Phony Tony Doesn't Want Saddam To Hang

[Houston1stWordOnTheMoon]

Phony Tony is what my British friends call Tony Blair. Interesting look at feelings about the death penalty. I think most of Europe is anti-death penalty.

Blair Opposes Death Penalty For Saddam

Iraqis Jubilant, Angry About Saddam Verdict

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Prime Minister Tony Blair said Monday he opposed the death penalty for Saddam Hussein but that the deposed Iraqi leader's trial had reminded the world of his brutality.

Asked about Saddam's sentence at his monthly press conference, Blair noted that Britain opposed the death penalty "whether it's Saddam or anyone else."

But he said the trial "gives us a chance to see again what the past in Iraq was, the brutality, the tyranny, the hundreds of thousands of people he killed, the wars."

Jubilant Shiites marched by the hundreds Monday, celebrating Saddam Hussein's conviction and death sentence as Sunnis held defiant counter-demonstrations.

Little Violence Reported

The surge in violence expected after the Sunday verdict on Saddam's trial for crimes against humanity still did not materialize.

An Interior Ministry spokesman credited a round-the-clock curfew in Baghdad, which has a mixed Shiite-Sunni population, and two restive Sunni provinces. Checkpoints were closed along Iraq's border with Jordan and Syria, a standard precaution taken during domestic emergencies.

Officials said the clampdown, which brought additional patrols and checkpoints in the capital, would likely be lifted by Tuesday morning. On Monday, Baghdad was largely quiet, with offices and the international airport closed and few cars or pedestrians on the streets.

"We need to keep on guard over any kind of response from Saddam supporters," Brig. Abdel-Karim Khalaf said.

Blair said the trial "also then helps point the way to the only future" the Iraqi people want: "a nonsectarian Iraq in which people from different communities live together and decide their future through democracy. I don't underestimate for a single instant the difficulties involved in achieving that, but it's a battle worth fighting."

Testy Exchange Seen On TV

Blair's views won't affect the fate of Saddam, whose sentence was imposed by an Iraqi court. But it does put the prime minister at odds with his close ally, President George W. Bush, who praised the verdict.

In a testy exchange with a television journalist, Blair repeatedly referred to the statement Foreign Secretary Margaret Beckett issued after the verdict on Sunday. She welcomed "that Saddam Hussein and the other defendants have faced justice" but made no comment on the capital sentence...............

Story here........

http://www.click2houston.com/news/10250153/detail.html

[DJ V Lawrence]

Sadaam just needs a song from another Great Britain resident...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_68HtP_6MB0...ted&search=