If Saddam was executed, would it make matters better or worse?

[kentuck]

Dubya probably talks about this in his sleep and would like very much to see Saddam executed. But, would this create more problems for American troops in Iraq or would it calm down the insurgents? Last I heard, they were going to have his trial in August. This is August.

[Kire]

1. no different

[IndianaGreen]

4. Agree, no difference!

Osama bin Laden hated Saddam because he was a secular thug, instead of a religious one. Bin Laden also thinks that Shias are heretics.

Shias and Kurds have their own agenda. Sunnis are fighting for survival.

[Jack Rabbit]

18. No different

When Saddam was captured, I predicted that it would make little difference since Iraqi resistance to US occupation was not based on support for the former regime.

It still isn't.

[leftofthedial]

2. it would be irrelevant

except for the attendant sick macho posturing by the fascist propagandists

[evermind]

3. I doubt it would make much difference either way for the

insurgents. As has been posted in other threads, it would be interesting to see what he has to say in his defense, though, about the relationship between Iraq and US in the 80's.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

5. I don't think it would make much difference.

Saddam has become irrelevant, just like Osama bin Laden. The whole thing has become an abstract "evil" -- the "insurgency"; the War on Terror (or maybe the Global Struggle Against Violent Extremism, if you like). According to Bushthink, the objective is now to establish Democracy in the Middle East (meaning that it's controlled by the U.S.; corporate interests make money, and there's plenty of oil). Saddam who?

[leesa]

6. It will be a problem because it is unlikely to be a fair trial

Now if Bush was next on the docket for HIS war crimes, maybe it would help.

[kentuck]

7. I think it would make matters worse....

not necessarily in Iraq, but in the greater Middle East. I think it would increase the opposition against the Americans in Iraq. They would run the risk of making a martyr out of a tyrant.

[Inland]

8. Worse for Saddam. Ohter than that, I don't know. nt

[Yupster]

9. I can't see it making any significant difference

Maybe a bit of finality to people thinking the old era might somehow come back, but I think any difference would be miniscule.

[Lefty48197]

10. How would we have Bush vs. Saddam III "The Rubber Match"

if they execute him?

[tsuki]

11. Worse. He would become a martyr. As their are always

supporters for the Crawford Coward, there are supporters of Saddam. His life would undergo revisionism, and he would become a martyr.

[IndianaGreen]

12. Saddam is no one's martyr!

The insurgents fall in two categories: those that want the foreign troops out of Iraq so that Iraq can become independent, and those that want the foreign troops out of Iraq so that Iraq can become a theocracy modeled after the Wahabbi paradise that bin Laden wants.

[kentuck]

13. But it would come down to a simple choice...

Would they choose the US occupation in Iraq or would they choose Saddam alive? As much as some Iraqis hated Saddam, they may hate America more. The other Arab nations, who did not have to live under Saddam, would be more likely to make Saddam a martyr, imo..

[tsuki]

19. But, if the US executes him, he could become one. eom

[Independent_Liberal]

14. Wouldn't make much difference...

IMHO.

[Miss Chybil]

15. I'm sure we'll find out soon enough. nt

[wli]

16. worse, the secrets of some of Bushler's double-dealings die with him n/t

[MrSlayer]

17. I don't care if they kill him but he must be allowed to talk first.

This is going to be nothing more than a lynching to shut him up. Actually, I'm surprised he's still alive.