Judge in Saddam Tribunal Shot Dead

[stubeeef]

Link

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - Gunmen in Baghdad shot and killed a judge working for the Iraqi special tribunal set up to try Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) and his top lieutenants, Interior Ministry officials said Wednesday.

Amid a deteriorating security crisis, Judge Barawiz Mahmoud and his son, who worked as a lawyer, were shot dead as they left their home in northern Baghdad Tuesday.

Mahmoud's other son Maryon said he believed the attack was politically motivated because his father was seeking to bring to justice Saddam and former members of his Baath party.

"I was sleeping and I heard shooting. I came out and saw blood running from my father's neck. My father was shot twice and my brother 11 times," he said near the scene of the shootings. A female relative wailed inside the home.

"We knew this was coming because of my father's work. He and my brother died holding their heads up high. This gives me comfort."

These guys are true heros in my book, dying for what is right. Regardless of wether or not the US should be there, Saddam was a horrible nightmare, and should be tried by his countrymen.

 

[gwuMACaddict]

read this on the internet this morning... definitely a shame

 

[iGary]

Violence has been a way of life in the Middle East for...um...a bazillion years. Shame.

Well, there was the judge here int he states who came home and found the murdered bodies of her mother and husband, so I guess we're no better, come to think of it.

This is why I don't watch news anymore. Maybe I am hiding in my happy little Macintosh world...but geebus stuff like this is disturbing.

 

[stubeeef]

Well, there was the judge here int he states who came home and found the murdered bodies of her mother and husband, so I guess we're no better, come to think of it.

Not trying to take the high road, you're right, and make a good point,

This is why I don't watch news anymore. Maybe I am hiding in my happy little Macintosh world...but geebus stuff like this is disturbing.

So true. I have found a direct correlation with news watching and happiness. It must be "ignorance is bliss" cause I sure am happier not watching the news!

 

[iGary]

Not trying to take the high road, you're right, and make a good point,



So true. I have found a direct correlation with news watching and happiness. It must be "ignorance is bliss" cause I sure am happier not watching the news!

Yeah, I find my happiness lavel is much higher if I don't watch, too.

I peek at the the headlines once or twice a day online, just in case there has been some national disaster, but otherwise, I don't bother.

 

[virividox]

thats sad, i do hope justice prevails. it takes brave men to be judges and lawyers fighting against such an established regime although now defunct it still has its hard core folowers

 

[wdlove]

A very sad development in Iraq's struggle for democracy. It shows the fear of the enemy. I pray that Iraq can muster the fortitude to move forward in its quest. My prayers go out to the family and friends of the victims.

 

[clayj]

Someone here made the comment that the US is no different from Iraq, because judges here (or their families, as just happened) are sometimes attacked, too.

The big difference is that the respect for the rule of law is much more ingrained here than in many other countries... for example, when the whole Florida election thing happened in 2000, our system did what it was supposed to do: It handled the problem, kept everything running smoothly, and we had a new head of state. In many other more "immature" countries (I'm borrowing from Chris Crawford's Balance of Power here), an issue like Florida 2000 would have resulted in a civil war.

The insurgents in Iraq are barbarians... they're not in any way noble revolutionaries, because they're not the ones who've been oppressed (as the Founding Fathers of the US were). They're the old oppressors, and they've been removed from power. Now they need to be removed from this plane of existence. Sadly, they appear determined to take as many others with them as they can.