It's now being reported that Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging. A few thoughts come to mind:
1) The triumphant tone on the right is misplaced; I'm as big a proponent of the death penalty as anyone, and yet an individual's death is nothing to celebrate. Justice is a very different thing than Vengeance (especially when the executed did no direct harm to you or your family). For those who are believers, justice is not of this world anyway, and thus elation over someone's death doesn't paint you in a very Christian light. If vengeance is the goal then I think there are many brutal things we could do to this genocidal maniac if kept alive. Additionally, how this execution helps reconciliation in Iraq is totally unclear.
2) The defensive tone on the left is equally misplaced; this is one of the most brutal tyrants of the modern era. No, he was not Hitler, Stalin, or Pol Pot -- and yes, he was for a time supported by the United States -- but he committed genocide and mass murder against his own people, and deserves no defending or sympathy whatsoever.
3) Finally, it seems to me that hanging as a method of execution is particularly unnecessary and archaic; there are less tortuous ways of ending a life than this. Yeah, he was a bad man, but for me the difference is between doing justice and seeking vengeance. Leave the latter to the likes of Jack Bauer.
I'll lose my conservative bona fides over this, but may God have mercy on his soul.
Perhaps the most reasonable entry in the annals of Professor Chaos yet written.
I'm wondering who you have in mind with regard to the "defensive tone on the left" though.
Posted by: Professor Peter Von Nostrand at December 29, 2006 11:51 PMVon: you're right, it's about a 5:1 ratio so far, but this one Jerkstore from one of the most promulent "leftist" sites is what I was referencing.
Posted by: Professor Chaos at December 29, 2006 11:58 PMIt is to bad that there is even a left or right on the subject of celebrating a death by execution. The whole affair is a sad and barbaric comment on mankind.
Posted by: The Misanthrope at December 30, 2006 01:06 AMI just think that he should have been put into a chipper feet first ... up to the knees and then pulled out to see the result ... and then put in the rest of the way. What he, and his fucked up sons, did to torture and kill all who dared to challenge him deserves no less.
And his body should be cremated and his ashes spread in an undisclosed ocean so no future nutjobs can worship such depravity.
