Just in case you missed it, amid the Christmas-New Year's-Gerald Ford-Mt Hood-Denver Blizzards-College Football filled last 4-6 weeks, December was the deadliest month in Iraq for U.S. troops in 2 years, with the death toll climbing over 3,000... and Bush still has yet to announce his "new way forward".
We're still waiting, Mr. President.
Ultimately, regardless of what we do, odds are it won't affect any real change, and this time next year we'll be exploring new options once again.
Saddam was hanged on Sunday and a video of the event was posted on the internet within a day or so. I know a large number of people were drawn by morbid curiosity (literally) to see it, but I can't imagine ever wanting to see a man killed. When we see it in movies or on tv, it's pretend, we can detach to a certain extent, because we know it's not real, but seeing a real person killed on video, witnessing the last few breaths of life as he is executed....seeking that out as entertainment or otherwise, strikes me as an act of depravity.
An op-ed columnist (possible several of them) praised the swiftness of the punishment being carried out. His appeal was denied, and within 2-3 days he was swinging, he beamed, while lamenting our system of keeping convicted persons on death row for years and decades on end, decrying a lack of respect for the lives of the victims and concepts such as prisoner's rights, also writing that swift executions act as a deterrent.
Well, seeing as we don't have too many ex-repressive dictators on death row, I don't think the comparisons can be drawn directly. Also, many legal/psychological experts will tell you that the crimes that typically get people on death row are not reasoned acts, in which the perpetrator is weighing their options, looking at pros and cons before deciding on the best of possible decisions as murder; it is typically a crime of passion/obsession/delusion, and as such, the deterrent effect of swiftly executing the convicted is dampened, if not negated. As for the system of keeping them imprisoned, I do believe enough cases have been overturned on appeal due to new evidence, that to execute immediately upon conviction can be short-sighted. And human life is human life, and the taking thereof, whether as an act of unabated aggression or as retribution/vengeance/"justice", should be deplored in my view. I don't take any particular joy in seeing Saddam Hussein hanging. I agree that he was among the lowest of the low among us, but I do not feel anyone should willingly take the life of another, lest they be imminently pressed for their own.
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