*Yawn*…

In the climax to a trial that began more than a year ago, a combative Hussein and two other defendants Sunday were sentenced to death by hanging for a brutal crackdown in 1982 in the Shiite town of Dujail.

Guilty verdict, death sentence. Shiites happy…

[G]leeful Iraqis took to the streets in celebration in predominantly Shiite areas, including Baghdad’s Sadr City neighborhood, southern towns in Wasit province, and the southern city of Najaf.

Some carried pictures of Muqtada al Sadr’s grandfather — a cleric who was murdered by Hussein in the ’80s — and shot their guns in the air in celebration.  Witnesses said people shouted “the killer deserves to be killed” and set pictures of Hussein on fire.

Sunnis pissed…

The Interior Ministry closed two Sunni satellite TV stations accused of inciting sectarian violence, a ministry official told CNN.  Iraqi police and soldiers ordered the employees of First Channel [Zawra] and Salaheddin TV to leave their offices in Tikrit, Hussein’s hometown.

That is where as many as 2,000 people protested Sunday’s verdict and sentence against the former Iraqi leader, defying the government’s curfew.  Earlier in the day, a witness said the protesters in Tikrit carried posters of the former president and were shooting into the air. The numbers of demonstrators grew after the sentence was announced.

Big whoop, as if any other outcome were possible.  What’s interesting is the range of stupid responses by outsiders.  For example:

White House spokesman Tony Snow praised the Dujail trial verdict, including Hussein’s sentence of death by hanging for crimes against humanity.  “It demonstrates that you’ve got an independent Iraqi judiciary and that they were applying their own laws,” Snow said. (emphasis mine)

Theres two possible ways to interpret the word “independant” in this, both of which render his comment as nonsense:

If he’s saying it proves they’re not held subordinate to the rest of the iraqi government, then he’d have to explain how to tell the difference: these laws that they operate under have only recently even been written, and considering how the trial descended into circus territory it looks like they said “eh, let’s just wing it”.  Besides, with the depth of resentment there, who’s to say that if they’d decided otherwise the iraqi prime minister wouldn’t have thrown a fit?

On the other hand, if he means “see?  The US isn’t puppeteering this government”, then he’s asserting that a decision that amounts to the best news for Bush out of Iraq in a long time proves that the iraqi government doesn’t concern itself with what the US thinks.  Not to say that I think they do — al-Maliki already proved that he didn’t — but in no way can staying in line with Bush administration goals prove independance.  What would REALLY prove that would’ve been if they did something that threw yet more dirt in his face — like, say, acquital.  That wasn’t going to happen, so there’s nothing to point at either way.

Speaking of not caring what outsiders think…

Many European nations praised the guilty verdict, although some took exception to capital punishment, which has been abolished by nearly all European nations. […]

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy said, “This decision belongs to the Iraqi people. In the climate of violence Iraq is going through, I hope this decision will not bring any new tension and that Iraqis from all sides will act accordingly.”

However, he noted that France and the European Union “have always supported” the “universal ban” of the death penalty.

“We need, along with our European partners, to make Baghdad authorities aware of our position.”

Oh, they’re aware of your position.  They’re just exercizing their sovereign power of Don’t-Give-A-Fuck.

Considering Europe’s past in the region, they’re about as inclined to listen to you as I am to listen to a vegetarian complain about me eating a philly steak sammich.  Save your breath.