Are We Hanging Hussein or Democracy in Iraq?

According to journalist Larry Kaplow, Saddam is scheduled to be hanged by January 25th, 2007. Oh joy.

If you stop to consider what it has cost to bring Hussein to justice there is at least one thing that we should get right; the "justice" part. All the lives lost, all the tragedy and injury, all of the torture and atrocities and now we are supposed to sit behind this flimsy verdict and consider it justice?

It takes us seven to twenty years to execute a person in our country to death after the verdict. The death penalty is as vibrant an issue in our politics as Roe vs. Wade but for some frigging reason we are totally OK with executing Saddam in 30 days. In fact, Larry states: "The United States also welcomed the news".

I would sure like to know who the voice America was for this one. Anyone who thinks for a moment that we are delivering justice is sorely mistaken. I'm not suggesting for a moment that the penalty does not fit the crime however, even from this distance I can see that there have been serious flaws throughout the conduct of the trial which should be addressed before the sentence is carried out.

We are going to leave Saddam's legacy in the hands of prolific writers who will always associate the bias of the trial with American foreign policy and our Justice Du Jour. And still we wonder: why is it that these people hate us enough to commit unfathomable atrocities against us?