2nd January 2007, 9:18 PM
Capital punishment is always wrong, so I was not happy to see this (happen, I mean; I didn't watch the video, though I saw a picture from it in the paper)... while it is true that he did innumerable horrible things, that doesn't make it right to kill him. Jail for life? Sure. But execution... it's just not right. Even for someone like Saddaam.
(oh, and as for the political ramifications, this will do nothing but make the insurgency worse, given that a significant part of the cause of the insurgency is the fact that the Sunnis don't want to lose the power they held while Saddaam was in control... this will just make things worse. It's obvious that he was railroaded to execution by the vindictive Shi'ite government (as that video makes blindingly clear), and we are already seeing the results... even more angry Sunnis. Yes, things in Iraq CAN get worse...)
(oh, and as for the political ramifications, this will do nothing but make the insurgency worse, given that a significant part of the cause of the insurgency is the fact that the Sunnis don't want to lose the power they held while Saddaam was in control... this will just make things worse. It's obvious that he was railroaded to execution by the vindictive Shi'ite government (as that video makes blindingly clear), and we are already seeing the results... even more angry Sunnis. Yes, things in Iraq CAN get worse...)