walking to his death, looking all weak and shaking, is just a sympathy grabber. I am sure he didn't look the same when he ordered the deaths of so many of his own people. And I am sure he felt no remourse when they met more horrific deaths. So I won't either. It's a shame, yes, if only only because such a course was deamed necessary. But I will not help martyr his death by caring.

[David Bailey]

I've managed to avoid the news - I only found out he'd been hanged in the evening - so I didn't see any of the footage.

My opinion is: no, the footage should not have been released (or even taken, for that matter) - but once it was taken and released, it was inevitable that it'd be shown. The blame, as always with Iraq, is with the British and American authorities for these actions.

On the wider issue of the death penatly per se, I've also changed my mind from "exceptional circumstances justify it" to "No way, ever".

And it's hypocritical of our Labour Government to adopt an anti-death-penalty policy, then shrug its shoulders when a government - which they helped to set up - decides to execute someone. But compared to the other hypocrisies of this government, regarding Iraq and elsewhere, this is almost small change in comparison.

[Trouble]

I could go on about this subject all night but i wont, but i would ask you to consider the following;

1. What right did America or any other country have to go into Iraq and take over its country.
2. The only reason valid was weapons of mass destruction that were not found so where was there reason after this.
3. We then had the twin towers taken out which gave the Americans the absolute perfect excuse to take Saddam and his party out of Iraq.
4. Who did actually blow up the twin towers.?? This has many questions unanswered as of yet.
5. Why was Bush and Blair not hung with him for war crimes. How many innocent Iraqi people have been killed by these two intervening.
6. Who organised and took charge of the illegal court to commit Saddam to the gallows and why were they allowed to do so.
7. How has his hanging helped Iraq and why are America still there.

I do feel that Saddam ran his country with an iron fist and commited attrocities that we have all read about. My husbands family lived in iraq until a couple of years ago and left at the bequest of all the children who have made new lives elsewhere. They themselves state that all of the stories you read are actually untrue and completely exaggerated. Even if this is not the case, how do we explain our right to go into a country that has nothing to do with us in any way shape or form except the threat of weapons that could cause us harm that did not exist in the first place.

i find it very disturbing indeed and feel that America is something that we all need to watch and be aware that they themselves in the act of supposedly trying to do something good to stop warfare could in actual fact become what they set out to stop.

[Gav]

Lots of stuff

We all know that the first Iraq conflict was motivated by protecting the oil supplies for the Americans, thinly disguised as protecting the people of Kuwait.

The second conflict however always struck me as the Americans (and the British blindly folllowing) deciding that Western democracy is the way forward and enforcing it upon a country that they would like to have control of.

If I remember correctly this sort of thing has happened a few times throughout history. The Roman Empire, The British Empire & Nazi Germany to name but 3.

Dictatorship on a global scale?

[MartinHarper]

Ahh well. I was still hoping that we'd be able to read Saddam's memoirs, and thus perhaps learn something. For example, a comment in the Guardian says:

It was, as he admitted in one of his trial outbursts, the approval of Washington and the poison gas supplied by what was then West Germany that gave him the confidence to douse Halabja with chemicals in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war.

I think this is the sort of interesting information about the recent past that would help guard against the creation of more Saddams in the future. Now, of course, that source of information is gone. Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

----

I'm glad the pictures leaked. Maybe they'll change a few attitudes towards the death penalty and towards victor's justice.

[Barry Shnikov]

This is my personal opinion from which I will not deviate. Nor will I use my reasoning or logic to proselytise the support of others.

Seems a bit pointless, doesn't it?

If you aren't logging on to the Chit chat section to take part in debates, then don't express your opinion. It's a bit like coming into a room in which there is a discussion in progress, listening long enough to gather what is being discussed, announcing your opinion in a brook-no-opposition tone of voice and volume, and then walking out.

[Barry Shnikov]

If the families of his victims had been allowed to get hold of him, I'm sure his end would have been much worse.

Isn't that what society is for?

[Barry Shnikov]

My opinion is: no, the footage should not have been released (or even taken, for that matter) - but once it was taken and released, it was inevitable that it'd be shown. The blame, as always with Iraq, is with the British and American authorities for these actions.

Have you actually considered that there might be excellent reasons (other than prurient interest) why the Iraqi authorities would have wished the event to be filmed and the film to be shown?

[Barry Shnikov]

1. What right did America or any other country have to go into Iraq and take over its country.
2. The only reason valid was weapons of mass destruction that were not found so where was there reason after this.
3. We then had the twin towers taken out which gave the Americans the absolute perfect excuse to take Saddam and his party out of Iraq.

Slight inversion of chronological order, T. (3) came first. If you were referring to Gulf War episode 1, Iraq wasn't really invaded, and then only to the extent necessary to liberate Kuwait.

[Barry Shnikov]

We all know that the first Iraq conflict was motivated by protecting the oil supplies for the Americans, thinly disguised as protecting the people of Kuwait.

It seems to me that sentence would only be true if Iraq had not really invaded Kuwait. Is that what you believe?

I would have to agree if you were to point out that (since Vietnam) many countries have invaded other countries without causing the Americans to launch a multi-billion dollar military expedition, but that's not the same thing.

[StokeBloke]

Seems a bit pointless, doesn't it?

If you aren't logging on to the Chit chat section to take part in debates, then don't express your opinion. It's a bit like coming into a room in which there is a discussion in progress, listening long enough to gather what is being discussed, announcing your opinion in a brook-no-opposition tone of voice and volume, and then walking out.

I appologise Barry, I didn't realise I needed clearance to join in the poll, I will be sure to ask you in future

[Barry Shnikov]

Ahh well. I was still hoping that we'd be able to read Saddam's memoirs, and thus perhaps learn something. For example, a comment in the Guardian says:

It was, as he admitted in one of his trial outbursts, the approval of Washington and the poison gas supplied by what was then West Germany that gave him the confidence to douse Halabja with chemicals in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war.

I think this is the sort of interesting information about the recent past that would help guard against the creation of more Saddams in the future. Now, of course, that source of information is gone. Those who do not learn from the past are doomed to repeat it.

I'm glad the pictures leaked. Maybe they'll change a few attitudes towards the death penalty and towards victor's justice.

Any claim made by Saddam has to be seriously suspect, especially in recent months when his only real entertainment would have been in sowing discord.

If the claim were true, there would be many people in Iraq and the US who knew about it and thus he isn't the only source.