Saddam Sentenced To Death

Just in:

Saddam gets the death sentence:

Saddam Hussein was sentenced Sunday to death by hanging for his role in a brutal crackdown nearly 25 years ago in Dujail — the once obscure Iraqi town that is now a symbol of his regime’s cruelty.

Also sentenced to death were Barzan Hassan, Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and former head of the intelligence agency, and Awad Bandar, the former chief judge of the Revolutionary Court.

Bandar repeatedly screamed “Allahu Akhbar” — God is great — as he was being taken out of court.

Taha Yassin Ramadan, the former vice president of Iraq, was sentenced to life in prison.

“This is very clear, and I tell the people today that the verdict was predetermined and has nothing to do with court proceedings,” Ramadan said.

Three other defendants were each sentenced three to 15 years in jail, and one was acquitted.

Mohammed Azzawi Ali, a former Dujail Baath Party official, was exonerated because, the court said, there was insufficient evidence against him.

I’ll be honest, I think he’s getting what he deserves. But I have no idea what’s going to happen in Iraq because of this verdict. Could be that all hell breaks loose, or it could be that nothing much happens. I simply don’t know. But we should know rather soon, I would think.

Make no mistake, though…if even a single riot breaks out, the media is going to jump on it, as will the Democrats, to show how we “just can’t win” and we “need to bring the troops home”.

I haven’t had a chance to go through the lefty blogosphere, but I imagine they’re “questioning the timing”, as they always do.

I’ll have a round-up of opinions from the blogosphere a little later.

**Update**: Here’s a few links so far:

Hot Air
Stop The ACLU
Mary Katharine Ham
JunkYardBlog
Ed Driscoll
Flopping Aces

Brian runs the website Iowa Voice, and is filling in for ST for a few days.