How Saddam Hussein’s Execution Scarred Iraq and Changed US Foreign Policy Forever

©AP Photo / Chris Hondros

Friday marks the anniversary of the December 30, 2006 execution of Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi leader reviled by Iranians for his 1980s war of aggression, but respected by many Iraqis for standing up to Western imperialism. How did Hussein’s hanging by the American occupation regime affect Iraq and alter US foreign policy? Sputnik media explains.

“Long live the people! Long live the Arab nation! Long Live the Ummah! Damn sellout dogs like you! Let the traitors be devastated! God is great!.....The end is near, you will see. This homeland is ours!...Don’t think this is over. This is just the beginning!”

Saddam Hussein Former President of Iraq

Those were the words shouted by Saddam Hussein on November 5, 2006 as a judge read out a verdict finding him guilty of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide for the Iraqi government’s execution of 148 Shiite rebels in Dujail, Iraq in July 1982 in response to an attempt on Hussein’s life.

Hussein remained obstinate, sarcastic and uncooperative throughout the October 2005-December 2006 trial, insisting that he was the constitutionally-elected president of Iraq, and saying he didn’t "recognize the body that designated and authorized" the trial, "nor the aggression" behind it.

Hussein repeatedly laughed in the judge’s face, and compared the Dujail incident to the US crackdown on Fallujah in 2004, which a defense witness said had been “wiped off the map” after four Americans were killed by insurgents.

Hussein’s execution was hailed by US and European media as an "end to an era" for Iraq, a “grim end for the 69-year-old leader who had vexed three US presidents” and “ruled Iraq in a reign of fear for three decades.”

Iraq Destabilized

But whatever personal gratification President George W. Bush and his staff may have felt during that moment – which marked the culmination of the US war on Iraq begun under Bush’s father, it didn’t provide any long-term sense of solace to ordinary Iraqis, nor to the US occupation forces who were facing the worst period insurgency since the invasion of Iraq began in March 2003. The Pentagon closed out 2006 as one of its bloodiest years in US history, with 823 troops killed, and 904 more the following year.

By the time the US withdrew from Iraq in 2011, some 4,492 troops were dead, 32,222 injured, and tens of thousands more left with debilitating psychological problems, like post-traumatic stress disorder and suicidal ideation. A devastating 2021 study found that some 30,177 US active-duty troops and Iraq and Afghanistan veterans had taken their own lives between 2001 and 2021.

As for Iraqi casualties, they were so severe that fierce debate over their scale continues to this day, with estimates ranging from 461,000 to over one million. For perspective, Iraq had a total pre-war population of 25.6 million people.

The ‘shock and awe’ invasion, combined with fierce fighting between US forces and pro-Saddam Baath Party loyalists, plus Sunni and Shia insurgents (who also fought and ethnically cleansed each other), forced up to six million people to flee their homes, with Iraq’s already weakened pre-war infrastructure turned into rubble and tens of thousands of homes destroyed or severely damaged. Hospitals and schools were left without running water, the electricity grid and sanitation networks were smashed, and the country suffered outbreaks of cholera, typhoid and other deadly diseases.

Middle East Destabilized

“Obviously, the war in Iraq was a big, fat mistake, alright?...We spent $2 trillion, thousands of lives, we don’t even have it. Iran is taking over Iraq with the second largest oil reserves in the world. Obviously it was a mistake. George Bush made a mistake. We can make mistakes, but that one was a beauty. We should have never been in Iraq. We have destabilized the Middle East,” then-presidential candidate Donald Trump said in a debate with Jeb Bush during the 2016 race.

Donald Trump Former President of the United States

Love him or hate him, on this issue, the real estate mogul was right. The collapse of the centralized government in Iraq, made worse by the US’s decision to dismantle all Baath-led institutions, including the military and police, sparked an insurgency that would mutate into Daesh (ISIS), a fanatical Sunni militia challenging al-Qaeda as the Middle East’s top terror group. Between 2013-2014, Daesh spread across much of western Iraq, made its way into northeastern Syria, and gained a foothold, or individual militants pledging allegiance to the group in Afghanistan, Pakistan, Yemen, Turkey, Egypt, France, and much of North and West Africa, including Nigeria.

It took the combined military and intelligence capabilities of the Syrian and Iraqi governments, Russian and Iranian airpower/advisors, Hezbollah fighters, and US coalition forces to push the terrorists back.

The war against Daesh displaced over ten million Syrian and Iraqi civilians, with over 45,000 civilians in the two countries killed – up to 13,000 of them in US-led coalition airstrikes, and the humanitarian situation in both countries deteriorating further.

Iraqi Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi declared final victory over Daesh in December 2017, with Trump proclaiming victory over the terrorists in Syria in December 2018 and announcing a withdrawal (which never took place).

How Iraq Forced US to Change Its Policy

Saddam Hussein’s “This is just the beginning!” cry during his verdict proved prophetic. Since the Iraq invasion, his ouster and public execution, the US never again launched a large-scale invasion of another country. Instead, Washington has shifted its operations to large-scale bombings (Libya in 2011), drone strikes (Yemen from 2002-2020), funding terrorist insurgencies and proxy armies (Syria, Ukraine), fomenting color revolutions and coups (2000 to present in countries including Ukraine, Moldova, Kyrgyzstan, Georgia, Myanmar, Tunisia, Egypt, and Bolivia), and limited, often secret, troop deployments.

Things could have been much worse. Had the Iraq War become the resounding success the Bush White House hoped it would be, it’s entirely possible that the invasion of the ancient Mesopotamian cradle of civilization may have turned out to be just a stepping stone in a strategy to endow the US with total control over the entire Middle East.

“About ten days after 9/11 I went to the Pentagon and saw Secretary [of Defense Donald] Rumsfeld and Deputy Secretary [of Defense Paul] Wolfowitz. I went downstairs just to say hello to some of the people in the Joint Staff who used to work for me and one of the generals called me in and said ‘sir you gotta come in and talk to me a second…We’ve made the decision, we’re going to war with Iraq’. This was on or about the 20th of September,” former US Army general and NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe Wesley Clark recalled in an interview in 2007.

“I said ‘well did they find some information connecting Saddam to al-Qaeda? ‘No, no,’ he says, ‘there’s nothing new that way. They just made the decision to go to war with Iraq.’ He said ‘I guess it’s like we don’t know what to do about terrorists but we got a good military and we can take down governments,’” the retired officer continued.

“I came back to see him a few weeks later and by that time we were bombing in Afghanistan and I said ‘are we still going to war with Iraq?’ and he said ‘oh it’s worse than that.’ He reached over on his desk and picked up a piece of paper and said ‘I just got this down from upstairs,’ (meaning secretary of defense’s office) today, and said ‘this is a memo that describes how we’re going to take out seven countries in five years, starting with Iraq and then Syria, Lebanon, Libya, Somalia, Sudan and finishing off – Iran,” Clark said.

Wesley Clark Former NATO Supreme Allied Commander Europe

Echoing Merkel, Fmr French Prez Confirms West Lied to Russia on Minsk Deal to Buy Kiev Time to Rearm

©AP Photo / Alexander Zemlianichenko

The revelation comes a few weeks after Germany's former chancellor admitted that the peace agreement struck in the Belarusian capital in February 2015 was a contrivance used to buy time to build up Ukraine’s military after it had been shattered in fierce fighting with Donbass militias.

The Minsk Peace Accords were never about bringing peace to Donbass, former French President Francois Hollande has admitted.

“Since 2014, Ukraine has strengthened its military posture. Indeed, the Ukrainian army [of 2022] was completely different from that of 2014. It was better trained and equipped. It is the merit of the Minsk Agreements to have given the Ukrainian Army this opportunity,” Hollande said in an interview with Ukrainian media this week.

The former French president, who left office in 2017 with an approval rating hovering in the single-digits, had the courtesy to admit that while the Minsk agreement was functioning, Russia was meeting its obligations as a guarantor.

“Every month, (former Ukrainian President) Petro Poroshenko, Angela Merkel, Vladimir Putin and I had long telephone conversations in which we exchanged information on the progress of the Minsk protocols. Even if we saw that there was an obvious unwillingness, there was still a dialogue” via the Normandy Format, Hollande said.

Another of the Minsk peace deal’s “merits” was that it “didn’t allow the area controlled by separatists to expand,” Hollande added.

Confession is Good for the Soul

Hollande’s comments are the third confirmation in two months by a senior official involved in the Minsk negotiations that the West and its Ukrainian client state were never serious about implementing the peace agreement.

On December 7, Angela Merkel said that Minsk “was an attempt to buy time for Ukraine,” and that “Ukraine used this time to become stronger, as you can see today. The Ukraine of 2014-2015 is not the Ukraine of today,” she said.

A month earlier, Petro Poroshenko told Russian pranksters Vovan and Lexus that he “needed the Minsk Accords to get at least four years to form the Ukrainian Armed Forces, build up the Ukrainian economy and train the Ukrainian military together with NATO to create the best armed forces in Eastern Europe, created according to NATO standards.”

Signed on February 12, 2015 by Ukraine and guarantors Russia, Germany and France, the Minsk Peace Agreements were a thirteen-part ceasefire and peace deal which would have allowed Kiev to restore control over the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in exchange for broad, constitutionally-mandated autonomy.

Over the seven years after the treaty was signed, Kiev stalled on implementing the agreement, and continued low-intensity shelling and sabotage attacks against the Donbass. An attempt by President Volodymyr Zelensky to implement the treaty in late 2019 sparked widespread protests in Kiev led by Poroshenko, hardline pro-EU parties, and ultranationalist fighters and Donbass war veterans, prompting Zelensky to back down.

In February 2022, observing a severe escalation of tensions along the line of contact in the Donbass, and suspected Ukrainian sabotage attacks targeting senior military officials in Donetsk and Lugansk, Russia recognized the pair of self-proclaimed republics as sovereign nations, and, on February 24, kicked off a special military operation to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘de-Nazify’ Ukraine amid fears that Kiev was preparing an imminent all-out assault on the Donbass. In September, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics, and the Russian-administered areas of Kherson and Zaporozhye became part of Russia after status referendums.

Commenting on Merkel’s admission about Minsk this month, President Putin expressed shock and disappointment.

“Frankly speaking, I did not expect to hear such a thing from the former federal chancellor. Because I always proceeded from the idea that the German leadership behaves sincerely with us. Yes, they were on Ukraine’s side, supported Kiev, but it always seemed to me that Germany always sincerely sought a peaceful settlement based on the principles that we had agreed on, which were achieved, including within the framework of the Minsk process,” Putin said.

Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko, who hosted the Minsk negotiations in the Belarusian capital back in 2015, did not mince words about Merkel’s comments, saying the situation was “not just disgusting” but “abominable,” and that Merkel “acted in a petty, obnoxious way” trying to bring attention to herself.

Putin, Lukashenko Agree on Deployment of Joint Regional Grouping of Forces

Earlier in the day, at October, 2022, the Belarusian president held a meeting with the country's military and security forces, and told reporters that Minsk had been warned through unofficial channels about plans to carry out an attack on Belarusian territory from Ukraine.

Russian President Vladimir Putin and Belarusian President Alexander Lukashenko have agreed on the deployment of a joint regional group of forces.

"In connection with the aggravation of the situation on the western borders of the Union State, we agreed to deploy a regional grouping of forces from the Russian Federation and the Republic of Belarus. This complies with our documents. They say that if the threat reaches the level it has now, we begin to use the Union State grouping of forces," Lukashenko said on Monday, his remarks cited by the Belta News Agency.

The Belarusian president clarified that the Belarusian Army constitutes the basis or core of this group of forces.

"I must inform you that the formation of this grouping has begun. It has been going on for, I think two days. I gave an order to start forming this group," Lukashenko said.

Earlier in the day, in a meeting with the country's military and security forces, Lukashenko warned Kiev not to move forward with any plans to carry out a first strike on Belarus.

"I have already said today that Ukraine is not just contemplating, but planning strikes on the territory of Belarus. Of course, the Ukrainians absolutely do not need this. Why would they need to open a second front on our southern border, which is their northern border? This is madness from the military point of view. They are being pushed by their patrons to unleash a war against Belarus in order to draw us into it," Lukashenko said.

The Belarusian president said the message received from unofficial channels was that Ukraine was planning to create a 'Crimean Bridge Part II'-style scenario in Belarus.

"My answer was simple: tell the president of Ukraine and other insane individuals that the Crimean Bridge will seem like flowers to them if they touch even one meter of our territory with their dirty hands," Lukashenko said.

The president ordered the military and security forces, including the KGB, to determine what else needs to be done to strengthen Belarusian security, "taking into account the rapidly changing situation."

Commenting on Lukashenko's comments later in the day Monday, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed that "interaction in various fields, including defense, is constantly being discussed during bilateral contacts between Presidents Putin and Lukashenko," and that this interaction is spelled out in the Union State's military doctrine.

Despite its territory being used by Russian forces in the early stages of Moscow's military operation operation in Ukraine, Belarus has so far managed to stay out of the conflict, with its forces deployed westward to face down NATO forces concentrated in Poland and the Baltics.

The Ukrainian military launched several attacks against Belarus, with Lukashenko reporting in March that a Ukrainian Tochka-U missile had been shot down by Belarusian air defense troops. A second attack - targeting Belarusian military targets, was foiled in June.

The Belarusian Army has 45,000 active-duty personnel, and 290,000 reservists, among whom 120,000 are members of the country's territorial defense forces.

Russia and Belarus are members of the Union State - a supranational organization created in the late 1990s aimed at the integration of the countries' political, economic and defense policies. The Union State's military doctrine states that any aggression against either of its members constitutes aggression against both, requiring "appropriate measures" to be taken "using all the forces and means" at the countries' disposal to neutralize the threat.

The Ukrainian crisis entered a new phase on Saturday after Ukrainian security forces carried out a terrorist attack against the Crimean Bridge - a key piece of infrastructure linking the peninsula to the Russian mainland to the east. Russia responded by carrying out strikes against infrastructure across Ukraine on Monday.

Reagan's Aide Warns Against Overestimating Soviet Union, Underestimating Russia

‘Major Political Error’: Moscow Warned About NATO Expansion in 2001, Declassified Docs Reveal

©Sputnik / Alexei Danichev

The world should not overestimate the significance of the Soviet Union, but should also avoid underrating the importance of Russia, American scholar of Russian history Suzanne Massie, who served as an adviser to President Ronald Reagan, told Sputnik in an interview on the USSR's centennial.

"Now the USSR is already a memory. I was at Gorbachev's funeral in Moscow, and with him the era of the USSR was gone, which, relative to the entire more than a thousand-year history of Russia, lasted only 70 years," Massie said in Russian. "I do not think it is necessary to overestimate the importance of the USSR, but the importance of Russia for the world today cannot and should not be underestimated."

Speaking of lessons Russia could draw from the Soviet period, Massie expressed her belief that Russia needs to combat its age-old bureaucracy.

"America does not know the new Russia at all, its new young faces, its spirit," she added. "I believe that Russia needs to be studied and studied from within, as I once did myself. And I just fell in love with it."

On December 30, 1922, five years after the October Revolution, the First All-Union Congress of Soviets in Moscow declared the creation of the Soviet Union, an entity intended to be built on Marxist principles and dedicated to ushering in a new era of Communism onto the world.

On December 26, 1991, the Soviet Union ceased to exist, soon after the leaders of Russia, Ukraine and Belarus signed the Belovezh Accords, declaring the country dissolved.

'Major Political Error’: Moscow Warned About NATO Expansion in 2001, Declassified Docs Reveal

In the mid-1990s, the Clinton administration broke with its predecessor’s pledge to Moscow not to expand the Western military alliance “one inch east” of a reunified Germany. Three decades on, relations between Russia and the West are perhaps worse than they ever were even in the darkest days of the Cold War.

In 2001, riding off the post-Cold War high of lofty promises to Russia about integration into the ‘civilized world’ and seeking to maintain good relations with its newfound Western partners, Moscow carefully sought to warn NATO about the implications of the alliance’s continued eastward expansion. That’s according to British government documents released by the National Archives on Friday.

The files, which include Cabinet Office papers of the Tony Blair government from the period between 2000 and 2002, featured a remark by then-Russian Defense Minister Igor Sergeyev that continued NATO enlargement to the east would be a “major political error,” and that Moscow would be forced to “take appropriate steps.”

By that point, NATO had already swallowed up former Warsaw Pact members Poland, Hungary and the Czech Republic, and was negotiating expanding into Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania, Slovenia and the Baltic states, which would put the bloc’s strategic reach to within just 100 km of St. Petersburg, Russia’s second city.

A 2001 security paper drawn up for Blair defense advisor John Sawers chided Russian officials for their “obstructionist stance.” UK officials appeared to dismiss then fresh-faced Russian President Vladimir Putin’s assurances to Blair that he did not want to be seen as “anti-NATO,” and that he “would not try to slow down the process of NATO enlargement,” as disingenuous.

The security paper suggested that Putin’s “constructive” statements were “belied” by Russian espionage efforts against the UK, as well as Moscow’s links to Iran and Iraq.

“Despite the warmth of Putin’s rhetoric about the close links between Russia and the UK, the Russian intelligence effort against British targets remains at a high level. The Russian intelligence presence in the UK is at Cold War levels, and they continue to post active and hostile officers to work against British interests worldwide,” the document said.

Defense Minister Sergeyev did not shy away from expressing concerns about NATO expansion, both in private and in public. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the marshal repeatedly criticized the Western bloc over the “lack of trust” with Russia in the framework of the alliance’s ‘peacekeeping’ operations in Kosovo after its 78-day bombardment of Yugoslavia. At a meeting of the NATO-Russia Council in 2000, Sergeyev warned of the dangers of Washington’s plans to withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty, which he characterized as a cornerstone of global strategic stability. Sergeyev called on Europeans to scrap NATO and create a “pan-European system of collective security” without the United States. The marshal also criticized the use of NATO forces in Kosovo without United Nations and Organization for Security Co-operation approval, saying this undermined the global post-Cold War security architecture.

The National Archives document dump also revealed UK efforts to keep up diplomatic decorum, befriend Putin and pull the wool over his eyes on the West’s friendship with Russia. In a memo dated February 2001, Blair proposed to US Vice President Dick Cheney that Putin be granted a “position (at) the top table” and encouraged “to reach for Western attitudes as well as the Western economic model.” Blair recommended “treating [Putin] with some respect while preventing him from pulling European members of the (NATO) alliance away from the US.”

Blair compared Putin’s “mindset” to that of the late French President Charles de Gaulle, describing him “as a Russian patriot, acutely aware that Russia had lost its place in the world.”

The docs revealed that Blair had symbolically gifted Putin a pair of special No 10 cufflinks in October 2001 for the Russian president’s birthday, with Putin ‘honored’ as the first non-British leader recipient of the trinket. The same year, Putin was said to have informed Blair that Russia was ready to help ensure Britain’s energy security “for decades to come” through the construction of a new gas pipeline via Belarus.

Western distrust over Russia’s intentions and the NATO push to incorporate more and more Eastern European members in the bloc underscored its underlying hostility to Moscow, notwithstanding the supposed end of the Cold War. Putin sought to test the authenticity of Western intentions in the year 2000, recalling to that he once proposed to outgoing President Bill Clinton that Russia itself join NATO.

“I remember one of our last meetings with President Clinton in Moscow. During the meeting I said, ‘we should consider an option that Russia might join NATO’. Clinton replied, ‘Why not?’ But the US delegation got very nervous,” Putin recalled, speaking to US filmmaker Oliver Stone in 2017.

Putin’s strategy echoed the approach taken by Soviet Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, who asked to join NATO in 1954 in a test of the West’s strategic intentions vis-à-vis Moscow. The alliance turned the Soviet offer down, prompting Moscow to form the Warsaw Pact alliance a year later. That alliance helped to guarantee European security for the next three-and-a-half decades.

NATO expansion is one of the central causes of the current crisis in relations between Russia and the West, including the ongoing conflict in Ukraine -amid the bloc's attempts to drag Kiev into the alliance. Russia has expressed concerns that the alliance’s conventional military forces, plus the missile defense systems placed in Poland and Romania, are designed to target Russia, threatening the country and undermining global strategic stability.

In December 2021, Russia proposed a twin set of draft security treaties to the United States and NATO. The proposals were designed to reduce tensions between Moscow and the Western bloc, and included a pitch not to deploy troops, military equipment, warships, missile systems and aircraft in areas where they might be seen as a threat to the other party, and a formal commitment by both sides that they do not see one another as adversaries. Moscow also asked Washington not to continue NATO’s eastward expansion, including into Ukraine and Georgia.

The Western bloc rejected Russia’s proposals in January, citing its unwavering “open door” policy. Several weeks later, the Donetsk and Lugansk People’s Republics reported an unprecedented increase in Ukrainian shelling and sabotage attacks of their territories, and, fearing that Kiev may be preparing a full-scale invasion, began an evacuation of civilians to Russia. Moscow responded by kicking off its special military operation to ‘demilitarize’ and ‘de-Nazify’ its neighbor.

George Kennan, venerated US diplomat, geostrategist and author of the famous 1946 ‘long telegram’ of advice on how to ‘contain’ the USSR in the first years of the Cold War, famously characterized NATO’s decision in the 1990s to expand as “the most fateful error of American policy in the entire post-Cold War era.” The decision, he said, would severely undermine the fledgling trust between Moscow and Washington, and “impel Russian foreign policy in directions not to our liking.” Twenty-five years on, Kennan’s warning has proven prophetic.

Putin Says Russia-China Trade Will Grow by 25% by End of 2022 Despite Intimidation by West

kremlin.ru

Despite the intimidation by some Western countries, trade between Russia and China will grow by about 25% by the end of 2022, and the $200 billion level will be reached ahead of schedule, Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday.

Russian-Chinese trade turnover will reach $200 billion “ahead of schedule,” President Vladimir Putin said during a videoconference with Chinese leader Xi Jinping on Friday as Moscow’s isolation from the West over its invasion of Ukraine continues to grow.

“Despite the unfavorable external conditions, illegitimate restrictions and direct intimidation by some countries of the West, Russia and China managed to secure record growth rates of mutual trade. By the end of the year, it will increase by 25%. Under such a dynamic, we will be able to reach the $200 billion target mark set by us for 2024 ahead of schedule,” Putin said during talks with Chinese President Xi Jinping via video link.

“Despite the unfavorable external environment, illegitimate restrictions, and direct blackmail by some Western countries, Russia and China have managed to ensure record-high growth rates of mutual trade turnover,” Putin said.

China is ready to build up strategic cooperation with Russia and be global partners for the benefit of the peoples of the two countries and in the interests of world stability against the backdrop of a difficult international situation, Chinese President Xi Jinping said.

"In the face of a difficult, far from unambiguous international situation, we are ready to build up strategic cooperation, provide each other with opportunities for development, be global partners for the benefit of the peoples of our countries and in the interests of stability throughout the world," Xi told Russian President Vladimir Putin during a video call, as broadcast by the Russian TV channel.

The leaders of Russia and China earlier set the goal to double bilateral trade, bringing it from $100 billion a year to $200 billion by 2024. The $100 billion mark was reached in 2018.

During Friday’s discussion, Putin told Xi that Moscow wanted to ramp up military cooperation with Beijing and invited him to make a state visit to Russia in the spring of 2023.

Putin is seeking to strengthen ties with Beijing and boost economic cooperation in the face of international condemnation and Western sanctions over his invasion of Ukraine.

Despite developing a tempestuous relationship during the Cold War, China and Russia have drawn progressively closer since the collapse of the Soviet Union and in recent years have acted jointly as a counterweight to the global dominance of the United States in what they term a "no-limits" relationship.

The two countries have also stepped up military cooperation, with China last month sending hundreds of troops to take part in military exercises in Russia's Far East.

Putin Invites Xi to Come to Moscow Next Year

Russian President Vladimir Putin said on Friday he had invited Chinese President Xi Jinping to come to Moscow next year.

"I have no doubt that we will find an opportunity to meet with you in person. We are waiting for you, dear Mr. Chairman, dear friend, we are waiting for you to come next spring with a state visit to Moscow," Putin told Xi during a video call.

This visit will demonstrate to the world the strength of Russian-Chinese ties on key issues and become the main political event of the year in bilateral relations, Putin added.

On December 30, Russian President Vladimir Putin discussed bilateral relations, regional problems, including those near Russian and Chinese borders with Chinese President Xi Jinping via video call.

'Never Been a Number 10 Like Him': World Mourns Death of Brazilian Football Star Pele

Football great Pelé died Thursday at the age of 82 following a long battle with colon cancer. The three-time World Cup champion was hailed for his skill and grace on the pitch, truly embodying the phrase fans know as "o jogo bonito," otherwise known as "the beautiful game".

In the few hours since the death of Pelé was confirmed, thousands of tributes have poured in from football players, fans and politicians from all around the world.

Among the first of notable footballers to send their prayers and tributes to the hailed Santos player were French star Kylian Mbappé, Argentina's Leo Messi, current free agent Cristiano Ronaldo and fellow Brazilian star Neymar.

"A simple goodbye to the eternal King Pele will never be enough to express the pain that hits the entire world of football at this moment. An inspiration for so many millions, a reference of yesterday, today, always," Ronaldo wrote in an Instagram post. "The affection he has always shown for me was reciprocal in every moment we shared, even at distance."

"He will never be forgotten and his memory will last for ever in each and everyone of us football lovers. Rest in peace, King Pele," he added.

In football, there are few numbers that carry the significance that the no.10 jersey does, and with Pelé, the weight that figure carried skyrocketed.

Among the politicos, Pelé gained tributes from former Bolivian President Evo Morales, former US President Barack Obama, US President Joe Biden, Secretary of State Antony Blinken, Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni, FIFA President Gianni Infantino, and former Brazilian President Fernando Henrique Cardoso, who Pelé served under as sports minister.

Pele has died. The most divine of footballers and joyous of men. He played a game only a few chosen ones have come close to. 3 times he lifted the most coveted gold trophy in that beautiful yellow shirt. He may have left us but he’ll always have footballing immortality. RIP Pele

— Gary Lineker 💙💛 (@GaryLineker) December 29, 2022

"Pele is an incontestable symbol of our nation, a source of pride for all of us. Beyond his achievements as a legend of world sport, Pele was an exemplary public officer, loyal to his principles, values and to our country," Cardoso said. "We all lose in his departure.''

The man who stopped a war

Between one and two million people died during Nigerian Civil War from 1967 to 1970. Astonishingly, a 48-hour ceasefire was called between the Nigerian government and the secessionist state of Biafra in 1969 so they could watch Pele and Santos draw 2-2 with the Nigerian Super Eagles, with ‘The King’ receiving incessant applause and a standing ovation from the home fans.

Pele had served since 1994 as “champion for sport” for the United Nations cultural organisation, UNESCO, helping promote physical education across the world.

On Thursday, UNESCO said Pele “worked relentlessly to promote sport as a tool for peace”, adding that he will be greatly missed.

“We are deeply saddened by the passing of Pelé. We extend our condolences to the Brazilian people and the football family,” the organisation said in a tweet.

A giant of the game and the reason so many of us love football. Rest in peace, legend. 👑 @Pele pic.twitter.com/biAlOTnIaT

— Gareth Bale (@GarethBale11) December 29, 2022

“One day, I hope we can play football together in the sky” - Pele’s message after Diego Maradona died in 2020. pic.twitter.com/aE7nZJya9E

— Leo Messi 🔟 (@WeAreMessi) December 29, 2022

The current Brazilian government has hailed the player as "one of the greatest athletes of all time," going on to declare a three-day national mourning period.

Offering his condolences, Brazilian President-elect Lula da Silva Pele commented in a Twitter thread that Pelé "went to make a table in heaven with Coutinho, his great partner at Santos. He now has the company of so many eternal stars: Didi, Garrincha, Nilton Santos, Sócrates, Maradona."

"He left a certainty: there had never been a number 10 like him. Thank you, Pele."

Brazilian media has reported that a wake will be held on Monday in the city of Santos, where Pelé played with Santos FC from 1956 to 1974. A funeral is expected to be held on Tuesday morning following a procession.

Pelé had been diagnosed with a colon tumor in September 2021; however, the following year his health took a turn for the worse after he was treated for three malignant tumors, urinary tract infection, as well as care for general swelling of the body and heart failure. He was ultimately placed on palliative care, with family members in the last several days sharing photos from the hospital of his final days.