Posted on 01/07/2007 12:45:17 PM PST by kiriath_jearim
Prime Minister Tony Blair believes that the way in which former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein was executed was "completely wrong", his official spokesman at Downing Street has said.
The hanging, which was took place amid taunts and jeers from bystanders, "shouldn't have happened in that way", the spokesman said.
Mr Blair has come under growing pressure - including from Labour MPs - to comment publicly on the December 30 execution and the release of mobile phone footage of Saddam's final moments, but has so far stayed silent.
He is yet to make a personal statement on the hanging, however it is understood Mr Blair will make his view clear in public comments over the coming week. He is also expected to confirm his support for the Iraqi Government's investigation into how scenes of Saddam being taunted came to be filmed and broadcast.
The Downing Street spokesman would not confirm when Mr Blair would make his statement, but said: "He supports the inquiry by the Iraqi authorities. He does believe that the manner of execution was completely wrong, but this shouldn't lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam committed, including the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."
The comments from Number 10 come after Chancellor Gordon Brown used a TV interview to denounce the manner of Saddam's death as "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable".
Mr Brown's denunciation of Saddam's hanging echoed the comments of Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott, who last week said that the way it was done was "deplorable" and those responsible should be "ashamed".
Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt also today added her voice to the criticisms of the conduct of those responsible, describing the treatment of Saddam before his hanging was "very shocking".
In an interview recorded yesterday, Mr Brown told BBC1's Sunday AM: "Now that we know the full picture of what happened, we can sum this up as a deplorable set of events.
"It is something, of course, which the Iraqi Government has now expressed its anxiety and shame at.
"It has done nothing to lessen tensions between the Shia and Sunni communities.
"Even those people, unlike me, who are in favour of capital punishment found this completely unacceptable and I am pleased that there is now an inquiry into this and I hope lessons in this area will be learnt, as we learn other lessons about what has happened in Iraq."
Mr Brown acknowledged that mistakes had been made in the handling of Iraq following the 2003 war, and did not rule out a future inquiry into what went wrong.
Shall we do it over, Tony?
Truly classic example of the headline not matching the info in the body.
Blair said that the method of hanging was wrong, not that hanging him was wrong.
Personally I think hangings should always be conducted with the utmost courtesy, mainly as a way of showing contempt for the hangee.
So, is Blair against the execution itself, or just the way Saddam was taunted? The title surely gives the impression that he was not for executing the B*st*rd.
Isn't it striking how the title of the article does NOT reflect what Blair actually said?
Blair's point was that the way the execution was conducted was wrong, not the execution itself.
Note to SundayTimes:
Blair deplores the WAY it was handled (taunts, etc.).
He did NOT deplore the hanging itself.
Your headline is false, which probably is consistent with your communist, pro-terrorist bias.
That being said Blair has turned into a little PC worm. No spine at all. He used to have it. Maybe someone ripped it out.
Saddam got justice. The Iraqis had a right to administer that justice, whether Tony or the UN or Amnesty International or anyone else likes it or not. It's just to bad that Iraq is so full of warring factions.
"It has done nothing to lessen tensions between Sunnis and Shias." Neither has the last 1000 years.
Thank you Tony. Give legitimacy to the guys aiming at our boys.
Iraq is an independent country. We are still there by their request. They can determine the type and manners of punishment.
If Blair, Bush or anyone had reservations, then they should have stepped forward to ensure the Iraqi Constitution took those issues into consideration.
Interesting how Chirac is speaking so boldly now Saddam is gone. Some talkshows had said Saddam's execution was a little rushed.
I wonder how many won't read the article.
Hanging Saddam was not about "lessening tensions between Sunnis and Shias."
It was about carrying out a valid death sentence after a trial the defendants didn't even deserve.
Wood chipper.....slow feed...feet first.
Completely wrong? What is a good way to do such things? Sometimes I think the modern world deserves to be destroyed with these kind of word parsing fools running it.
These are the same types that will totally uphold any jeers and taunts aimed at our President by Cindy Sheehan and her crew under the guise of 'freedom of speech'.
So what's wrong with a little freedom of speech by the Iraqui's?
"He is yet to make a personal statement on the hanging, however it is understood Mr Blair will make his view clear in public comments over the coming week."
So I presume the Sunday Telegraph (UK) is assuming they know what Tony Blair now thinks.
I'm more in favor of the old methods; keelhauling followed by being drawn and quartered and then putting the head on a pike, in this case on the highway from the airport to Bagdad or at the northern entrance to Tikrit.
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