FEBRUARY 2007

deba
sadd
I prayed for his soul shortly before his
execution. I am not in favor of death
penalty no matter how heinous the
crime the person has committed; I
believe it is not our place to take someone’s
life. I would not have executed
him and certainly how he was treated
— the taunting — was a serious mistake.
All that did was get more people
angry. What did it really accomplish?
The situation is dire now, and this isn’t
going to change anything.
— Ron Acho, Co-Founder, Cummings,
McClorey, Davis & Acho; legal counsel
to CI AAM and the Chaldean American
Chamber of Commerce
dem
I think finally justice was done. The
man committed many crimes against
his own people whether they were
Muslims, Christians or Kurds. He
deserved it. It will help the future of
Iraq because all his followers now
have to face the reality that he is no
longer there, so they have to come
to their senses and realize he is no
longer in power. I do disagree with
the way it was handled; it could
have been much more professional
and not create all this hoopla.
— Shoki K onj a, director,
Chaldean V oice
Most of the Chaldeans I have been in
contact with have really surprised me in
their comments. Women feel sorry for
him while men feel that he should have
just stayed in jail to rot, not be executed.
I feel he was a horrible man to humanity.
In America, I painfully watch many
Chaldean families go through the
tragedy of loved ones killed in their
stores. When the killers are caught,
the families want full justice, they
want their life, they want their families
to suffer the way they are suffering.
The passion Chaldeans feel
towards the criminals is so intense I
can not even describe it. If any
Chaldean sat on a jury of one of
these criminals, they would give
them the worse sentence possible.
So I say to all, Saddam was a
horrible man and committed many
crimes against humanity. No one
should feel any compassion for him.
Think of how Saddam had Christians
on close watch all the time, how
Saddam has made Christians feel
unwelcome in their homeland. Think
of how Christians had no political
power in their own country!
— Sue K attula, secretary,
Warren Consolidated Schools
Board of Education
Saddam H ussein proved as controversial in death
tion. T he former dictator, 6 9 , was hung at dawn
death sentence for crimes against humanity — in
in the northern I raq i town of Duj ail in 1 9 8 2 . A
Saddam being berated by Shiite witnesses j ust be
Chaldean community are divided on what good,
22 CHALDEAN NEWS FEBRUARY 2007