Saddam's upheld death penalty marks 'milestone' for Iraqis: US

0 Comments | AFP, December, 2006

CRAWFORD, United States (AFP) — The United States called Saddam Hussein's confirmed death sentence "a milestone" for Iraqis and said the "tyrant" had received a fair trial. "Today marks a milestone for Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law," Scott Stanzel, a White House spokesman, said.

"Saddam has received due process and the legal rights that he denied the Iraqi people," he said. "The Iraqis deserve praise for continuing to utilize the institutions of democracy to pursue justice," the spokesman told reporters traveling with President George W. Bush aboard the presidential jet Air Force One to Texas. Bush was to spend the final days of the year at his ranch in Crawford, Texas. Earlier Tuesday an Iraqi appeals court judge announced that...