Akmal Shaikh - Shoot him?

[Tomcat]

(rossco @ Dec. 29 2009,13:22) A civilized society invaded Iraq and executed Saddam Hussein.

The Iraqis executed Saddam in fact , the alliance that toppled him had nought to do with it . He made enough enemies from within his own Country to make it a near certainty that he would be hanged. How many Kurds did he gas , thousands wasnt it.

Why didnt he die like a true hero guns a blazing like his sons instead of cowering like a snivelling coward in his trench.

using him as an example is probably not a good idea

[Socrates999]

(Bumpa STIKKA @ Dec. 29 2009,05:54)  Never been a victim of a serious crime, have you!  

Latest stats from the Innocence Project ...

In the States, 17 men have now been released from Death Row due to exoneration based on DNA analysis. That's 17 humans who otherwise would most surely be led to the death chamber, knowing they did not commit that crime, proclaiming their innocence, getting strapped to a table, needles inserted into their veins and being executed.

And that's not some bullshit-maybe-he-didn't-do-it, but guaranteed forensic analysis of DNA that demonstrates, for instance, that the rapists semen extracted from her 100% did not come from the accused. or the skin under her nails was not his or the bloodstains all over the room, while matching his blood type, did not match his genetic profile. The double whammy on this is, of course, that not only were these men wrongfully convicted, but the real killers are probably still on the loose.

And, while we take things personally by nature, try to "go personal" in both directions, ie ... How many innocents would you willing to sacrifice to satisfy a blood-thirst for revenge? How many in your family? What if your brother had to die innocently, just to make sure somebody had "closure" (hate that term!!)?

[Socrates999]

Rossco meant to say Saddam AND tens of thousands of innocent civilians.

And they should be tried in the Hague as war criminals. Fucking "Mission Accomplished" arrogant asshole has done more to bring Amerika down than Osama ever dreamed of doing.

[Tomcat]

Rossco was using the fact that WMD were not found but he was still executed. In other words an innocent man was hanged by the West which is not true. Anyway Sadaam was not in fact deranged as we know it as far as i know he also 100% admitted he had WMD when he was in power and not under duress.

[Ivor Biggun]

If you travel to another country with 'harsher' laws than your own its a good idea to obey them. Singapore has executed foreign nationals for breaking their drug laws, why shouldn't China. Why don't people apply the 'would I do this at home' principle when they do this sort of shit. People are happy for terrorists to be strung up but drugs kill more people globally than terrorism every year so where do you draw the line?

We all have different views on Capital Punishment- at the end of the day if he'd done this in the UK or Canada he'd have a nice cozy cell and no tv licence to pay, (if not a suspended sentence coz the jails are too full) in China he got a lethal injection. Does capital punishment work- no, just look at the number of inmates on Death Rows in the States. In some cases it has been shown that the death penalty has actually created worse crimes- I'm gonna die any way so I may as well do it.

China is by far the biggest executor by numbers (470), I don't have the math for the number as a ratio to its population. The US ranks 7th (43) in the world, ahead of some of the baddest countries around http://www.nationmaster.com/graph/cr...ime-executions

I'm sorry but I get pissed off when drug smugglers get warm and fluffy treatment from Western politicians when they they get caught out. They are prepared to cause misery to others with their trade and deserve all they get, although personally I would prefer they rotted in prison to being executed.
If more western prisons hired consultants fronm the Bangkok Hilton that would be a good start. Prisoners in the UK are better off than soldiers on the frontline- it's a disgrace.  

[TTChang]

I don't agree with the death penalty, but I'm not going to go on a moral crusade about a guy who had bags of heroin in his luggage.  Yes, he must have been deranged to do that.

Maybe if you'd seen the result of heroin addiction at close quarters, you wouldn't feel as much outrage at the Chinese legal system.

I'm sorry but I get pissed off when drug smugglers get warm and fluffy treatment from Western politicians when they they get caught out. They are prepared to cause misery to others with their trade and deserve all they get, although personally I would prefer they rotted in prison to being executed.

[deepthroat]

(TTChang @ Dec. 30 2009,01:42) Maybe if you'd seen the result of heroin addiction at close quarters, you wouldn't feel as much outrage at the Chinese legal system.

From such flippant beginnings, a great and thought-provoking thread has emerged!

I have seen the results of heroin addiction at close quarters. In fact, I've experienced it myself and found that recovery was possible once I wanted my life to be different. As a result of my experiences in "recovery" I've also seen the effects of drug addiction ravage the lives of dozens of friends that briefly sought recovery, then lost their battle and sometimes their lives.

None of this though has changed my belief that our laws are not the solution, and in fact only contribute to the problem. Speaking for myself, I didn't choose to get clean because of legal pressures, I was one of the lucky ones who had very little contact with the criminal justice system while in my active addiction. I got clean because I got tired of living that way, and I still had family and resources available to devote to treatment for the addiction, and then I found the willingness to get involved in ongoing recovery through a 12 Step program. For me, that's what worked. But the drug laws are a hopeless morass, a criminal solution to a medical problem. Countries like the Netherlands or even the UK that focus on "harm reduction" have a much better idea of how to deal with the problem.

Look at it like this - if drugs were available by prescription from a doctor, and regulated and taxed, we'd remove 90% of the criminal element from the trade. Remove the underworld figures making billions every year off the misery of others. Remove the deaths and violence associated with the cartels that are exploiting the trade. Take that money, literally trillions of dollars, and put it into the regulated economy. Put the money that goes into correctional systems (now THAT's a farce of a name!) and put even a portion of that into drug treatment, education, counseling, family support, etc.

Basically, allow that element of the population that wants to kill themselves with drugs to do so. We do it with alcohol, why not allow it with other chemicals? Instead of spending one $Billion on the effects of people killing themselves with drugs, we spend one $Trillion on criminalizing their behavior and dealing with the repercussions caused by creating a black market more valuable than the GNP of many countries of the world combined.

It's time to stop the madness, quite listening to the hysteria and having knee-jerk reactions, and look at real solutions to the problem instead of pretending we can control human behavior through legislation alone.

[Torurot]

Exactly. Great summary Deepthroat. Law enforcement is just another money making industry in many countries and does little to sort the problem, and often IS the problem.

[robbo]

(rusty nail @ Dec. 29 2009,11:20) He's dead.

But you have to credit his family... they went all out on the budget to save him!  

noticed the one guy here he seems to have made it to the wrong protest,seems to have just realised it and is leaving, fuckin idiot,i bet his mate Grant clemancy wasnt to impressed.

[Napalm]

This is the guy, had to be mental...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xoWoA-XTyCM