His last words were:

"There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his messenger"

As Sadaam reached the end of the rope, literally, and was transported from this world to the next, I'm afraid that the words he hears will not be those he expected.

Instead: "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no man comes to the Father, but by me" John 14:6

Sadaam proclaimed a lie. We proclaim the Truth.

The reality of Islam, based on its own founder, is that Mohammed was much LIKE Sadaam, in his treatment of enemy tribes or even those he "considered" enemies.

Sadaam arranged many a political assasination, so did MOhammed.
Sadaam killed large numbers of people in a systematic way, so did Mohammed.
Sadaam presumably had sufficient access to female 'toys' as he could want, and so did MOhammed.

Sadaam made war against other tribes, and so did Mohammed.

Sadaam was kind to children, he was often seen embracing them on TV.
He sought to build up a State, but he was a bit more embracing of luxury than Mohammed. Does it matter ?

So, I wish to take this opportunity to proclaim Christ Jesus, Son of God, God the Son, Saviour of mankind, reconciling the world to Himself for those who believe.

The man who Sadaam claimed is Allah's messenger, also claimed that those who ascribe 'partners' to Allah are cursed. To an exent I have to agree, but the problem is, God..was IN Christ, and to reduce the Lord Jesus to a 'partner' with God is a blasphemous insult. But this is what Islam does. The difference between Christianity and Islam is this. We Christians will leave the judgement of such matters to God Almighty, and not seek to punish people in this world for insulting God, Muslims and Islam as a faith, take the opposite view, punishment in THIS life for such things.

Jesus of Nazereth... the Christ.

"Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved." (Acts 4:12)

Boaz-David,

I have to agree with you. Pity Sadam didn't find Christ before he died, that's the saddest thing about this whole business. We know he had at least one, I dare say nominal, Christian in his cabinet, Tariq Azziz. If he believed in spreading his faith, obviously Sadam didn't want to know.

The one good thing about Sadam was that he didn't hate the Christians as much as most Muslims. He even allowed the Bible Society of Jordan to set up a Bible printing shop in Iraq.

The Christians of Iraq have been suffering terribly since the war, because they are seen as being on the side of the "invaders" because of their common religion. Many of them have fled to neighbouring Jordan and Syria. The Shiites who are in power want them all gone. Yet the Christians (Assyrians) were there before the Arab Muslim invasions in the 7th or 8th centuries.

We are supposed to believe that the minority Sunnis have only been in power over the majority Shiites since Sadam Hussein gained power. It has been this way for four hundred years, since the Ottoman Turks gained power over this region.

I have long believed that half-truths can be more dangerous than outright falshoods.

If the reports are accurate that Saddam Hussein's last words were "There is no God but God, and Mohammed is his messenger", then he may have departed this life proclaiming an half-truth. As such, and for what he did, he is not to be mourned.

I have a recollection from media reports (a perhaps questionable source) that one of Saddam's intended projects, when he was still a dictator, was to have been a reconstruction of the ancient city of Babylon, restoring it to some semblance of its former 'glory'. Does anyone, in addition to Jeremiah, have any detailed reference to any progress upon this project?

Sic transit gloria. Who had the last word?

Boaz David,
For me, if the religious George Bush is a leader of "the good guys", your Lord and for that matter, Saddam's Mohammed, both work in puzzling and mysterious ways.

When will people learn. All religions are based on three things - philosophy, mythology and superstition. There is no such thing as an "interventionist God"

Dear Kartya
Its probably pointless to 'point out' that cruelties perpetrated by Americans were dealt with in a court of law, some have been imprisoned.

I can see that soon it will be neccessary to write something on a "War and the Christian State" or a "Christian doctrine of war"

But I absolutely believe there is more to it than the face value of those clearly symbolic words. Remember he also said in the same sermon "If you eye sins, GOUGE it out" which is clearly not intended literally. This is a manner of speaking which was CULTURAL they spoke in superlatives, but they did 'get' the meaning.

Bush claims to be Christian, but he also IS 'The Emperor' in terms of Romans 13, and as such has legitimate responsibilities to 'deter the evildoer' WITH THE SWORD.(or the Abrams M-1 and the F-16)

You, and I KNOW in our hearts where the problems of IRAQ are coming from, and it surely is NOT the Americans at the moment. Sunni is slaughtering Shia and vice versa. This is the current manifestation of the conflict between 2 familes after the 4th Caliph. Omayyads and Abassyds. Each had a different understanding of who should be the head of the Islamic state and they have been fighting that SAME war since around 750ad. Don't be so gullable as to blame Bush or the Americans for that mate. To do so would be to demonstrate an ignorance of history that I would be embarrassed to admit :)

Then there is the resurgent PERSIAN empire. Don't forget that.
If the Americans have a dabble in that region, so be it. Its not for you to criticize really, but hey, there is no Sadaam here who will gouge out the eyes of your children in front of you for saying it so go4it :)

Bottom Line. Show me an 'Emperor' who has to make the hard decisions, who will please all the people all the time and the next day I will show you polka dotted pigs flying mate.