Libya to build Statue of Saddam..

[Zico]

Libya declared three days of mourning after Saddam Hussein's death and cancelled public celebrations around the Eid religious holiday.
They have announced to the world that they intend to Imortalise him in stone.. Gadaffi merely keeping his people happy or his he sticking his neck out again?

A Martyr now.. as predicted!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6232859.stm

[Ranger]

Great. :\ Doesn't look like getting rid of Saddam is going to stop any violence at all, and moves like this tell you why.

[Dazz9908]

Does the statu come with the Noose fashion accessory.
Or is it a ols man hiding down a hole pose.

Sorry If afend anyone Just had to say it, couldn't help it.

[LeonBrooke]

Anyone should have predicted that he was going to be made a martyr. Executing him was the stupidest thing to to on two fronts - they lost any moral high-ground they had (in my opinion they already had less than none, and now it's just got worse), and they've made him into a martyr.

[Ian McC]

Wonder how many years will pass before that one is pulled down as well.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Gadaffi? Oh yes, the guy who thumbed his nose at the US a few times and is still around to tell the story. Of course he will make Saddam a hero. With Hussein around, the Americans realized he was just a nuisance, as compared to Saddam who is a psycopathic moron who invaded two neighbouring nations and enslaved his people.

Ya, Moammar would make him a hero, because he is an Arab thug dictator like himself, but a hero doesn't die because of his own stupidity.

Saddam maybe shouldn't have been hanged in the eyes of you guys, but the way I see it, it is far more justice he received than he ever once gave.

As for Moammar, he isn't stupid, he has hedged his bets. The minute the coalition started going through Iraq like a roto tiller looking for WMD's, he unilateraly gave his up and allowed the UN to have access to his nation. IF Saddam did that, he would be able to visit his friend in Libya rather than be in stone.

Like I said, Saddam was an idiot, stop the presses. A statue is fine, we need sometimes to remember what idiots look like....

[LeonBrooke]

Gadaffi? Oh yes, the guy who thumbed his nose at the US a few times and is still around to tell the story. Of course he will make Saddam a hero. With Hussein around, the Americans realized he was just a nuisance, as compared to Saddam who is a psycopathic moron who invaded two neighbouring nations and enslaved his people.

Ya, Moammar would make him a hero, because he is an Arab thug dictator like himself, but a hero doesn't die because of his own stupidity.

Saddam maybe shouldn't have been hanged in the eyes of you guys, but the way I see it, it is far more justice he received than he ever once gave.

As for Moammar, he isn't stupid, he has hedged his bets. The minute the coalition started going through Iraq like a roto tiller looking for WMD's, he unilateraly gave his up and allowed the UN to have access to his nation. IF Saddam did that, he would be able to visit his friend in Libya rather than be in stone.

Like I said, Saddam was an idiot, stop the presses. A statue is fine, we need sometimes to remember what idiots look like....

Saddam did allow the weapons inspectors in, and guess what? They didn't find anything! Why not? Because there was nothing to find! He cooperated with EVERY UN resolution against him.

[Tomi]

i dont think it will be the only statue of him in muslim countries.

[Daniel]

Does the statu come with the Noose fashion accessory.
Or is it a ols man hiding down a hole pose.

Sorry If afend anyone Just had to say it, couldn't help it.
and in English for the people who don't understand gibberish?

[Mark]

Does the statu come with the Noose fashion accessory.
Or is it a ols man hiding down a hole pose.

Sorry If afend anyone Just had to say it, couldn't help it.

It is offensive. In matter of fact it's hardly even written in English.

[Mark in Oshawa]

Saddam did allow the weapons inspectors in, and guess what? They didn't find anything! Why not? Because there was nothing to find! He cooperated with EVERY UN resolution against him.

No he didn't comply. He allowed the UN inspectors to hang out in Baghdad. He had his lackies show the inspectors what HE Wanted them to see, not what they wanted to see. Hans Blix didnt mince words on what he thought about this at the time. Blix tried to put a neutral spin on things, because that is what UN bureaucrats do, but the point is the Inspectors saw very little, in a nation the size of France. It is a weak, weak argument to say he complied at all when the UN inspectors have stated that they did NOT get the free access as per the resolutions. Saddam kept his "palaces" off limits.

As for nothing to find, it has come out in court a tape of Saddam talking to his lackies about the use of Nerve gas to quell the Kurd's in 1988. Although he is convicted, his henchmen are still in the dock, and this is evidence of their complicity. To really suggest that you know 100% for sure there were no WMD's ever there is a stretch. It isn't like Saddam didn't have time to either destroy, bury or sell them on the black market. If he didn't have the WMD's why play the chicken games with the UN over the last 4 to 5 years of his regime? Why tell Bush he would kill every US soldier he could if he was trying to avoid a war? He brought this on himself. Stupid oaf never once considered that by putting up with the UN running around his country for 6 months and letting them see EVERYTHING, he would avoid being taken out. Either that, or he was stalling for time to sell the WMD's. We wont know, they hung the SOB. Oh well, go back to your fairy tales....

[Mark in Oshawa]

I think Moammar should put the statue up, as an example of how not to be a dictator. Moammar is a smart one, just a little oppresion with a sprinkle of inhumanity. Not like his buddy Hussein....

[Tomi]

Seems to be somekind of trends to put up statues, in Thailand they have put up 1 for bush too

http://www.terragalleria.com/theravada/thailand/lopburi/picture.thai2408.html

[CarlMetro]

Stupid oaf never once considered that by putting up with the UN running around his country for 6 months and letting them see EVERYTHING, he would avoid being taken out.

You really believe that? Bearing in mind that the attack on Iraq by the US was not, I repeat NOT sanctioned by the UN, there was little chance that Saddam was not going to be hunted down by the US military whether the UN inspectors found WMD's or not.

The simple truth is that the UN, and the UK government, admitted that there was no evidence of WMD's in Iraq at the time of inspection which was the supposed prime reason for the attack.

As for statues being erected, I am not surprised in the least, in fact I am a little surprised that nobody has done so before he died. Of course he was going to become a martyr. Do people think that the current violence in Baghdad, with the almost daily car bombings, is because every Iraqi is happy with foreign military running their country? No, it's because many of them still believe in whatever it was Saddam stood for.

Hanging him was the stupidest thing the courts could do.

[Hawkmoon]

Anyone should have predicted that he was going to be made a martyr. Executing him was the stupidest thing to to on two fronts - they lost any moral high-ground they had (in my opinion they already had less than none, and now it's just got worse), and they've made him into a martyr.

It was not the stupidest thing they could have done, it was the ONLY thing they could have done.

Hussein was going to be either a dead martyr or a live focal point for the Suni extremists. I think they picked the lesser of two evils. Martyrs get forgotten after a while. Incarcerated former dictators give are a constant excuse for people to keep on "fighting" to "liberate" them.

When people are dying, having the moral high ground is a pretty hollow comfort. Hussein got exactly what he deserved. The only problem is that it came 15 years too late. If they had of removed him during the first Gulf War, we wouldn't be having this discussion.

[Mark in Oshawa]

You really believe that? Bearing in mind that the attack on Iraq by the US was not, I repeat NOT sanctioned by the UN, there was little chance that Saddam was not going to be hunted down by the US military whether the UN inspectors found WMD's or not.

The simple truth is that the UN, and the UK government, admitted that there was no evidence of WMD's in Iraq at the time of inspection which was the supposed prime reason for the attack.

As for statues being erected, I am not surprised in the least, in fact I am a little surprised that nobody has done so before he died. Of course he was going to become a martyr. Do people think that the current violence in Baghdad, with the almost daily car bombings, is because every Iraqi is happy with foreign military running their country? No, it's because many of them still believe in whatever it was Saddam stood for.

Hanging him was the stupidest thing the courts could do.


If the UK didn't believe he had WMD's why did Tony jump in with George? The intelligence services in Britain, France, and the USA were all saying he likely had WMD's.

As for the invasion not being sanctioned by the UN, remember two things. One, failure of the 14 resolutions as passed by the cease fire agreement between the UN and Iraq after the First Gulf war would be seen as a break of the cease fire, and a casus belli. Two, the UN passed two more sanctions against Iraq in the lead up to war saying he HAD to comply. Then when it was time to judge that he should comply to this, China, Russia and France veto'd the UK and the US while they knew damned well Saddam wasn't complying. You can pass sanctions that don't mean anything in the UN if you can get China and Russia to agree to veto them on your behalf. They had their own selfish interests in keeping the US and UK from having UN authority to take this jerk out. You of course also would have to note how France's Elf oil conglomerate was the benefit of much of the "oil for food" scam where Saddam was selling MORE oil on the black market than allowed by the UN. That little fact likely explains a little of France's reluctance to join, but that is France, morally ambigious when pressed to stand up for anything.

Hawkmoon said it correctly. This was just the continuation of something that should have been done 15 years ago. The failure of the UN to get Iraq to comply to sanctions means the UN is useless and the US and the UK chose to press on. You and I may agree the US has screwed up the peace in that nation, but spare me the BS about how Saddam was a good boy who was getting the cookie from the UN for complying with UN inspectors. It is a fallacy to say so, for whether there was WMD's in Iraq then or not, Saddam wasn't going to allow anyone to honestly confirm it.

[Hawkmoon]

Do people think that the current violence in Baghdad, with the almost daily car bombings, is because every Iraqi is happy with foreign military running their country? No, it's because many of them still believe in whatever it was Saddam stood for.

Hanging him was the stupidest thing the courts could do.

Actually Carl, most of the violence is between the Sunis and the Shi'ites. Iraqis killing Iraqis. This would be going on even if there were no foreign troops in Iraq.

The Shi'ite majority are getting back at the Suni minority after years of persecution at the hands of Hussein, who was a Suni. Hanging Hussein will have little bearing on the ongoing violence. It might escalate it for a short time, but that's all.

I believe that most of the Iraqi population would, and probably want to, live quite happliy under Coalition "occupation" for however long it takes to become self-governed. It's the fanatical minority who are trying to grab a slice of the power pie who are causing the problems.

I believe that Iraq will get back on it's feet soon enough. Only it won't be Iraq anymore. It will split up into three seperate states - one each for the Kurds, Sunis and Shi'ites.

I have my doubts whether this is the best solution, but I am willing to wager that it will be the only solution.

[Mark in Oshawa]

We wont even get into the ethics of defending the actions of a man who gassed his own citizens to prove loyalty to his regime is something not questioned. Save the tears for the real victims, the people of Iraq who suffered massively when he was leader, and the ones dying now as lawless insurgent jerks run around with car bombs, rockets and mortars. They are the victims, and while you may love to put all of this on George W Bush, realize that you better hold the people pulling the trigger at killing civilians on purpose are not wearing US military uniforms following orders to do so from high above. No, the people doing the killing of civilians are those people who either served the Baath party, or any one of about 4 religious/terrorist groups making claims for legitmacy as Iraq's new villians....

[agwiii]

Wonder how many years will pass before that one is pulled down as well.

I doubt it will last long, and Moammar may have just shortened his tenure too!

[Drew]

How is that really a surprise?

I'm surprised there isn't a huge statue of Hitler in Tripoli city centre

[Camelopard]

An interesting article on Saddam and why the West wanted him dead from the very highly respected journalist Robert Fisk.
A small quote
"The whole truth died with Saddam Hussein in the Baghdad execution chamber yesterday. Many in Washington and London must have sighed with relief that the old man had been silenced for ever."

Full article at http://news.independent.co.uk/world/fisk/article2114403.ece

[luvracin]

How is that really a surprise?

I'm surprised there isn't a huge statue of Hitler in Tripoli city centre

Exactly. Everything he's ever done has just been the diplomatic equivalent of sticking his finger up at the world. This is just the latest example - aimed squarely at the Bush's(Jr & Snr).

I'm sure he's sitting in his palace right now applauding himself for his ironic-comedic-genious.

[agwiii]

Hussein was going to be either a dead martyr or a live focal point for the Suni extremists. I think they picked the lesser of two evils. Martyrs get forgotten after a while. Incarcerated former dictators give are a constant excuse for people to keep on "fighting" to "liberate" them.


10 ring!

[LeonBrooke]

Seems to be somekind of trends to put up statues, in Thailand they have put up 1 for bush too

http://www.terragalleria.com/theravada/thailand/lopburi/picture.thai2408.html

lol brilliant! :D

[Mark in Oshawa]

Exactly. Everything he's ever done has just been the diplomatic equivalent of sticking his finger up at the world. This is just the latest example - aimed squarely at the Bush's(Jr & Snr).

I'm sure he's sitting in his palace right now applauding himself for his ironic-comedic-genious.

He can give Bush the finger, but he also coughed up all his WMD's to the UK and the US when Iraq was taken down. Nervous that maybe he didn't want to follow a similar fate??

He can put up a statue of Saddam, but I suspect no one in his nation could put a moustache and goats horns on it without a visit to the cells of the sercret police I wager. Free speech only counts in Libya if you agree with the big guy.

[Valve Bounce]

Maybe they have a plague of pidgeons.

[Mark in Oshawa]

VB, they have to, because if there is one Saddam, you can bet there is about 100 Moammar's out there!!