The Coalition of the Swilling

Well, he didn't deserve a dignified end. I frankly wouldn't mind if they left his carcass out to rot in the street. The Iraqis have much more 'right' to piss on his body than he has to 'dignity'.

Oh, please. The "NATION" of IRAQ itself needed for him to die in a dignified display of ultimate justice, IF they want to prove they can be any more than the warring factions the world sees them as. A solemn state execution would have gone a long way toward that ~ "This doesn't have anything to do with Shiite or Sunni." ~ but oh no. They turn the death chamber itself into a fucking circus, which seems to be the only thing they're capable of. And for an act of the new 'government' to be perverted by supporters of the single most powerful force AGAINST the government...well, that certainly gives them 'legitimacy', doesn't it?

And the point of fact is they didn't leave his carcass to rot ~ WE took it home to be buried.

If they wanted to hustle him to hang they should also have been responsible for the leftovers when they cut him down.

I agree that he didn't "deserve" a dignified end, but the dignity is for those doing the execution, not the executed.

We know why he is being executed, the trick is to be solemn and serious so that all know that the act of execution is deliberate and reasoned. What they did was more like a mob than a government.

But, anyone who has been to Iraq knows that the government is a joke. This is just more evidence that we failed in our responsibility to erect a just government in Iraq. We have mistaken democracy for freedom. We have ignored the fundamentals that make us free, our constitutionally recognized rights and instead erected a government that doesn't understand freedom of religion, that protects tribalism, that expects grand corruption for family or tribal purposes.

The undignified execution shows that the Iraqi government is juvenile and unsure of its own power. A government confident in its power would not be afraid to be more dignified.

But Saddam deserved much worse.

Mike's use of the word juvenile is correct. The current Iraqi government couldn't even, or didn't want to, keep a small room from becoming a mob atmosphere. I won't weep a single tear for Saddam, for sure. But I watched that video and the way that execution was carried out was shameful. The event should have been solely a statement on the fate of a tyrant. Instead, now it's also a statement on the current Iraqi government. Somebody needs to give Maliki a good hard smack upside his head.

When Saddam Hussein comes out looking like the only adult in the room...

“Moktada,” Mr. Hussein replied, smiling contemptuously. “Is this how real men behave?”

...you know things are royally fucked up.

As for smacking Maliki upside the head? He needs to be more concerned about keeping his, now that this 'representative government' pretense has been exposed for the sham it is. And when his fealty to Sadr runs it's course with the next faction up.

"We have ignored the fundamentals that make us free, our constitutionally recognized rights and instead erected a government that doesn't understand freedom of religion, that protects tribalism, that expects grand corruption for family or tribal purposes."

We have also ignored the culture that makes us free, because to say that ME or Iraqi culture will not support democracy is to be labeled racist. But democracy can only exist with a given set of cultural norms that are lacking in the ME. (They're lacking in Russia, too, BTW, and I predicted a slide back into dictatorship over there all the way back in 1990).

Hell, go back 600 years, and democracy could not have existed in most of Europe, either. But in the last 60 years places like India got with it enough to have a semi-functioning democracy, while no state in the ME has - excluding Israel, which is just a piece of Europe that broke off and floated down.

The atmosphere at the execution was not appropriate. Unfortunately, the Iraqi government is shaping up to be like other ME governments (excepting Israel, of course), and this execution shows just where the problems really start at. Looks like this is the point where we clamp down on those idiots, or their mask comes off entirely.

OTOH, wishing for a rational world court to have sentenced Hussein (it being that we all agree that Hussein was guilty of multiple capital crimes) is is worth the price of a cup of coffee, if you happen to have a dollar bill available.

There was no other way of dealing with Hussein, short of building a time machine to go back and toss a grenade in that spiderhole before he came out.

Hussein is dead, that's what the world needed, and it wasn't going to happen any other way under the circumstances as they stand today.

The real question: what happens next?

Wow. You mean we can't control Iraqi behavior? Well, heck, that changes everything! I was told that invading Iraq would immediately teach those uncivilized barbarians how to comport themselves like real Americans! For instance, everyone knows that is the proper way to act at executions. Where were the signs? Where were the people brandishing toy nooses?

Decorum is just so important at events like these. It's truly sad that the only grownup at the hanging party was the hangee. Oh wait, actually it's truly sad that you are actually saying that. Good grief.

Silly girl, the 'tiny nooses' were right where they are supposed to be (from your links)...

"[Bundy]A crowd gathered outside the prison walls"

and

"...were outside the prison in Terre Haute as Timothy McVeigh died."

...see? And carried by people pro and con, willie nillie, NOT by the executioners themselves! Nor were there any tiny nooses or syringes IN the execution chamber, pressed up against the plate glass so the fellow on the gurney could see them. You can dance yourself a jig or cry yourself silly, or even boo him on his perp walk OUTSIDE. That's expressing your opinion and DEMOCRACY. You'll also notice that none of the opposing parties attempted to kill each other while OUTSIDE. (Another 'sad', fundamental difference 'twixt them and us.)

If decorum is important for the death of a mere serial killer, just imagine how much more so for an enemy of the state.

::sigh:: Or don't.