Saddam Hussein's execution

Undated, Dec 30 (Reuters) Saddam Hussein was hanged for crimes against humanity at dawn om, a dramatic, violent end for a leader who ruled Iraq by fear for three decades before he was toppled by a US invasion four years ago. Here are reactions to the news: US PRESIDENT GEORGE W BUSH: Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself.

FRENCH FOREIGN MINISTRY: France, which advocates like all its European partners the universal abolition of the death penalty, takes note of Saddam Hussein's execution. That decision belongs to the Iraqi people and to the Iraqi sovereign authorities. France calls on to all Iraqis to look forward and to work for reconciliation and national unity. More than ever the aim must be a return to the full sovereignty and stability of Iraq.

AUSTRALIAN FOREIGN MINISTER ALEXANDER DOWNER: The people of Iraq now know that their brutal dictator will never come back to lead them.

While many will continue to grieve over their personal loss under his rule, his death marks an important step in consigning his tyrannical regime to the judgment of history and pursuing a process of reconciliation now and in the future.

SENIOR TALIBAN LEADER, FORMER AFGHAN DEFENCE MINISTER MULLAH OBAIDULLAH AKHUND: Saddam's hanging on the day of Eid is a challenge to Muslims. His death will boost the morale of Muslims. The jihad in Iraq will be intensified and attacks on invader forces will increase. Thousands of people will rise up with hatred for America.

God willing, both Afghanistan and Iraq will prove to be another Vietnam for America. Bush and Blair have launched a crusade against Muslims. Saddam was hanged because he was a Muslim while slaves like Jalal Talabani in Iraq and Hamid Karzai in Afghanistan have been given power.

Muslims should not expect any good from these people. Muslims should unite against the infidels, join the jihad and support the mujahideen because jihad has become an obligation for Muslims all over the world. God Willing, the invader forces in Afghanistan and Iraq will face defeat soon.

AFGHAN PRESIDENT HAMID KARZAI: ''The execution of the former Iraqi president is the work of Iraq's government. We wish the iraqi people prosperity, happiness and success.

Eid is the day of happiness, the day of goodness, the day of reconciliation, not the day of revenge.

US DEMOCRATIC SENATOR JOSEPH BIDEN, INCOMING CHAIRMAN OF THE SENATE FOREIGN RELATIONS COMMITTEE: Iraq has closed one of the darkest chapters in its history and rid the world of a tyrant. Every effort was made to afford Saddam the judicial rights he denied to the 148 innocent victims of Dujail and to hundreds of thousands of other Iraqis during his brutal reign. I hope that the families of his many victims can now begin the healing process.

BRITISH FOREIGN SECRETARY MARGARET BECKETT: I welcome the fact that Saddam Hussein has been tried by an Iraqi court for at least some of the appalling crimes he committed against the Iraqi people. He has now been held to account.

RICHARD DICKER, DIRECTOR OF HUMAN RIGHTS WATCH: The test of a government's commitment to human rights is measured by the way it treats its worst offenders ... History will judge the deeply flawed Dujail trial and this execution harshly.

LARRY COX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL USA: The rushed execution of Saddam Hussein is simply wrong. It signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been denied their right to see justice served.

TOMOHIKO TANIGUCHI, DEPUTY PRESS SECRETARY OF JAPAN'S FOREIGN MINISTRY: We have acknowledged that the judgment has been made according to due process and pay respect to the legal procedures that the Iraqi government has taken. That said, what is most important in our view is to make this sentence not a new source of conflict but of reconciliation between the Iraqi people.

UNIVERSITY OF CHICAGO POLITICAL SCIENCE PROFESSOR CHARLES LIPSON: This will be a public accounting for the crimes that he and his regime undertook systematically over many years, but sadly it won't do much, I think, to set Iraq on a path to stability.

The nature of the internal divisions are too deep. Saddam's execution won't be able to set right the problems that we allowed to take root.

SETH JONES, RAND CORP. POLITICAL SCIENTIST/TERRORISM EXPERT: This means very little in the long run for the level of violence over there. I expect this will trigger some revenge killings. But the insurgency has been caused by so many factors I don't think this will have any meaningful impact over the long term.

LIAQAT BALUCH, A LEADER OF PAKISTAN'S SIX-PARTY OPPOSITION ALLIANCE OF CONSERVATIVE RELIGIOUS PARTIES: This will further increase hatred of America. No one liked or supported Saddam Hussein here but the way he was tried was improper and unjust. Saddam was a bad guy and he had to be tried for his crimes but not that way.

America is trying to divide Iraq on sectarian lines. U.S.

forces are brutally killing civilians there.

BRAZIL FOREIGN MINISTRY: (Brazil) does not believe carrying out this sentence will contribute to bringing peace to Iraq.

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