Is Saddam a martyr?

Children 'Starving' in New Iraq
When Saddam Hussein was overthrown, about 4% of Iraqi children under five were going hungry; now that figure has almost doubled to 8%, his report says.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4395525.stm


Read also about the Prison, interrogation abuses, Alleged War crimes, including killing, rape, torture and massacres by coalition forces.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_rights_in_post-Saddam_Hussein_Iraq

krashlocke said:

For those who criticize the timing and method being for the benefit of the US: Does it strike anybody as odd that a video is released of his gizzly execution on a high holy day after a speedy Iraqi trial and instantly the US is held to blame?

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No, it strikes me as appropriate. Regardless of what we say about this being an Iraqi trial it would not have happened this way unless we allowed it to happen this way. The U.S. can't claim to have the power and right to introduce democracy into Iraq by force and then claim that we had no power over this trial and subsequent execution, including the method and timing. We captured Saddam. We transported his body back to Tikrit after the exectution. We were involved.

Unless you are suggesting that the current administration is even more inept than imaginable.

michel said:

Lilithu, Namaste.

I guess you are right, even though I am sick of conspiracy theories, and the various twisted manipulations of politics.

Unfortunately, you begin to sound like a cynic - and that is sad; of course you have every right to think as you do, for you are far better placed to judge, but it is still disheartening.

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So perhaps I should say eveything is rosey because that is what you would prefer to hear?

Ozzie said:

Martyr: a person who is put to death or endures great suffering on behalf of any belief, principle, or cause: a martyr to the cause of social justice.

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Huh??
Is 'social justice' what the muslims are calling Hussein's treachery these days?
What do muslims call the acts of terrorism supported, funded and condoned by the other Islamic leaders? Charity??

Ozzie said:

... the accepted wisdom that Jesus is a martyr, whose sacrifice at the time of his execution was for the interests of a small group of followers in what is now modern Palestine.

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'Accepted wisdom' by whom??
There are a whole lot of pretty smart folks who accept the wisdom that Jesus' sacrifice was for all of mankind, not just a small group of followers...

'Accepted wisdom' by whom??

There are a whole lot of pretty smart folks who accept the wisdom that Jesus' sacrifice was for all of mankind, not just a small group of followers

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When Jesus was executed, he had a small group of followers in the area of modern Palestine who accepted the wisdom that Jesus' sacrificed for all of mankind perhaps. On the other hand it would not be reasonable to argue he was a martyr. Or would it?