Good Day For A Hangin'

I guess all that talk of Saddam's hanging to coincide with the State of the Union Address was misplaced, and I guess that that letter which showed up yesterday was a farewell note. It looks like this is going down by Sunday (Happy New Year!):

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins this Sunday.

The hanging could take place as early as Friday, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.

The U.S. military received a formal request from the Iraqi government to transfer Saddam to Iraqi authorities, NBC reported on Thursday, which is one of the final steps required before his execution. His sentence, handed down last month, ordered that he be hanged within 30 days.

I don't think that the US is as in control of events in Iraq as everyone thinks, at least not at this point. You would not think that if they were, they would allow a hanging that will almost certainly produce a new paroxysm of violence to occur right before adding US troops into the region.

As for the culture of life, at least one person is stepping up:

Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI’s top prelate for justice issues and a former Vatican envoy to the U.N., condemned the death sentence in a newspaper interview published Thursday, saying capital punishment goes against the teachings of the Roman Catholic Church.

Saddam's trial, undertaken by his enemies in the middle of a war zone, may have been fair but hardly met all requirements for international law. There's a certain bloodlust in this execution that will only fire up the street in expectation of more. And on the other side, this brutish dictator will now be made into a rallying cry, which wouldn't happen if he just rotted away in his prison cell.

Anyway, I have to go pick out my outfit for the hangin' now, so if you'll excuse me...