Comments on the execution of Saddam Hussein:
“Saddam Hussein’s execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops. Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself, and be an ally in the war on terror.”
President Bush
“Saddam was treated with respect when he was alive and after his death. Sad dam’s execution was 100 percent Iraqi, and the American side did not interfere.”
Mouwafak al-Rubaie, Iraq national security adviser
“An execution is always tragic news, reason for sadness, even in the case of a person who is guilty of grave crimes.”
The Rev. Federico Lombardi, spokesman for the Holy See
“The test of a government’s commitment to human rights is measured by the way it treats its worst offenders. History will judge these actions harshly.”
Richard Dicker, director of Human Rights Watch’s International Justice Program
“Saddam is paying the price for murdering tens of thousands of Iraqis. This is an unprecedented feeling of happiness. … Nothing matches it, no festival or marriage or birth.”
Abu Sinan, a resident of Sadr City, a Baghdad Shiite slum
“The country is being plunged into violence and is essentially on the edge of large-scale civil conflict. The execution of Saddam Hussein may lead to the further aggravation of the military-political atmosphere and an increase in ethnic and religious tension.”
Mikhail Kamynin, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman
“This is an unfair verdict, and if Saddam is executed or not … he will remain a symbol and no one can delete it, neither the Iraqi government nor the Americans.”
Muhssin Ali Mohammed of Tikrit, Hussein’s hometown
“He got his last prayer. He got his last meal. I’m assuming he was probably able to talk to his family. And that’s something my husband didn’t get and something thousands of other soldiers didn’t get.”
Stephanie Dostie, widow of Sgt. 1st Class Shawn Christopher Dostie, who was killed in Iraq
“Saddam Hussein was a brutal tyrant and murderous dictator. Now it is time for the people of Iraq to work to reconcile their differences and to heal the wounds of the past. Only that process will end the violence that has prevented Iraq from moving forward.”
Sen. Edward Kennedy, D-Mass.
“It will not increase our moral authority in the world. … Saddam’s heinous crimes against humanity can never be diminished, but he was our ally while he was doing it. … Eye for an eye, tooth for a tooth will make us blind and disfigured. … Saddam as a war trophy only deepens the catastrophe to which we are indelibly linked.”
The Rev. Jesse Jackson
