Please spare me any more footage of Texas justice system. Whether it is carried out in Crawford, or Baghdad, a lynching is a lynching in Iraq as much as it is in Texas.

With the crappy MSNBC ads jumping, dancing, and flashing all over, my poor computer with a dialup connection can only load the first one or two letters on each page. Please test the effects of your ads on a computer with a dialup connection before adopting an ad format. Thanks.

Since when do we allow public executions?

I am gobsmacked that this has been televised.

futhark: It's not just dialup, I'm on a dsl line and I have the same problem, only about half the page seems to load.

To Salon: I've read complaints about the MSNBC ads for several days now in the comments section, is it impossible to do anything about this problem? Or do we just have to wait until MSNBC decides to discontinue the ads? Does anyone at Salon even read the comments?

To MSNBC: Frankly these annoying and garish ads make me *less* likely to watch MSNBC since they are so aggravating.

Some quick comments that come to mind, inarticulatedly,

1. The execution summary, from the NYT and WP:

a. Iraqi front men (witnesses?) were advised to stand by to be called at whatever hour.

b. Transported by US helos to US base

c. To gallows, etc.

d. Homework, to be turned in on the back of an envelope

i. Who built the gallows, had them ready, when? (Carpentry, pulley, hinging and knotting expertise)

ii. Who gassed up and coordinated the helicopter flights? Assume some AA protection required.

iii. How frequently are people hung indoors in the middle of the night?

iv. Was this an American or Iraqi operation?

2. Gassing of the Kurds. Bandar, a Saddam associate, is on trial and on the final straight to the gallows for this. Rummy's role could/should have been brought out there.

3. Kuwait, ancient history. Inadvertently or negligently, the US gave Saddam the green light. To wit:

a. Satellite surveillance, missed an army amassed and ready to pounce? Not a peep.

b. US lady ambassador, meets w Saddam the day before the invasion, roughly stating that Iraq-Kuwait matters are their own and not US concern.

c. Day after the invasion. Bush-dad on ABC states, again roughly, that this is not our problem. (Aside, I watched this on a satellite feed which continued after the short statement, and Bush made a joke about someone hiding behind a Bush, like a Quayle)

Saddam got better than he deserved, and better than he gave, but this is just another joke in a cheap, criminal, farce.

I have been opposed to capitol punishment as long as I can remember, but I am also swayed by the sentiment expressed in the simple phrase "Death to tyrants!" Hussain was clearly in the same club with Pol Pot, Amin, Hitler, Stalin, Mao and other mass murderers. His regime was as cruel and repressive as any in the 20th Century and the pain and suffering he subjected his people to is incalculable. I have no feelings of ambiguity toward the architects of the Holocaust who were hung following the Nuremberg trials at the close of WWII, and I have none for Hussain. Yes. Sometimes the people who rob banks get away with it; but to argue that this means that laws against bank robbery are foolish and should be removed is just plain wrong. I feel as if Hussain should have been tried and executed by the World Court; a collective of civilized nations who agree that it is possible for a leader of a nation to commit atrocities so egregious that his execution is called for. I say these things as someone who has been opposed to the war in Iraq since its inception and who believes George W. Bush is by far the worst President in US history. Even in the light of all that I find I am pleased by the execution of this monster.

Saddam Hussein has been a Murderous Thug from Day One. He was never my Murderous Thug. I don’t like Murderous Thugs.

However, the CIA found Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein to be absolutely one of their favoritest Murderous Thugs, even if he had been a Murderous Thug from Day One. You see, Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein was such a cute angelic-looking Murderous Thug and the CIA adored playing kissy kissy with cute angelic-looking Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein while he was in exile in Egypt–Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein was in exile because he was a Murderous Thug. So, the love-stricken CIA made plans to shake things up in Iraq and install dear little cute angelic-looking Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein as their very own Murderous Thug as THE power in Iraq.

Having shaken things up in Iraq, the CIA trundled their dear sweet, cute angelic-looking Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein off to be the Supreme Power in Iraq and handed him a cute, dear sweet list of about 500 people to knock off to ensure that he could be the CIA’s dear sweet angelic-looking, did I forget to mention cute Murderous Thug of all the Kingdom of Iraq.

Kissy kissy! Smooch! Smooch!

I, however, have a problem with the early demise of the CIA’s once-upon-a-time favoritest Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein because the Murderous Thug was not tried for ALL of his crimes, let alone the MOST HEINOUS of his crimes.

Because, you see, little Bush lovers, if CIA-beloved Murderous Thug Saddam Hussein had been tried for the MOST HEINOUS of his crime, who knows who might have come tumbling out of the SECRET CLOSET OF MURDEROUS THUGS.

Hmmm, Rummy, perchance? Cheney and Halliburton?

What do you think, boys and girls?

I think he should have been put in a meat grinder while his family watched, as he did to other people.

I'm shocked that so many people here seem to care that a worthless bloody tyrant was executed. It's laughable to me that our involvement in the case is somehow going to diminish us as a nation.

I'm opposed to the death penalty, but not because I care if a piece of trash like Saddam gets executed. I don't trust the government to avoid executing innocent people. Saddam was not innocent. I'd pull the lever myself.

Turns out I'm in good company. Here's what Thomas Jefferson had to say about it:

"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is it’s natural manure."