Times of India
Tuesday, January 2, 2007

NEW YORK: Small groups of Americans opposed to the Iraq war and the death penalty decried Saddam Hussein's execution, and the centre headed by one of the former dictator's lawyers said the hanging was part of a plan by President George Bush to escalate the war.

The small rallies on Saturday in New York's Times Square and in Boston, led by a group affiliated with former US attorney general Ramsey Clark, were among several condemnations of Saddam's hanging.

Activists in Detroit also planned their own demonstration. Clark, who leads the New York-based International Action Center and was one of Saddam's defence lawyers, predicted during the Iraqi leader's trial that a bloodbath would follow if he was executed. I

n a statement, the center said his hanging was part of a plan by Bush to escalate the war.

"The execution of Saddam Hussein is a clear sign that the Bush administration is looking not to negotiate a way for the US to leave Iraq, but is instead sending a signal that it will continue the war and escalate it despite the impending disaster," the International Action Center said in a written statement.

At least 80 people died and more than 130 were wounded in two bombings in Iraq following the execution, which took place early Saturday, just before the start of one of the holiest Islamic holidays, Eid al-Adha.

At the Times Square rally, which occurred near a military recruiting station, protester Sara Flounders held up a sign that read "Execution = Escalation".

"We didn't need this execution. Saddam should have been jailed," said the Rev Joel Jang, a Presbyterian minister who was among a few dozen activists gathered at the site.

In Boston, about five protesters stood in light snow outside of the Marine Corps recruiting building and passed out printed statements to the few people that walked by.

Protesters referred to the execution of Saddam Hussein as US sponsored murder. They also called for an immediate withdrawal of American troops from Iraq.

Making no claims about Hussein's guilt or innocence, Steve Kirschbaum, a member of the International Action Center, said the execution was a "serious violation of international law ... a legal lynching."

In Detroit, 15 anti-war demonstrators stood in front of an FBI building to call on Congress to end the war in Iraq and denounce Saddam's execution.

The small protests were in stark contrast to the scenes of jubilation in the Detroit suburb of Dearborn late Friday night, when hundreds of Iraqi Americans took to the streets, honking car horns and dancing while celebrating news of Saddam's death.