Quote Originally Posted by Slyspy
Better he had been shot in his hidey-hole. The farcical trial and (essentially) public execution does little to legitimise the Iraqi government at home and less to dispel its image as a puppet state (if we can even call it that) abroad.

Why some of you insist on viewing the whole sorry episode on the net is beyond me. It seems rather ghoulish and distinctly uncivilised. When the Taliban publically executed people in a football ground it was regarded as a mark of their barbarism.

I also fail to see why so many Americans regard Saddam as their personal enemy.

Edit:

If in truth the footage of the execution does indeed strengthen the cause of one of the warlords looking for power when the allies withdraw then it has truely been a waste of time.
Perhaps the footage was to serve as some measure of validation for them that this entire venture in Iraq wasn't merely a waste of lives securing US interests: over-simplification, although it is there, displayed as yet another banner, the "bad guy" is dead, and as was said, mission accomplished. Only the image is shattered, for those who strangely seem to have expected this shambolic [indeed, corrupt] affair to be sanitised for their viewing. It appears, simply because it is, nothing more than victor's justice hastily carried out. Much like Ceauşescu, only the murderers in this case will be viewed as working for a puppet regime, rather than a revolutionary force which is essentially free from external control.