flynn23 wrote:

adam wrote:

Former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein has been executed by hanging at a secure facility in northern Baghdad for crimes against humanity.

I completely oppose the death penalty even for Saddam

Would you rather that we spend inordinate resources guarding and imprisoning him? Is this the best use for humanity of these resources? Always with the threat that he may escape or worse, that his rantings might incite a movement in his name? Would you have supported keeping Hitler alive? Stalin?

I'm a bit shocked by my own emotional reaction to this. I'm not happy about it. Perhaps thats because Saddam's abuses are too abstract for me. If this was Bin Lauden I might feel differently, but perhaps for the wrong reasons. I also might feel differently if I felt this was a ray of hope for Iraq, but it seems just another body on an ever growing pile.

I don't think the Iraqi government implements the death penalty because of a need to make efficient use of resources. I think they implement it because they want to put fear into their subjects. Killing this guy is a demonstration of their power. In an environment already filled with so much chaos, perhaps its a bit academic to talk about the death penalty... Obviously we can't fault them for doing it in Iraq if we think its nessecary in Texas. The execution of an internationally notorious figure does cause one to reflect on the issue, but the debate is in Houston and not Bagdad.

RE: BBC NEWS | World | Middle East | Saddam Hussein executed in Iraq