Dead Saddam

Well, he certainly had it coming. I can't pity him. Though I'm generally opposed to the death penalty, there was absolutely no doubt of his guilt, nor of the enormity of his crimes. The Catholic Church teaches that the death penalty is permissible if there are no bloodless ways of protecting society from the criminal. Given Saddam's notoriety, one doubts that anything short of execution would have been sufficient to protect Iraqi society from his living presence (though it should be noted that the Vatican denounced the execution)tnr.. I remember reading lots of accounts of ordinary Iraqis being terrified, even after Saddam's capture, that he would return. The monster is now dead.

If being opposed to the death penalty but blase about the hanging of Saddam makes me a hypocrite, that's a hypocristy I can live with. I think Marty Peretz, in successive posts has some apt words from the prissiness of the Vatican, the UN and others, showing such concerns about Saddam's execution.

That said, it is cruelly poignant to reflect on the abused child who grew up to become one of the 20th century's most infamous mass murderers. Read this long post. As the poet wrote, "Man hands on misery to man..."