Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead (29 Dec 2006)

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:26 PM

I could point out that those who taught the Americans how to deal with Indians, Africans, and others were English, Spanish, French, German, Dutch...but I won't. There were some awfully good teachers, though.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:23 PM

I iz felin grate.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Peace
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:20 PM

It's a pittieable/pitiabil/pityabil/sorry person who can only find one way to spell a word.

How the heck are you Ron?

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 04:17 PM

Hey Slag, you can spell "historically" any way you want. Somehow, I think you will anyway.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Slag
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 03:57 PM

Great post Amos! It may also be pointed out that obviously the US government has done precious little to help the American Indians and will continue to not help the American Indians. And of course, historically (is that one "l" or two Ron?) they sought to annihilate and dispossess them. So it now remains: what are the "have" Indians doing to help their own "have-not" Indians??

"What matters is if the Shiite government now feels it is freer to make concessions to Sunnis--like more meaningful action in purging Shiite militias from the police---an absolutely essential step in ending violence in Iraq." I'm, I'm feeling faint! I,I agree with you Ron! I'd better re-read that. Nope. It's true. I agree with you!

Aside from personal opinion and strong emotions there are certain inevitabilities and eventuations that happen in communities. See my little thread "When Big Things Move...". There will always be people hurt and trampled and rights violated in big complex organisms. "Fearless Leader" may become the focal point of hatred or praise through no fault of her/his own or they may wholely deserve the prevailing popular sentiment but one thing is certain: they are never going to please everyone and the spectrum of that sentiment is from extreem to extreem. A wise leader tries to keep the extreems to a minimum and maximize the center of the "bell". Such is politics.

But the populace can also be manipulated by other entities such as the press and other media, foreign interests, external enemies, etc. It's quite a game. I would guess that 99% of the world's population would like to live a quiet and peacable life. I know I would. Infact, I would call that "table stakes". Some ante. And we're in the game whether we like it or not.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Tom Hamilton frae Saltcoats Scotland
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 03:00 PM

I was talking about America's past.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 02:55 PM

Thanks, Amos. That made me smile and I needed that.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Amos
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 02:34 PM

Azizi:

There was a panel from different tribes formed some time ago top meet and discuss some common issues, and the panel members were representative of all the major tribal groups. Some WASP wanted them to speak to the question of what they preferred to be called. Every single one said they preferred to be called by their tribal names (Hopis, Cherokee, etc.) and if that were not known, to be called "Indians" which is how they refer to their own when the tribe is not known. Every single one said the last thing they wanted ot be called was indigenous.

To wrap up the discussion, one of the elders said, "Let us just be grateful that Columbus did not think he had arrived at the Virgin Islands."

A

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 02:29 PM

It makes no difference if we feel that Saddam's death "diminishes me". Sorry, John Donne doesn't fit here.

What matters is if the Shiite government now feels it is freer to make concessions to Sunnis--like more meaningful action in purging Shiite militias from the police---an absolutely essential step in ending violence in Iraq.

Maybe the government will feel freer to to do this, maybe not. But clearly the danger of any coup to re-install Saddam is now gone. So the government should in fact do it. I would think that even Sadr's people should now feel less threatened than before.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Jeremiah McCaw
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 02:28 PM

JennyO understood the reference (thank you); I would have thought any reasonably educated person would have.

As for who I think I am - I think I'm just one person with one opinion. Oh, and one not afraid to have my name associated with the words I speak, "Guest".

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 02:06 PM

In the UK the news coverage on the execution has included somewhere at least in each report that saddam was supplied weapons by the West and reports have also been clear to point out he did not have wmds, he did not have anything to do with 9/11, he did not have connection with al quaedi (?). The reports have not underplayed the attrocities he was connected to but neither have they sugar coated the truth.

I agree with the poster who remarked on the dignity he showed, and the reference to the 'mini cab' drivers would normally have raised a chuckle. Very astute.

One side effect of todays debacle will be to further lower the worlds opinion of the US. If that is possible.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 01:45 PM

This is off topic but since it was mentioned:

" 'A National Disgrace'
Half a millennium after Columbus misnamed them, American Indians are the poorest people in the United States.

The country's 2.1 million Indians, about 400,000 of whom live on reservations, have the highest rates of poverty, unemployment and disease of any ethnic group in America. That might surprise Americans who have consumed countless cheery feature stories about Indians making big bucks on casino gambling. Some tribes -- like the Mashantucket Pequots of Connecticut, who own Foxwoods, the country's largest casino -- have indeed gotten very rich. But less than a quarter of America's 557 Indian tribes own casinos, and only 48 tribes earn more than $10 million a year on gaming. Far more typical than Foxwoods is Prairie Wind, the casino on the Pine Ridge reservation -- a gambling hall made of three trailers, located far from any urban market, earning barely $1 million a year for the Oglala Sioux."

http://www.emayzine.com/lectures/indian.htm


-snip-
Although this was Washington Post article was written in Feb 1997, I doubt if things has changed that much in 10 years...

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST,Genie (Wha hoppen ma cookie?)
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 01:38 PM

Shimrod took the words out of my mouth: "Unfortunately, I suspect that Saddam's death has very little to do with justice (although I believe that he richly deserved to die).   I think that he was swiftly dispatched because he knew too much and because he was a puppet of external forces who had outlived his usefulness."

There have been reports that Saddam was offering to spill the beans on his connections to GHW Bush et al.   Can't have that, can we?

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: alanabit
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 01:31 PM

You are completely right Kendall. I like the Bhuddist attitude, which is that mean and spiteful treatment of others can only damage yourself. I get angry for sure about bastards like Saddam and Pinochet. I can also see them for the pathetic worms, which they are. The worst thing that could happen to me, is that I could become like them. That is one reason I will never condone pulling a helpless person out of a cell and putting them to death.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: kendall
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 01:14 PM

If someone does me dirt and moves on,then I forgive him/her, he/she neither knows or cares. It's about me, not them. I can choose to stew in my own resentment but it won't do either of us any good.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 01:01 PM

Tom, there are few (if any) Indians being tortured in the US at this moment. For one thing, they have too much casino money....

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Slag
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 12:59 PM

I don't quite agree with your definition of "forgive" kendall. I do agree the you can forgive without condoning the act or behavior. And yes, forgiveness will set the forgiver free but it also sets the forgiven free. I think of Jean Paul Jean in "les Mesirables" and what a picture of grace that it gives us. If the one who obtains mercy, that is to say, forgivence, learns the same, then the moral mission of forgivence is complete. If he doesn't learn, he is still free. Did Barabbas go right?

I'm reminded of the condemned man who stood before his judge and pleaded for mercy. The judge said "You don't deserve mercy!" to which the condemned man answered "Sir, if I deserved it, it would not be mercy."

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: kendall
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 12:38 PM

Many people I have met do not really understand the meaning of forgive. It does NOT mean that you condone what the bastard did, it only means that you will not allow them to influence the rest of your life. To carry a grudge to the gave only hurts yourself.
Ron, I still don't see what difference it makes to me which way he went. I don't see execution as the best way to deal with these rats. Rudolph Hess lived as a nothing, from Deputy Fuehrer to a nobody who died after a long life, in prison.Saddam died instantly. Who suffered the most?

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Slag
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 12:37 PM

Ah, that we should all live by the poet's creed. It's amazing how you can take some mediocre lyrics and add some well written and performed music and they don't sound half bad. Or you can take great lyrics and dress up some ordinary music and that doesn't sound half bad either. Well, Donne's words make for fine poetry and it expresses a fine and noble "general" sentiment with which most of us (myself included) concur.

However, if you shoot an intruder who is about to do you or your family harm, how does that diminish you? I'd say that enhances your life just a little, wouldn't you? Remember "Ding Dong, the Witch is Dead"? Which old witch? The Wicked Witch! Well, Ding Dong the Butcher of Baghdad is dead too!

If you define death as an absolute evil, then no one can argue with you, by your definition. But if your honest, you would have to admit that there are necessary evils.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Sorcha
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 12:14 PM

And we did get pictures. I was physically ill. What a farcial sham. Postcards will be next.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST,Cruz
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 12:10 PM

Good point Chris B

"The whole thing gave Saddam an air of dignity that he never possessed or deserved in life."


I would have to agree with the executioners wearing masks was cowardly. The judges and lawyers who risked their life did not hide behind masks.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Bill D
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 11:50 AM

I can neither mourn nor exult .....but the phrase that popped into my head was:

"Even as Ye sow, so shall Ye reap."

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Tom Hamilton frae Saltcoats Scotland
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 11:47 AM

Ps.
I'm sorry for upesetting some people.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: number 6
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 11:44 AM

Tom ... And that's is why the execution of Saddam doesn't make the world a better place to live. His execution will in all probability just give birth to a few more despots.

biLL

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Tom Hamilton frae Saltcoats Scotland
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 11:40 AM

Some people will make him a martyr now.

I agree he was an evil man but so is bush and blair they to are evil, because look at the people the americans prosecuted and tortured, the idians, the blacks, the jews... etc. the lists goes on but mind you so does every other country I mean all you need to do is look at the history of countries.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: katlaughing
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 11:16 AM

I agree with you, Georgiansilver, and you, Rapaire. I don't think killing him will remedy anything.

Whether the figure of how many Iraqis have died is substantiated or not, we DO know that more American soldiers have now died in Iraq than people were killed in 9-11.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Charley Noble
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 10:29 AM

And then what Kendall said...

Oddly enough the British didn't execute Napoleon when they had him in custody. They sent him off to exile under heavy guard to the Isle of St. Helena in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Maybe it would have been better to have exiled Saddam to Antarctica, but then there would be those cute penguins to worry about.

Charley Noble

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: number 6
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 10:18 AM

I dunno .... now that has all been done .... the world still is not peaceful, or just ... but he still had to pay the piper I guess.

What does come to my mind and I find repulsive (over all this event in the last few hours) is the post from Guest, gleaner ....

"They're selling postcards of the hanging..." by Bob Dylan comes to mind. Internet profiteers and sensationalists will act similarly."

unfortunately this is so true.

biLL

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST,ifor
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 10:14 AM

Reply to Teribus

To go back to the thousands of Iraqi documents handed over to the UN but confiscated by the US .They were grabbed within hours of being delivered and their contents are still not publicly known.
We do know however that the US was an important and major backer of Saddam throughout those long years when he was terrorising the Iraqi people.

It is also true that the US, through the CIA, worked to bring the Baathists to power an act which began the long nightmare for the Iraqi people.For an informed view of the links between the US and Saddam read Robert Fisk's article in todays Independent newspaper.
ifor

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Azizi
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 10:08 AM

What Peace said and what Jenny O said and what JTT said and what Zany Mouse said and what Shimrod said and what Rapaire said and what Wolfgang said and what Ron Davis said...

in other words I'm really conflicted about this.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 09:31 AM

Lots of times I wish I was an extraterrestrial observer...

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:30 AM

Kendall--you are better off with Saddam dead. Now there is no chance for any kind of Baathist coup with the aim of putting him back into power. Without him, the real concerns of Sunnis can be addressed--and just maybe, the carnage on Iraqi streets can lessen--which would lessen the success of terrorism--the terrorism sparked by Bush's criminally stupid invasion.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:25 AM

To a dispassionate extra-terrestrial observer the human race must appear very strange. Every so often there appears in their midst a cruel monster who murders thousands, occasionally millions, of them. then, when it appears that the monster is about to be brought to justice, thousands of humans leap to the monster's defence! They are very good at finding reasons for excusing the monster or letting him off the hook:

- Other powerful humans invoke geopolitical expediency for defending the brute. Often, it turns out, the monster could not have committed his crimes without their help and support in the first place.

- Others appear to endorse the concept of a 'strong leader'; I recall that many Russians wept genuine tears of grief on hearing of Stalin's death, even though he may have tortured and imprisoned them and even slaughtered members of their families.

- Others piously intone that "the death penalty is wrong" and even suggest that we should 'forgive' the monster for his crimes. I note, though, that they seldom ask the surviving victims of the monster's cruelty what they think ...

I think that our hypothetical observer would speculate that one of these monsters would eventually succeed in wiping out all of the human race and that that race had an inbuilt flaw, a blindness towards such large scale criminality and barbarity, which would eventually make such an outcome inevitable.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: kendall
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:17 AM

"I didn't get an invitation to the funeral, but I sent a letter of approval." (Mark Twain)

Ok, question. Saddam has lost his life by execution. Am I better off?
What if he had been treated like Rudolph Hess and died in prison? Would I be better off?

Killing him freed him. Imagine going from supreme ruler with the authority to decide who lives and who dies to nothing but a prisoner with no power of any kind. Wouldn't that be more punishment? It sure as hell would for me!

Beware of the person in whom the need to punish is strong.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Rapparee
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:10 AM

"...every man's death diminishes me..."

That includes the poor homeless guy who froze to death, Saddam Hussein, John Lennon, the most recent casualty in Afghanistan, my friend Jack's mother (who died quietly, surrounded by her family, on December 28), and everyone else.

The bell does NOT toll only for the executed, or the victims of AIDS, or those killed in war.

"Every" means "Every."

I need not mourn his passing, but "every man's death diminishes me."

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Teribus
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:07 AM

Chris B, it has always been the case that the executioners face is masked.

My response to Ifor:

"You need to find out a lot more about how Saddam came to power and how he was maintained in power with the massive support of the USA and other states including those you have named."

Again you trot out this baseless rhetoric that is completely untrue. Saddam Hussein came to power in 1979 as a result of an internal Ba'athist coup. The massive support given by the USA must have been particularly unique for that particular period in time, seeing as the US ceased to have any diplomatic links with Iraq in 1967 as a result of the "six day war".

"When Saddam handed over to the UN some 11000 documents relating to arm sales and other military matters just prior to the 2003 invasion the US confiscated the bulk of the documents as they were highly embarassing to the US and big business interests."

Sorry to point out the obvious Ifor but you did say that Iraq handed over documents to the UN didn't you? So they then must have read the whole thing in it's unabridged version. What was blanked out did not represent "the bulk" of anything, in fact most of it was leaked to the press anyway.

"You jeer at the anti war movement calling it "twaddle" but there were millions who marched to oppose the invasion of Iraq and the war has been a disaster for Iraq,the region and much more."

Again pointing out the obvious Ifor, while, "....there were millions who marched to oppose the invasion of Iraq" There were many more millions who didn't.

"Over 600000 Iraqis have been killed"

This figure is based on absolutely nothing, which seems to be a theme of most of your arguements - baseless unfounded crap - If you are going to attempt to argue a point using figures at least make some attempt to get them roughly correct.

"Bush and Blair are still to be impeached."

By whom and for what? Will the charges be laid based on hard and fast evidence - or your version - pure fabrication.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Ron Davies
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:06 AM

Saddam had to die. It's good he's gone. I've said for months that when he was captured I would have immediately turned him over to the Kurds. Not only was he a vicious tyrant but as long as he was alive he was the potential focus of a Baathist coup. NB, Baathist, not Sunni. There is a big difference. The important thing is to recognize the stupidity and unhelpfulness of attitudes like that of Teribus, who for months lumped all Sunnis together with Saddam, even going so far at one point as to claim that all Iraqi Sunnis were the equivalent of hard-core Nazis in 1945.

By far more important than Saddam's death is what I've been saying for over a year--Iraqi Sunnis need to know 1) they can trust Iraqi police and 2) they will be guaranteed more oil income than would accrue to them from "Sunni" areas of Iraq.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Wolfgang
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 08:00 AM

'hanging is too good for him' applies here.

Secondly he will be seen as a martyr (Zany Mouse)

That is in a nutshell what I consider one often read wrong argument in this case. If on the one hand life imprisonment is seen as the worse punishment (In comparison to a quick death) why then should he only become a martyr when killed quickly?

Of course he would perceived being a martyr even with life imprisonment. My fantasy sees him in hunger strike against (real or imagined or, most likely, for propaganda purposes invented) mistreatment. Hugh demonstrations would plead for his release (in particulr, when he gets visibly older). People would be abducted with the demand of his release in exchange. The videos of the decapitations would be available in the net. Human Rights Watch would write articles about how he suffers (being propaganda fed by followers). Etc.

I consider the martyr argument as wrong, also from our experience. The German Neonazis rallied for the freedom of Hess who served a life sentence. The already dead Nazi leaders were mostly forgotten but a campaign for the release of a more than 90 year old men after decades of solitary confinement made some impression. Even his death had some propaganda value as "murder by the state". Who do you guess gets fresh flowers on his grave at his birthday? Hess, of course.

Wolfgang

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST,JTT
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 07:23 AM

Zany Mouse, you're not out of step with the rest of humanity, though you may be out of step with Americans.

For most of humanity, I suspect, the farcical trial - with defence lawyers being assassinated, the judge replaced if he didn't appear prejudiced enough, the defendants dragged out of court if they tried to shout their own defence, and into court if they decided to boycott the court - did no credit to the 'Iraqi' government.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST,Chris B (Born Again Scouser)
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:59 AM

They showed an excerpt from the TV broadcast of the execution this morning on the BBC. Saddam was calm and composed in a dark suit and his executioners wore skimasks. Could they not in the whole of Iraq have found half a dozen men with the balls to show their faces while they executed another human being? As far as it being an official execution sanctioned by the state, the executioners wore bomber jackets and cheap trousers instead of uniforms. The overall impression was that of a schoolmaster being executed by cowardly minicab drivers.

A sad, tawdry, sordid spectacle. The whole thing gave Saddam an air of dignity that he never possessed or deserved in life.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Zany Mouse
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:46 AM

I know I'm probably out of step with the rest of humanity here but I am SORRY he was executed!

My reason? Apart from my own feelings that execution is murder and no person/government/court has that right, I think he should have been made to suffer for his natural span. The old expression of 'hanging is too good for him' applies here.

Secondly he will be seen as a martyr by some (sunnis for example) rather than a murderer etc.

Finally, and probably the most important of all, reprisals will be terrible. I doubt there will ever be peace on this part of the planet anyway, but the next period of its history will be dreadful indeed.

Rhiannon

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:12 AM

OK, you read it differently to me, Jenny O.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: JennyO
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:09 AM

Because of this, GUEST:

"Any man's death diminishes me, because I am involved in Mankind; And therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee." -- John Donne

Bearing this in mind, I think many of us are torn when it comes to brutes like Saddam Hussein, hence Jeremiah McCaw's comment that he felt "curiously undiminished". That would be my guess as to what he meant.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: Folk Form # 1
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 06:08 AM

George Galloway will be Inconsolable.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: freda underhill
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:57 AM

in a former position i interview hundreds of refugees from iraq - some of whom were torture survivors.

I thought I was against the death penalty. But I have realised I'm not any more, because I think Saddam Hussein should die. He is responsible for the torture, sexual degradation, mutilation, pain, humiliation and extermination of tens of thousands of people. Those who have survived will not be able to relax until he's gone - because he is so wiley, so powerful that if he were to remain alive in captivity, he would surely bribe or influence his way to an escape. I'm glad he's gone.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:50 AM

Sorry Jeeny O. Perhaps you can explain to me why someone finding their life diminished or otherwise should be considered to be a measure of approval or dissapproval for the death penalty?

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: JennyO
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:46 AM

GUEST,Shimrod, I agree. Unfortunately we will probably never know because they are covering their tracks carefully.

As for the anonymous GUEST who said "...who the fuck you think you are." - that's the best laugh I've had all day!

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: MBSLynne
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:44 AM

I agree with both Peace and, until the last post, Guest.

I cannot under any circumstances condone the death penalty for anyone, no matter what they've done. What gives us the right to kill any more than them? But I'm not sad he's no longer in this world

LoveLynne

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST,Shimrod
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:40 AM

It's so rare that an evil butcher actually gets his just desserts - usually they get away with it. It seems that the magnitude of the crimes committed are inversely proportional to the chances of receiving justice. If you kill one person there is a fair chance of, at least, spending a considerable amount of time in prison, or of being executed (depends on where in the world you commit the crime). Kill thousands, or 'better' yet, millions and there's a pretty good chance of dying of natural causes - in your own bed (or possibly hospital?) if you're Pinochet or a comfortable cell in the Hague if you're Milosevic.

Unfortunately, I suspect that Saddam's death has very little to do with justice (although I believe that he richly deserved to die). I think that he was swiftly despatched because he knew too much and because he was a puppet of external forces who had outlived his usefulness.

Subject: RE: Obit: Saddam Hussein Dead
From: GUEST
Date: 30 Dec 06 - 05:33 AM

In fact, JMc. The idea that your life being diminished or otherwise is a measure of whether someone should be put to death or not only leads me to wonder who the fuck you think you are.