Saddam

Saddam Hussein was executed by hanging last night [Beware: The footage I linked to shows the entire event, not just "before" and "after"].

The Vatican, which I take as my compass on much these days, says it's "punishing a crime with a crime." But I still feel the primeval cry of spilt blood for vengence.

It's not that I gloat in his execution; quite the opposite. I purposely dug up the full footage on YouTube just because watching a human being's execution, no matter how dispicable they are, is repulsive. It shouldn't be cleaned up, except maybe for the children. One of the ways we know just what a barbaric person he was is by the fact that he savored execution videos of his enemies as his bedtime viewing (something he had in common with other famous dictators).

But when so much blood has been deliberately spilled by the acts of a single man, I have always sensed the need for a retributive act to bring things back into balance. And that despite the fact that I hate the act of execution personally. Nothing else seems to truly balance things out.