[Professor S]

I'm against the death penalty, but I have to concede it was necessary in this case. Iraq needs this closure. If he were to stay alive the Iraqi people would still fear that he could return to power sometime or be broken out by Bathe Party loyalists.

I also found it funny that CNN immediately started to argue that Saddam's execution was far too quick and that the Iraqi government was violating its own laws, blah blah blah. God forbid something happens in the Middle East that they DON'T spin into some sort of a failure in Iraq. The truth is that once Saddam was tranferred into Iraqi custody they had to kill him quickly to prevent any "shenanigans" from loyalists or insurgents. As we know its still highly unstable there, and any sort of failure to execute Saddam would CRUSH the people's faith in the new government.

Hye was put to death, and put to death quickly. I just wish they would "leak" the execution tapes just to make sure that the people finally knew he was dead and would NEVER come back. It sounds barbaric, but Saddam was barbaric to his won people for decades, and the psychological hold that can have on a populace is terrible.

Verdict: The did good.