Saddam Guilty Verdict, Talk Radio

GUILTY

Saddam Verdict Affects Politics, Talk Radio







Today's guilty verdict against Saddam Hussein and two others is bound to have a major impact on global politics, Tuesday's American elections and the current media environment.

But how can we measure its effects? It's a Sunday, when talk radio stations are usually loaded up with infomercials touting fraudulent schemes and snake oil. So when does the discussion begin?

Cable news channels are in a slightly better position, but many taped weekend programs will have to be dumped in order to bring viewers the latest developments. What a great day to cancel all of the usual Sunday crap and go live!


For talkers, the angles are easy: will this verdict serve as a reminder of a very good reason for invading Iraq? Will the American and European left react with anger?

As Michelle Malkin recently noted, even in advance of the decision, moonbat conspiracy theories were being floated across the Internet as trial balloons. How far will they push them now?

And, overriding all else, it's important to look at how Saddam's death sentence affects the current internal situation inside Iraq, as well as any effect on midterm American elections on Tuesday.

For hosts, another great angle is to focus on the antics of former Carter Administration Attorney General Ramsey Clark, who truly seemed to believe that Saddam was a good person who was wrongly accused of these crimes.

It's also a great opportunity to pound away at those who openly supported Saddam during his murderous reign of tyranny, such as Rep Jim McDermott (D- Seattle, shown in photo during friendly visit).

Just imagine what talk radio could do if it wasn't so often held back by programming malpractice. If your local station was smart enough to dump its weekend crap and go live, please leave a comment below.

From CP / AP:

BAGHDAD (AP) - Saddam Hussein was convicted and sentenced Sunday to death by hanging for war crimes in the 1982 killings of 148 people in the town of Dujail, as the former president shouted ``God is great!''

Saddam, his half brother and another senior official in his regime were convicted and sentenced to hang. Saddam yelled out defiantly: ``Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!''

Some feared the verdicts could intensify Iraq's sectarian violence after a trial that stretched over nine months in 39 sessions and ended nearly 3 1/2 months ago. Clashes immediately broke out Sunday in north Baghdad's heavily Sunni Azamiyah district, and a Sunni political leader condemned the court decision.

``This government will be responsible for the consequences, with the deaths of hundreds, thousands or even hundreds of thousands, whose blood will be shed,'' Salih al-Mutlaq, the Sunni politician, told the al-Arabiya satellite television station.

During Sunday's hearing, Saddam initially refused the chief judge's order to rise; two bailiffs lifted the ousted ruler to his feet and he remained standing through the sentencing.

Before the session began, one of Saddam's lawyers, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a memorandum in which he called the trial a travesty.

Chief Judge Raouf Abdul-Rahman pointed to Clark and said in English, ``Get out.''

In addition to the former Iraqi dictator and Barzan Ibrahim, his former intelligence chief and half brother, the Iraqi High Tribunal convicted and sentenced Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the head of Iraq's former Revolutionary Court, to death by hanging.

Iraq's former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan was convicted of premeditated murder and sentenced to life in prison.

Three other co-defendants were convicted of murder and torture and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

One defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence.

The guilty verdict for Saddam is expected to enrage hard-liners among Saddam's fellow Sunnis, who made up the bulk of the former ruling class.

The country's majority Shiites, who were persecuted under the former leader but now largely control the government, will likely view the outcome as a cause of celebration.

UPDATE: Kerry- loving DailyKos nabobs already pouring on the sour, negative spin this morning:

But how will this impact the nation as a whole? Will this verdict stop the violence, or fuel it? Or will it have little impact at all once the sound of celebratory gunfire is replaced by the all-too-familiar sounds of civil war?

The administration, via Tony Snow making the rounds on the morning shows, is arguing that the verdict is a sign that progress is "beginning to bear fruit." But we have heard that line before, as purple fingers were held up as proof of progress and promise of hope. We've witnessed "turning point" after "turning point," but still Iraq has been spiraling out of control.

On a micro-level, for those Iraqis who have carried decades-long pain in their hearts and who today have had that pain replaced by joy, this verdict provides some closure. But on a macro-level, for a nation ripping apart at its seams, no verdict is powerful enough to close the rift between rival groups. As Mahoud Al-Bahari, a 45-year-old journalist, put it, "If stability was back, this would mean the end of the dictator."

Today, the world looks at the face of this dictator who will soon die for his acts. Tomorrow, our glance will be cast once again upon the soldiers and civilians who are struggling to provide that which no verdict and no hanging can provide: an end to this hamster-wheel foreign policy, an end to the bloodshed, an end to the civil war.

Closure.

It's not just the Iraqi people who seek it. It is also us, all of us, who ache for an end. Iraqis and Americans together have had our soldiers, our fortunes, and the future of our nations held hostage by the egos of our respective leaders, those leaders who do not lead, but who stubbornly drag us into the darkness. It is us, all of us, who desperately seek that closure, that end...an exit off of this blood-soaked path to nowhere.

Hey, why the long faces, guys?

ALSO: take a look at this screaming Huffington Post headline presented in huge type:

Saddam Convicted, Sentenced To Death...

Snow: We Were Not “Scheming” To Make Saddam Verdict Close To Election...

Your Amazon orders that begin with clicks here, regardless of what you ultimately purchase, greatly help to support this site's efforts. Thanks again!

Technorati tags: saddam saddam verdict hussein liberals elections conservatives michelle malkin iraq talk radio cable news fox jim mcdermott

Saddam image: AP, Daily Kos book down the drain: David A Lunde