(CPOD) Jul. 30, 2004 – A majority of Americans support the death penalty for Saddam Hussein, according to the Global Market Insite (GMI) World Poll. 56 per cent of respondents say the deposed Iraqi leader should be executed.
(CPOD) Jul. 30, 2004 – A majority of Americans support the death penalty for Saddam Hussein, according to the Global Market Insite (GMI) World Poll. 56 per cent of respondents say the deposed Iraqi leader should be executed.
The coalition effort against Hussein’s regime was launched in March 2003. Hussein was captured by coalition soldiers in Adwar—near his hometown of Tikrit—on Dec. 13, 2003. The deposed leader was found in a camouflaged, ventilated “spider hole.”
On Jul. 1 in Baghdad, Hussein made his first court appearance to respond to seven war crimes charges, which include the 1990 invasion of Kuwait. Hussein said the tribunal amounted to “a theatre.”
More than 41 per cent of respondents in Canada, Britain, France, Germany and Japan—and 31 per cent of respondents in Russia—think Hussein should be sentenced to life in prison. Support is lower in the seven countries surveyed for multi-year confinement.
Polling Data
Now that Saddam Hussein is in the custody of the Iraqi authorities, what do you believe is his appropriate fate?
USA | CAN | BRI | FRA | RUS | GER | JAP | |
Multi-year prison term | 3% | 6% | 5% | 13% | 23% | 7% | 9% |
Life in prison | 30% | 41% | 45% | 42% | 31% | 62% | 45% |
Execution | 56% | 40% | 41% | 23% | 11% | 22% | 26% |
Source: Global Market Insite (GMI) World Poll
Methodology: Interviews to 7,000 respondents in the United States, Canada, Britain, France, Russia, Germany and Japan, conducted in July 2004 through an online panel. No margin of error was provided.
