I know Saddam was a bad guy. But, is it just me, or does anyone else feel that there is something disgusting about the TV coverage, ie the CNN coverage of the "celebration" from Dearborn MI. I worry about the current state of our country.

The sentencing of Saddam by a Kangaroo court and his execution under the supervision of occupation forces comes on the eve of the greatest of all Muslim celebrations Eid-ul-Adha.

It is like the symbolic hanging a Christian ruler on the morning of Christmas, but unlike supporting Pinochet escape justice.

Saddam portrayed himself as the sacrifice for an Iraq under cruel occupation and civil war. And many in the Sunni world (about a billion people) will see it the same way. Slaughtered on the morning of the Sacrifice of Abraham. 'Twas the night before Eid...

Mr. Robert Fisk said it best: "...millions of other Muslims - will remember how he was informed of his death sentence at the dawn of the Eid al-Adha feast, which recalls the would-be sacrifice by Abraham, of his son, a commemoration which even the ghastly Saddam cynically used to celebrate by releasing prisoners from his jails. ...

"...his execution will go down - correctly - as an American affair and time will add its false but lasting gloss to all this - that the West destroyed an Arab leader who no longer obeyed his orders from Washington, that, for all his wrongdoing (and this will be the terrible get-out for Arab historians, this shaving away of his crimes) Saddam died a "martyr" to the will of the new 'Crusaders'."

Sic semper tyrannis, but only the ones from the east. The others will live ripe old ages and recount their life stories in NY Times best selling 'novels.'

Is it any wonder this was carried out now while the world is waiting to hear what Bush will do about the war in Iraq, when Bush's approval ratings are at an all-time low? I guess this is supposed to give us something to cheer about for a couple days in the hopes we'll forget about the war and think Bush is actually doing a good job.

The real noose is around the neck of Uncle Sam.

Saddam's apparent execution marks another event in the sickening progression that we have set in motion in Iraq. I say apparent because I believe, I just heard the Iraq National Security Advisor say on CNN, that he did not think it would serve any purpose to release the still photos or videos of the execution. I think he said it would be disrespectful. Wow! Seems stupid to me, I doubt that will be the final word.

The sense I have that the entire exercise was carried out solely for the purpose of demonstrating Shiite supremacy is troubling. The only crimes Saddam was tried for relate to the executions of 148 Shia after an assassination attempt at a Shia village in 1982. He will not be held to account for hundreds of thousands of other murders, denying similar respect for Kurdish and Sunni victims. By all accounts the trial will not stand-up well to legal scrutiny, which was avoidable and seriously damaging to the future of Iraq. Consider the timing of the execution, on a Sunni holy day and the reports of Shiite celebrations around the body; this doesn't seem like a good way to reunite the nation. It feels more like an exercise in revenge that will play well with al-Maliki's political base while satisfying George Bush's blood lust.

I don't buy the idea that our President slept through the event. It would be more in character for him to be glued to the screen of his personal video feed of the execution, courtesy of the Department of Defense. With a double bourbon up and some Slim Jim's to relieve the boredom. He just doesn't want us to know that.

The first sentence in Bush's official statement released after Saddam's execution:

Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial — the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.

I am sure Saddam felt as though his victims got a "fair trial" just before he executed them as well. It wasn't the kind of justice he denied his victims, it was exactly the same "justice" his victims enjoyed.

In the small scope, no problem with this guy being dead.

In the bigger picture sense, there is something just not right with Saddam being executed so quickly.

First of all, the speed itself indicates a certain lack of justice. Makes it look that rather than delivering justice, something more unseemly was going on.

Secondly, there is also something very un-American about not having Saddam stand for all his trials. Certainly there will be many who will not now have their day in court. This too points to something dark.

I mean with a defendant SO guilty as Saddam, couldn't things have been done by the book? It's not like a slick lawyer was going to get him off. (at least now that Johnny Cochrane is dead *rimshot*) So one must wonder why the U.S. has passed up such a golden opportunity to show off our vaunted ideals of American Justice and Jurisprudence. Especially at a time when America is not looking so hot on the world stage.

Like I said, no sympathy for Saddam, but it just doesn't feel like American Justice to me.

And yes I know he was tried by an Iraqi court, but he was our prisoner. Everything that happened, happened with our administration's approval if not command.

Randall

It is impossible to have a fair trial in a war zone.

The charade of convicting, sentencing and executing even the most brutal dictator under such circumstances is below the United States we all remember.

"We're gonna show the Saddam execution pictures, videos, as soon as we get 'em," and when "those at the highest levels of CNN" have been able to determine what's "tasteful."

Aw man! America don't want "tasteful," America wants to see Saddam gagging, kicking, jerking, pissing and shitting on himself, corkscrewing at the end of a rope.

But alas, it was just a snuff film cock-tease with no payoff.

Might as well check in with YouTube tomorrow morning. They'll run the whole thing. But, "tastefully" of course.