So Long Saddam

George W Bush said that bringing Saddam to justice was a big step toward Iraqi democracy. I think the Iraqis in general might have been happier if his death had been a giant step toward dependable air-conditioning. Is it wrong to be a little conflicted about the execution of Saddam Hussein?

Don't get me wrong, I am sure the world is on balance a better place with him, but is dead so much different than imprisoned forever? Or for that matter, might it actually have been more appropriate to sentence him to a lifetime of community service? Give him one of those orange jumpsuits and a broom and have him spend the rest of his life helping to clean up the mess he contributed to.

In some way, I just wish that if it had been a foregone conclusion that he was going to be put to death that perhaps we shoulda just capped him right when we found him - shot while trying to escape as it were.

If you will.

So to speak.

Oh, no you didn't.

I'll tell you what. Seems to me that we will now forever be painted as the western, foriegn, infidel devils who came to Iraq, set up a kangaroo court, and then killed Saddam. Why go through the trouble if we were going to let him die in the first place. Wouldn't have been cheaper just to drop a grenade down the spider hole?

I know that isn't the way it happened. I know it is an Iraqi court (but the Jews didn't kill Jesus either, how's their press on that?). I know that there are Iraqi feelings to be salved by having a trial, and Iraqi spirits to be fed by his death. But I do wonder what the metric is, and how the scores came down on trail versus found dead.

Actually, I think were I running the US government, I would have dissappeared him. Think of how much mileage there would be in saying that Saddam and Osama were in hiding together planning the use of the WMDs he'd spirited out of Iraq before the US invasion. There's enough smoke there to get most US citizens to be ok with an invasion of just about anywhere.

Not that the current administration feels any responsibility to the US Citizenry.

So Saddam Hussein is dead. He won't return to power, ever. We're safe from that, and the Iraqis are safe from that. But for all the achievement of the capture, trial, and execution we are still at war, the Iraqi Sunnis, Shiites, and Kurds are still at impasse, Al Queda is still functioning, and gas is still $70/barrel. Forgive me if I don't jump for joy.