1000
It didn't sound as though Mr. Cooper was interested in the reaction to all this. That is where I would want my cameras focused. What was occurring in that execution room was the business of the Unity Government.
Being 48 hours out from the execution it is a bit of a hindsight issue, but, I would think a news channel with connections all over the world would have been attentive to the reaction from all corners. Or maybe that would have been to 'honest' an experience for the 'focus' of this news team.
Two dead and 25 injured when six bombs went off in Bangkok and suburb on the New Year’s eve
http://www.asiantribune.com/index.php?q=node/3940
Bangkok, 01 January, (Asiantribune.com): Two persons were killed and at least 25 injured, as a series of bombs or grenades exploded in at least six areas in Bangkok, capital of Thailand and in the neighboring province on New Year's Eve.
Bangkok authorities ordered all public New Year's Eve parties cancelled. Bangkok Governor Apirak Kosayodhin appeared at the huge Bangkok Countdown 2006 venue at the downtown Central World shopping complex and told the crowd to "go home and stay in peace."
Reports revealed that, at least six bombs exploded across the city in the early evening, leading to quickly intensified security on the two light rail systems, the MRT Sky train and the MRTA subway, and cancellations of varied celebrations.
...Subsequently a third bomb went off at a traffic police post near busy Saphan Kwai-Skytrain overpass intersection injuring 17 people, two seriously. Police cordoned off the area for further investigation and a squad of 20 soldiers was dispatched to the scene to ensure no further untoward incident.
A fourth bomb went off at a police box on Sukhumvit Road Soi 62. No one was injured. A police traffic post near a major intersection in Nonthaburi province, north of Bangkok was also hit by a bomb but no casualties were reported.
The fifth bomb went off in the compound of the Tesco Lotus superstore at Prachachuen, while the sixth bomb was planted in a waste bin at Seacon Square Shopping Mall, in eastern suburban Bangkok, but a bomb-disposal squad defused the device before it exploded....
...The explosions took place as Bangkokians are celebrating the upcoming New Year. It was not immediately clear if the bombs had anything to do with the military coup of September 19 that ousted premier Thaksin Shinawatra, or with continuing insurgency violence in the Muslim-predominant southern border region which has left more than 1,900 people dead since 2004.
In this case, do I believe this has to do with the execution? I don't think it helped but this probably would have occurred anyway. This is a continuing issue with recent unrest. The case wtih Madrid is different though:
Anger on streets of Spain after ETA bomb attack
A minute's silence has been held in Bilbao in Spain's Basque Country after yesterday's ETA car bomb attack at Madrid's main airport. The blast left two men missing presumed dead, and 19 slightly injured. The Spanish government has now suspended planned dialogue with the armed Basque separatist group.
http://euronews.net/create_html.php?page=detail_info&article=398651&lng=1
There was a ceasefire intact, especially since the past elections. It was honored up to the point where there was the execution. I think it was a reaction. There was no indictation previous to this of that level of unrest. This is not a 'gee isn't that too bad' moment either. There are two people dead in reaction to the execution.
And even though some are saying the Iraqis had no clue about the execution, there seemed to be plenty of opportunity to know. There is even a video tape that has been on the net. So, this is definately related. It's attacks on the Shia.
Three car bombs exploded in quick succession in the mainly Shia neighbourhood of Hurriya, killing 36 people and wounding 77, an Interior Ministry source said
http://www.itv.com/news/8601f0ea2907f2380445445e3ad75e70.html
Police in Kufa, near the Shia holy city of Najaf, said 36 people were killed and 58 wounded by the car bomb at a market packed with shoppers ahead of the week-long Eid al-Adha holiday.
No doubt there will be retaliations. Here we go again. The vigilence at Saddam's grave is interesting. This isn't what one would anticipate of a person executed for crimes. It's not a private ceremony. For as much as that man deserves to be dead, I don't know if that was an appropriate outcome.
Jeers and Taunts for Saddam
...“I condemn the way he was executed and I consider it a crime,” said 45-year-old Salam Hassan Al-Nasseri, one of Saddam’s clansmen who attended the burial in the village just outside Tikrit, 130 km north of Baghdad. Some 2,000 Iraqis traveled to the village....
...The reference is to Moqtada Sadr, a Shiite leader whose uncle Mohammed Bakr Sadr was murdered in 1980 by Saddam’s agents, and who has risen to prominence since Saddam’s fall as a politician and militia leader. One of the execution party calls: “Long live Mohammed Bakr Sadr!”...
...Hundreds of mourners flocked to his freshly-dug tomb inside the marble-floored hall in Awja yesterday. Many poured out their anger against the Americans and the Iraqi government. “I can’t believe it. By God, we will take revenge,” said one man from the northern city of Mosul....
...A previously unknown group of Iraqi Baathists pledged allegiance to Saddam’s fugitive deputy Izzat Ibrahim and named him the “legitimate president of Iraq,” a statement issued by the group said yesterday. The statement was distributed in Amman at the Jordan branch of Saddam’s Baath party where dozens of people came to pay condolences for the former president. The statement was apparently sent from the Baath party in Baghdad....
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4§ion=0&article=90550&d=1&m=1&y=2007
Saddam Hussein Hanged for the Wrong ReasonGwynne Dyer, Arab News
It was not the Iraqi government but its American masters that chose to execute Saddam Hussein in a great rush as soon as the first sentence was confirmed, thus canceling all the other trials on far graver charges that awaited him. The current Iraqi government had nothing to hide if those trials went ahead; the United States government did.
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=7§ion=0&article=90555&d=1&m=1&y=2007
And the Haj is proceeding without a glitch.
Tents Offer Hint of Pilgrims’ StatusGalal Fakkar, Arab News
The other tented city, packed into any available space, provides a modicum of privacy for many of the pilgrims. (AN photo by Emad Al-Salehi)
http://www.arabnews.com/?page=1§ion=0&article=90545&d=1&m=1&y=2007
MINA, 1 January 2007 — The official figure for the number of pilgrims this year was reported to be 2.38 million, a six percent increase from last year, according to the government. But walking around the holy sites one can observe that many pilgrims are camping not in the large tents of Mina — the official accommodations provided by the Haj tour operators that pilgrims are required to go through — but in smaller portable tents, the kind you might see at any campsite.
ALL THAT is from The Arab News, a long standing and well recognized newspaper of Saudi Arabia.
COOPER: Gentlemen, and -- and Aneesh and Arwa, stand by. I also want to bring in Michael Scharf to this conversation. He's a law professor from Case Western Reserve University. He actually helped train some of the Iraqi judges who took part in this trial. Michael, we appreciate you joining us. What do you make -- there was a last-minute attempt by Saddam's attorneys to stay this execution. It -- it failed within the last hour. Were you surprised by that? It seemed kind of a last-ditch effort.
MICHAEL SCHARF, PROFESSOR, CASE WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY: No, I wasn't surprised.
I mean, the legal case they presented in D.C. was very weak. Their theory was basically that Saddam Hussein was a POW, and that the Geneva Conventions say you can't turn a POW over to their enemy. First of all, Saddam was no longer a POW. He hasn't been since 2004, when sovereignty shifted to Iraq. And, secondly, the Iraqi is not an enemy state, like Iran. It is his own government. They had a trial. And it's perfectly acceptable for him then to face the consequences of that.
So, I wasn't surprised at all.
THAT statement is a matter of technicality. Saddam was in USA custody as a POW the entire time he was being tried.
Saddam still in US custody
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/world/2006-12/29/content_771204.htm
BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein's half brothers visited him in his jail cell and he gave them his will, Iraqi officials said Friday, indicating his execution may be approaching. But they said he had yet to be transferred to Iraqi custody.
The former president is being held at Camp Cropper, an American military prison where he is expected to remain until the day of his execution, at which point he is to be transferred to Iraqi authorities.
SO, IT he was transferred at all, it was only to carry out the execution. There is probably something procedurally wrong with that but the guy is dead, so anything that is shadey is an issue after the fact. I suppose anyone can challenge the Chinese view of this, but, why would they bring it up if it wasn't a matter of international law? No one else did.
There is too much overlap between the USA military and the civil/criminal courts of Iraq. Bush has disregarded the Geneva Conventions for a reason. The real question is, will he be allowed to get away with it in the long run or will the world seek retribution to teach subsequent American Presidents a lesson?
Cooper you are such a propagandist
CNN has not been able to independently verify that. We are monitoring this situation very closely. And we are trying to verify this on our own, as well as checking out any other networks who may be able to -- to verify this. We will bring that all to you as we know it.
Michael Moore had the execution on his website long before 10PM, don't put on such an act. The Drama Queen.
See, Anderson, everyone else knew before you did.
COOPER: On Iraqi state television right now, they are looking at an image we showed you moments ago. We'll show you that image again right now. Dearborn, Michigan. People dancing in the streets, displaying Iraqi flags.
This image -- you'll hear some of the announcers in the background speaking Arabic. This is taken from Iraqi state television, them showing Iraqis, Muslims in America, in Dearborn, Michigan.
... and it goes on and on and on....
enough
