Americablog's Chris in Paris has this to say about Saddam Hussein's apparently immanent execution:
I have little sympathy for Saddam but I still struggle with the fact that he is being executed for killing 148 people considering the hundreds of thousands who have been killed since the invasion.
He's got a point. I don't think Saddam should be allowed to go off and live a comfortable retirement in some South American country, but I'm also not terribly happy at the thought of hanging him, especially considering his somewhat bizzare trial and the ongoing slaughter zone that is Iraq since we took him out of power. I'm not a person who feels that the death penalty is immoral and should never be used, by a long shot, but this makes me profoundly uncomfortable. Something is not right about this end to Saddam Hussein's story.
There's another quote that's been hanging around in my mind since reports started to circulate that Saddam's death was nearing (reports currently circulating seem to indicate that he will be dead before the New Year):
Many that live deserve death. And some that die deserve life. Can you give it to them? Then do not be too eager to deal out death in judgment. For even the very wise cannot see all ends.
That's JRR Tolkien (Gandalf speaking to Frodo), if you don't recognize it.
Update 12:20PM: Just wanted to add: why is is that Osama Bin Laden is still at large but we're hanging Hussein?
Oh right, that's a 'Success that hasn't occurred yet'.
Update #2 6:15PM: Everyone else seems to be linking to Josh Marhsall's post on this topic, so why not me too.
I feel like a ghoul -- I want to turn the TV on, and I don't, both at the same time. I'm also tempted to have a good stiff drink, but I don't want to seem like I'm even remotely celebrating, becasue I am not.
