David, Thanks for one of the better discussions I have seen on this subject. While I agree that the execution was not conducted as we would have liked, this was much better than what happened to Mussolini. And I would be hard pressed to say that what happened to Benito was unjust… Accepting your premise that we are better than that, we often seem to forget what it took to bring us to this point. Often it seems proper to judge people not some much on where they are, but how far they have come. As flawed as the process may have been, in my view it is a long way from where they were. Is there a long way to go? Absolutely, and while I sometimes despair at the apparent length of that journey, I am none the less hopeful that indeed, progress is being made.

The situation in Iraq has only one foundation for its brutality.Muhammad. When the world wakes up to what is causing the death and violence sprouting from this part of earth, then maybe it can be slowed.

Are we as a culture more bothered by the fact that it was brutal or the fact that we had to see it? Brutal, torturous murder is going on every day – it’s just not circulating on YouTube. From diamond mines in Africa to the sectarian killing in Iraq it’s not a new thing – And then there’s that partial birth abortio…oh wait a little close to home with that one, aren’t we?

It didn’t bother me at all that Saddam had to endure a few minutes of undignified taunting while he waited to die. That was mere peanuts in comparison to the suffering he’s inflicted on others. It bothered me greatly though that the government our troops are dying for carried out a blantantly sectarian lynching. And it REALLY bothers me that because of this fiasco even more of our young people will die through Sunni retaliations.

There was hope I’m sure that his death and even the pictures send everywhere would somehow quell he violence – would somehow relieve the need for vengeance that echoes in the religious world. The far right fundamentalists – Christian, Islam, Jew, Hindu – all of them are quite similar – they want certainty, they believe in the myth of redemptive violence – that one last act of violence will somehow bring peace. We are not so far from such violence in this country. Video games and books instill the thirst for religious violence even among Christians. There was one last act – it occurred 2000 years ago. We just don’t understand it yet. The sin of the world is the need to be correct, to be right and then the willingness to kill for it. Jesus died at the hands of Rome and the collusion of his own people. Neither could have done it alone without significant violence. However, there was no relief for the powers and principalities with the death of Jesus. He overcame death. There was just the human condition left – lurking violence, simmering resentments, the desire for power over others – all the things Jesus did not need. Jesus created no victims, needed no enemies. We have not yet learned the lesson taught. We are reminded at times. Even in the violent death of a murderer, we begin to see the uselessness of such things. For it is useless to kill Saddam. If you recall, God does not ask for sacrifice but for mercy.

This is what New Testament scholar Walter Wink refers to as the “myth of redemptive violence.” Jesus’ Sermon’s in Matthew and Luke expose this myth very well and offer a new, called reconciliation. The apostle Paul calls the gospel a gospel of reconciliation. No question this man was evil. Jesus’ teachings are clear violence repaide with violence begets violence…evil for evil begets evil! Or Derek Webb (www.derekwebb.com) says “It’s like telling someone murder is wrong and then showing them by execution…Peace by way of war is like purity by way of fornication.”