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?

The quality of mercy is not strain'd,
It droppeth as the gentle rain from heaven
Upon the place beneath: it is twice blest;
It blesseth him that gives and him that takes:
'Tis mightiest in the mightiest: it becomes
The throned monarch better than his crown;
His sceptre shows the force of temporal power,
The attribute to awe and majesty,
Wherein doth sit the dread and fear of kings;
But mercy is above this sceptred sway;
It is enthroned in the hearts of kings,
It is an attribute to God himself;
And earthly power doth then show likest God's
When mercy seasons justice.

in short yes, even Hitler and Stalin, in supplication to a higher notion of morality
i do not believe the correct punishment for taking human life is to take human life
i believe we should display a higher reverence for human life than the killer (any killer)

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