Politics on Trial: The Trial and Execution of Saddam Hussein

Past Present Future

D&HR Media Ltd

History, Politics, News, Society & Culture, Philosophy

4.7 • 747 Ratings

🗓️ 21 January 2026

⏱️ 58 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

For the final episode in this series David talks to historian and political scientist Glen Rangwala about the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein in 2006. What plans did the Americans have for Saddam before the Iraq war began? How was it decided what to charge him with once he had been captured? Did his trial exacerbate rather than overcome the sectarian divisions tearing Iraq apart? Was justice served? Part 2 of this conversation, in which David and Glen discuss the circumstances of Saddam’s execution and the legacy of his fate for the politics of Iraq and the wider world, is available tomorrow on PPF+. To get this and all our bonus episodes plus ad-free listening sign up to PPF+ now https://www.ppfideas.com/join-ppf-plus Next time: Talking Geopolitics with Helen Thompson – The Weirdness of American Power Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Abby's just woken up. It's 731 and she's forgotten to ring the doctor. There's no point ringing now. She needs to get to work. But she's not worried. She's got an HSBC Premier bank account with access to digital GP appointments plus two second opinions a year should she need them. Everything's Premier when your bank account is. Search HSBC Premier. HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity.
0:22.6	The doctor will see you now.
0:24.7	Apply with £100,000 annual income or £100,000 savings or investments with HSBC UK or Premier status abroad.
0:30.3	Sanjeeves just received a decent bonus.
0:32.5	Nice work, Sanjeeve.
0:33.7	He knows he could invest all of the money, but he's seen a new watch he likes.
0:37.1	He's not worried. With his HSBC Premier bank account and access to their financial advice service, he can get a personalised plan for the future and know how much you can spend a day. Everything's Premier when your bank account is. Search HSBC Premier. HSBC UK, opening up a world of opportunity. For financial advice, you need minimum £100,000.
0:55.7	Other criteria and fees apply.
0:57.1	Financial and other eligibility criteria apply for HSBC Premier.
1:09.4	Hello, my name's David Runciman and this is past-present future, the History of Ideas podcast.
1:15.6	Today, we've reached the final trial in our series, Politics on Trial, though I will be coming back
1:22.0	later in the year to talk about some ongoing legal proceedings around the world. There is a lot
1:26.5	going on. Today I'm talking to
1:28.7	the historian and political scientist Glenn Ranguala, who was very involved in interrogating,
1:35.6	in fact in dismantling the case that the British government made for the Iraq war in 2003.
1:42.6	And we are going to be talking about the trial that followed that war,
1:47.1	the trial of Saddam Hussein.
1:53.7	Glenn, I think we're going to need to start with some background and context, and I realize
1:59.6	this is a difficult question to answer because it's about
2:02.2	going back to the mindset of the people who were prosecuting this war in advance. But do you
2:08.2	have any idea of what particularly the Bush administration thought was going to happen to
2:14.9	Saddam after this war? If they were assuming, and I think they must
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from D&HR Media Ltd, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of D&HR Media Ltd and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.