Early World Reaction to the Saddam Verdict

As the verdict was read and Saddam Hussein was sentenced to Death , Iraq predictably erupted into gunfire from celebration as well as protests. What's not so predictable is the reaction from the various corners of the world. For example, these two statements from The BBC:

MIKHAIL MARGELOV, RUSSIAN FOREIGN AFFAIRS COMMITTEE CHAIRMAN

Does this not mean that someone wants to cover up their tracks, that someone wants to eliminate the main witness of what went on in Iraq over the past decades?

It is absolutely clear that all those plans that the Americans had made before the invasion have turned out to be unrealistic and have led to this situation, where today Iraq is on the brink of territorial disintegration.

This is very interesting and who is this Mikhail Margelov? He is a Russian Senator and the former head of the Russian Information Center. Here's a brief biography. He has a heavy background in media and publicity and is an Arabic teacher. Here, he warns that Georgia should not invite other "forces" in as Russia leaves. Here he seems to curry Muslim favor in the Cairo press. During a visit to Israel, he was quoted in Haaretz as saying that Iran must not be allowed to develop nuclear capability. In this 2002 Reuter's article, he says that Iraq owes a debt to Russia and makes a claim on future Iraqi oil revenues.

Obviously, the man is a politician as the following quote demonstrates:

"We have come to an understanding with the US that we can agree to disagree without falling out. This means we must learn to collaborate together in a new way. The results of our cooperation can be seen in Iraq and Afghanistan,' he said. He said 'Russia's eastern policy' should be concerned with preventing the spread of WMD, fighting international terrorism, preventing the export of arms and stopping the spread of AIDS. 'Our relations with Indonesia are very important as it is one of the most powerful Islamic countries and a leading producer of information technology. We should also try to maintain good relations with other developed countries in the east which have space programmes, aircraft production and which are active on the world oil market such as Malaysia,' he stressed."

The man could be a successor to Putin and like Putin and indeed all of Russia, he is still an enigma that bears watching.

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This reaction, was altogether predictable:

MALCOLM SMART, DIRECTOR OF AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL'S MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA PROGRAMME

Obviously we deplore the verdict of the death penalty against Saddam and one of his co-accused.

We don't consider it was a fair process. The court was not impartial. There were not adequate steps taken to protect the security of defence lawyers and witnesses...

Every individual has a right to a fair trial, even people accused of the crimes of the magnitude that Saddam Hussein faced, and this has not been a fair trial.

What else could we expect from Amnesty International? I understand their principled opposition to the death penalty, but to say that this hasn't been a fair trial betrays their true leftist ideology. Of course, we have known for some time now that Amnesty is actually a danger to the west and no friend to conservative values.

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At the BBC - Have Your Say website many of the comments were of the usual anti-American, anti-capital punishment variety, while others were in the pro-coalition, "justice was served" vein, there were the usual and inscrutable Muslim pro-Saddam reactions, and Al in Oxford, sounding like some at the EB, offered this mixed message:

3.0 To Iran vs US
1st goal getting rid of Saddam and neutralising Arab enemy no 1.
2nd Goal getting passed the enrichment redline
3rd Goal the guy who has been instrumental in death of more Iraninans then any other to face the hangman.
Who needs best friends if you have enemies like US!!!!