Australian PM: Saddam sentence a sign of hope

By JERUSALEM POST STAFF
Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein's death sentence is a sign of hope for democracy in Iraq, Prime Minister John Howard said Monday. "The whole process of the trial is a sign of democratic hope and I believe the world should see it as such," Howard told the Nine Network television. "There's something heroic about a nation that is going through all the pain and difficulty as Iraq is, yet still struggles to give this monster a fair trial - that is the mark of a country that desperately wants democracy," he said. Howard said he was opposed to the capital punishment, but could not govern what another country did.