So Long, Saddam

Saddam Hussein will not be spending the rest of his days playing golf in Florida while he tirelessly searches for the real murderer of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis.

The verdict is in. His days are numbered.

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Iraq's High Tribunal found Saddam Hussein guilty of crimes against humanity on Sunday and sentenced him to die by hanging.

Former Iraqi Vice President Taha Yassin Ramadan was found guilty of premeditated murder and was sentenced to life in prison. Three other co-defendants of Saddam Hussein were convicted of murder and torture and sentenced to up to 15 years in prison.

A fifth defendant was acquitted for lack of evidence.

Saddam and seven co-defendants were charged with crimes against humanity in the 1982 killings of 148 people in the town of Dujail after a failed assassination attempt on the former leader.

Here's more, from Aljazeera:

Saddam's sentence will be automatically appealed and reviewed by a panel of appeal judges, who will decide whether or not to allow a retrial.

If the judgement stands, however, Saddam must be executed within 30 days of the appeals panel delivering its verdict, the chief prosecutor has said.

Saddam, 69 said that he wants to be executed by firing squad. However Iraqi law states that he will be executed by hanging.

...Before the verdict was announced, Iraq's government imposed a curfew in Baghdad, the mixed Sunni-Shia province of Diyala and Salahuddin, the province containing Saddam's hometown of Tikrit.

But despite the curfews, Shias had gathered in Baghdad's Sadr City district to celebrate what they hoped would be a guilty verdict.

Meanwhile in and around Tikrit small groups of Saddam's supporters held protests and denounced the court's judgement.

Sheikh Al-Nadawi, the head of the Baigat group of tribes to which Saddam belongs, said: "Saddam lived a hero and will die as a hero. The court was set up by his rivals... It is a historical farce."

On Saturday Nuri al-Maliki, Iraq's prime minister, said that he hoped Saddam would be found guilty, but also asked Iraqis to react calmly to the verdict.

"We hope the sentence matches what this man deserves for what he has done against the Iraqi people. The Iraqi people will express happiness in the way they find appropriate," al-Maliki said.

"We call upon the Iraqi people to be calm, to be disciplined and to express themselves in ways that take into consideration the security challenge and the need to protect the lives of citizens," he added.

Speaking before the verdict was announced, Iran also said that it hoped Saddam would be executed.

"Execution is the very least sentence they can hand down to Saddam Hussein," Mohammad Ali Hosseini, the Iranian foreign ministry spokesman, said.

Saddam wasn't happy when he heard that there's a noose with his name on it.

AP now has a more detailed report of the courtroom scene when the verdict was announced:

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Saddam Hussein and two other men were convicted and sentenced Sunday to death by hanging for war crimes in the 1982 killings of 148 people in the town of Dujail, as the former leader, trembling, shouted "God is great!"

After the verdict was read, Saddam yelled out, "Long live the people and death to their enemies. Long live the glorious nation, and death to its enemies!"

Once again, we hear the Islamic extremists' "God is great!" rallying cry.

Saddam initially refused the chief judge's order to rise; two bailiffs lifted the ousted ruler to his feet and he remained standing through the sentencing.

Before the hearing began, one of Saddam's lawyers, former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, was ejected from the courtroom after handing the judge a memorandum in which he called the trial a travesty.

Chief Judge Raouf Abdul-Rahman pointed to Clark and said in English, "Get out."

What is with Ramsey Clark?

I think he's as nuts as Saddam.

He has disgraced himself as a former U.S. Attorney General, and as an American, and as a human being.

Clark should cut the dramatic outbursts. It's over.

Saddam's days of Doritos and Raisin Bran Crunch are coming to an end.

I wonder if he has any regrets.