Look, we still have people who see Elvis in shopping malls because he sang, "love me tender," so purdy.

If publically beating a human being half dead and then stringing him up so the birdies can feast on his eyeballs for days after he quits breathing doesn't put the rumors of resurrection to bed, nothing will.

There will always be those who claim Saddam was framed and that he really was a gentle soul, as far as psychotics go. Didn't he feed the birdies his bread while he was waiting to become the Iraqi version of the Times Square ball drop?

No one needs to see a deposed dictator dead before they can accept the salvation of sub-dollar a gallon of gas.

What we need to see are all of the war criminals from WWII to the present day brought to justice and somehow permanently quarantined. None of this falsifying of emigration documents, none of this schmaltzy, "ain't Hitler grand," baloney, simply lock up all the criminals who wouldn't allow Nazi Germany to die the death it was intended to die and we can all move forward.

WWII was CAUSED by WWI?

Read the real history of WWI. WWI was the FIRST invasion of Iraq, and that one was for oil, too. No offense to Archduke Ferdinand's family, but he really wasn't that popular a feller.

Get rid of all the huge concentrations of wealth and political power and bring the whole system back into balance.

The only thing that causes war are the people who can profit from it. The majority of the people never want war and have nothing against other people from other countries. The drumbeats are all ballyhoo. Peace is possible once and for all.(*)

(*)Except for hockey and the occasional soccer tournament.

Suppose you're in a country that's 60/40 Russian Orthodox and Roman Catholic (I say 60/40 because the Kurds and Marsh Arabs and some others are also Sunni, not just the Sunni Arabs). Suppose that country has a law in place that you can't execute someone on Easter or Christmas.

Knowing the Orthodox Ecclesiastical Calendar is 2 weeks later than the Roman Catholic one, you make a point of hanging the former Catholic leader of your country, newly deposed by a foreign army of, say, Moslems or at least Protestants, who handed the country to you. And you do it deliberately on (Catholic) Christmas Day.

You then make a point of telling the foreign media "We had to do this before Christmas, after all, 2 weeks should be long enough to not let it spoil Christmas, right?" That's what the hardliner Maliki's government did.

Happy New Year.

Europeans probably don't like seeing Saddam being executed because they don't like the death penalty. Yes, the same part of the world that brought us Nazism, two world wars and death camps and two holocausts, global colonizationn and initiated the American slave trade (which Americans ended) are too peaceful to stand up to tyrants. Some would call it cowardice, not peacefulness. Euros are also cowardly scum that won't defend themselves, they make the US. Euros refused to stand up to the Nazi's. They tried to appease them by delivering their Jewish population to them instead. Say nasty things about Jewish people to get Nazi's off your back but the Germans came after you anyway. Now the worthless Europeans are saying nasty things about Americans to get Muslims off their back. Won't work dudes, nice try. You tried that last time but you inbred xenophobes are obviously too slow to learn from your mistakes.

Muslims and Euros walk around hand in hand and it is only Americans that Middle Easterners don't like. Dream on euromorons. If it weren't for the US, life would be a pleasant, blissfull dream with the rest of the planet living in a garden of Eden state all holding hands and singing Kumbaya. Muslims would take you down in a minute. If the nasty Americans where to pull out of Europe tomorrow the muslim armies would be at your doorstep the day after that. And surely you don't expect us nasty bully Americans to defend you. Not when you can kick around Eastern Europeans coming to your overpampered countries for work and turn their women into prostitutes. And turn a blind eye at the genocide in Darfur. And bare your fists at the US to appease the wolves at the door, the muslims.

Dear all who enjoyed Saddam's hanging,

I live in London and am terrified of the increase in the militancy of young Muslims. These pissed-off kids are everywhere. They have been given a reason to be this way and are ripe for brainwashing by older idealogues.

This is a real problem and one that did not exist before the 2003 invasion. And Europe and the rest of the world can only blame the American government.

Everything about the invasion was unfair. Most of the Kurd and Shi'ite (and Sunni!) deaths for which SH was hung, were killed whilst he was backed by America. The numbers killed were no greater than those killed by Suharto in Indonesia (also supported by America). The quality of life of the population of Equatorial Guinea is the lowest in the world as a result of the corruption of the daft leader "Teodoro OBIANG Nguema Mbasogo, Brig. Gen. (Ret.)" also one of the richest men in the world (alongside his equally daft son). Opressors described by

Condoleeza Rice (silly bitch) as "Good friends of America".

SH was not trialled for most of the crimes committed, meaning of course that many cases were not addressed (Imagine being a Kurd and not seeing your case make court).

Response to LIBERAL PANTYWAISTS letter. I think Europeans are liberal BEACAUSE of the second world war, holocausts, the slave trade etc; these atrocities prompted soul searching on the part of many of the governments involved. Re: the “European’s won’t stand up to tyrants malarkey” See above for examples of tyrannical leaders supported by the US. In what way did the US need to defend itself against SH in Iraq? I don’t understand what the letter writer is getting at (I won’t talk about the obvious and real reason for America’s interest in this area, nor about Bush2-the-prick’s personal motives for instigating attack – i.e. the assassination attempt on his father).

RE: Europeans are “cowards” and “worthless” Does it make sense to talk about the population of a large, multifaceted region (with 27 member states now) in this way. The death penalty seems primitive and barbaric to me, (or even cruel and unusual). Philosophically I cannot see how a state can justify sanctioning someone’s death. Should a democratic state exact revenge on its citizens? (when its power can only ever be the cumulative power of its citizens).

If one considers life important (bet LIBERAL PANTYWAISTS letter writer is religious and therefore a pro-life supporter), then the perpetrator should be made accountable for their actions and forced to provide society with anything good they can i.e. they should not be killed. We are not much different from one another. Everybody is streaked through with good and bad (according to their circumstances).

I just don’t understand how the world is served by SH’s death. Imagine a spate of crimes in London. Does committing one more crime improve the situation in any way? (Analogy with lots of deaths, one more death). On the other hand, imagine a spate of crimes dealt with by the removal in the perpetrator of the desire to commit crimes. Solves the problem far better doesn’t it?

SH has not had to reflect on his crimes (and surely this is something any criminal justice system would encourage) because he is dead.