Judicial murder is just that, whoever is handing out the sentence.

The fact is, the US is involved in this trial right up to it's hairy little nuts.

We now know that Donald Rumsfeld, the hawkish, squinting playground bully of GWB's gang offered Saddam the chance to avoid trial if the went on TV and asked all his buddies to stop fighting and make life easier for US forces occupying Iraq. Unsuprisingly, Saddam refused and the trial was allowed to go ahead by the US. Although the exact details of this story are vague, it is clear some sort of deal was being brokered by the US with various insurgent factions to arrange a ceasefire and allow Saddam leniency when sentenced - which doesn't give much credence to the notion of an independent Iraqi court putting Saddam on trial.

Of course, the fact the sentence was passed a couple of days before important elections in the US is just coincidence. The fact the television feed is supplied by a US contractor who routinely edits the sound and video means nothing.

The real problem here is the people in charge (the US) always wanted to execute Saddam, and so that's what was always going to happen. Unfortuately, as we know the US's own record on the death penalty is somewhat marked by the fact they have killed minors and mentally ill people in their own execution chambers previously and that GWB himself killed many people whilst Govenor of Texas - no case there for moral leadership then.