Who would take pleasure from watching someone die?

I have not and will not view the video, I've seen quite enough violence and death in my time, thank you, and it shames me that so many of my countrymen rejoice and celebrate a death that was nothing more than the slow motion murder of a tyrant, by tyrants, for the sake of tyranny.

This was a "...don't mess with us..." murder carried out by the puppets of our choice. No good will come of this.

I hate to say it, but when our bankers, the Communist Chinese, finally grow tired of American hegemony, decide to yank the plug on loaning us any more war-making money, dumps the dollar, and bankrupts us so badly - and quickly - that we are nothing more than a banana republic without the bananas, we will deserve it and NO ONE or ANY COUNTRY will care or lend us a hand or mourn our passing. (We did, after all, pay for all this with China's dime.)

No doubt the world is a safer place without Saddam Hussein just as it always is with the removal from society of the killers of other human beings. But beyond that practical reality, the killing of a fellow human being, no matter what their crime, diminishes the value of everyone's life.  Regardless of the justification for killing, when we as a society are reduced to this the lowest of common denominators, all life is devalued.

And if we are to inflict such punishment upon the dealers of unjustifiable killing, I am forced to confront my own responsibility, and being in the uncomfortable position of looking at my own country's actions, and the actions of my country's president and leaders. I must face the fact that not only is George W. Bush guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity, crimes hardly less heinous and contemptible than those of Saddam Hussein, but I myself as a member of this democracy, I am responsible for war crimes and crimes against humanity.  So not only should George W. Bush one day be made to walk up those stairs to the gallows, and have that rope placed around his neck, and wait for that long drop and quick snap at the end, but I myself, just as every other responsible US citizen, taxpayer and voter, we all deserve to stand on that platform and get our just desserts. No doubt some of us feel no responsibility whatsoever for the actions of our president and this White House and Congress, but history and our victims will be the ultimate judge of that and us.

And don't anyone give me any of that representative democracy or Republic crap, tell it to the judge.  If the people are sovereign, then it is we who must bear ultimate responsibility.  Everyone on down the line from the president through his Cabinet, the Congress, the military, state and local governments, down to school school board and city Council members, ending up with each and every citizen over voting age.  Only kids, teenagers and felons get a pass, only they will justly be granted immunity from the great purge when it comes.  Interesting combo for a fresh start, convicts and prepubescents.  No doubt future generations will have real incentive to grab the reins of civic responsibilities with both hands and pulled back hard when our elected leaders start acting like tyrants and petty dictators.  They will be well motivated to keep the ship of state in trim knowing that their very lives are on the line.

I just hope that on my execution day, someone will be running 6  to 10 high resolution high-definition cameras, with at least six sound engineers recording everything in 6.1 Digital Dolby surround sound along with a 24 track analog backup.  So that every excruciating moment will be covered from all the most advantageous visual and acoustic angles, with whip pans and super close-ups on every bead of sweat on my and every one of your upper lips as we wait to find out if there really is something after the death of the body.

That way when future generations watch me and George, and Dick and Donald and Colin and Condoleezza and the rest take that long walk up the stairs, they'll be able to see, in high-definition detail, exactly how short a trip it is between life-and-death.  Then they will get to decide whether they want more of it, death that is, or if they want to put a higher price on life, perhaps hold all life in precious regard.  It's the choice generations to come will get to make for themselves, and I want them to be provided with every gory detail in hi-fi technicolor, so they can make an informed decision.

As a member of a democracy, where responsibility is something I was born with, I know the direction I want to take when it comes to killing, how bout you?

It's official. Maliki and his people are psychopaths. This really is a new low. It's outrageous- an execution during Eid. Muslims all over the world (with the exception of Iran) are outraged. Eid is a time of peace, of putting aside quarrels and anger- at least for the duration of Eid.

This does not bode well for the coming year. No one imagined the madmen would actually do it during a religious holiday. It is religiously unacceptable and before, it was constitutionally illegal. We thought we'd at least get a few days of peace and some time to enjoy the Eid holiday, which coincides with the New Year this year. We've spent the first two days of a holy holiday watching bits and pieces of a sordid lynching.

America the savior... After nearly four years and Bush's biggest achievement in Iraq has been a lynching. Bravo Americans.

Maliki has made the mistake of his life. His signature and unhidden glee at the whole execution, especially on the first day of Eid Al Adha (the Eid where millions of Muslims make a pilgrimage to Mecca), will only do more to damage his already tattered reputation. He's like a vulture in a suit (or a balding weasel). It's almost embarrassing. I kept expecting Muwafaq Al Rubaii to run over and wipe the drool from the corner of his mouth as he signed for the execution. Are these the people who represent the New Iraq? We're in so much more trouble than I ever thought.

The time for vengence is past. The opportunity for peace is now. All of our futures await our decisions.

just another tribal vendetta, in a land of warring tribes. not far, mentally, out of the stone age. you either have to put in enough force to wipe them all out, or get the heck out of there. i don't see this "surge" happy medium working.

IT HAS more than twice as many people as Iran, six times more than Iraq, many primed for Islamic extremism by a legacy of poverty and illiteracy left by decades of misrule by corrupt secular leaders, civilian and military.

It already has nuclear weapons, and ballistic missiles made with North Korean help. It shelters jihadists battling Western forces across its border, and fanatical cells training Muslim youth in Western countries to put bombs on buses and metros.

If Iraq has turned into a nightmare for the US President, George Bush, think about Islamists gaining power in Pakistan, population 166 million, and their hands on its nuclear arsenal.
...
Musharraf throws up unconvincing bluster. He claims that Pakistan has done all it can to prevent cross-border military activity, with its army losing 750 killed in campaigns since September 11, 2001, along its frontier with Afghanistan.

Yet Musharraf and his government are deeply ambivalent in their commitment to supporting the Western campaign, in return for which about $US4 billion ($5 billion) in US aid has flowed their way over the past five years.
...
Soon after he seized power in 1999 - ahead of being sacked by Sharif - The Economist magazine called Musharraf a "useless dictator".

Seven years later, he hangs onto power without having achieved much in the way of reform, largely because the US regards him as key to keeping the Islamists out of power.

That is turning out to be another big misconception in Washington.

No misconception. They don't want peace in the region. It is against their 'interests' for peace to develop there.

A majority of Americans