Hasn’t the Bible been demeaned and degraded for political reasons enough already?

Look. Nobody said the transition would be smooth or that, in the short term, more people won’t die than would have otherwise.

Look, I know things are bad now. Iraq didn’t turn out like you’d been told it would, no flowers and candy, horrible violence, and a half trillion of our dollars down the hole.

But let’s not just make crap up OK?

Because practically EVERYONE in the administration said the transition would be smooth, we’d be greeted as liberators, the oil money would pay for reconstruction, blah blah blah.

I am positive you didn’t miss all these claims.

So why lie now?

1 Thou shalt not utter a false report; put not thy hand with the wicked to be an unrighteous witness.
2 Thou shalt not follow a multitude to do evil; neither shalt thou bear witness in a cause to turn aside after a multitude to pervert justice;
3 neither shalt thou favour a poor man in his cause.
4 If thou meet thine enemy’s ox or his ass going astray, thou shalt surely bring it back to him again.
5 If thou see the ass of him that hateth thee lying under its burden, thou shalt forbear to pass by him; thou shalt surely release it with him.
6 Thou shalt not wrest the judgment of thy poor in his cause.
7 Keep thee far from a false matter; and the innocent and righteous slay thou not; for I will not justify the wicked.
8 And thou shalt take no gift; for a gift blindeth them that have sight, and perverteth the words of the righteous.
9 And a stranger shalt thou not oppress; for ye know the heart of a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.

Nobody said the transition would be better than the previous conditions. That’s not the point.

Ach, yeah. Liberating an entire culture from violent tyranny is about the worst thing we could have done.

What BS ! Iraqis are 50 times more likely to die a violent death today than under Saddam. Let me remind you under Saddam, women didn’t wear the burqua, went out alone without being raped or killed, could drive (unlike Suadi women), go to school (at the best schools in the Arabic Middle East), the water, electricity, sewers and oil were flowing and life was pretty peaceful. That “violent tyranny” meme is just our pathetic way to rationalize destroying a secular regime that was no more oppressive than many we support. We blew it going in there, and indeed, we will leave in shame and defeat. Next time, let’s stick to bullying countries we can actually defeat, like Grenada!

May America hang it’s head in shame for what we have done to the people of Iraq

Ach, yeah. Liberating an entire culture from violent tyranny is about the worst thing we could have done.

Look. Nobody said the transition would be smooth or that, in the short term, more people won’t die than would have otherwise. The point is that if we had done nothing, the oppression would have continued indefinitely, while now you have a spike of violence but once it is squelched you have a free nation once and for all.

Was it not worth fighting the American Revolution because it threw the country into chaos? I don’t think even you will agree to this, unless you would similarly tarnish Washington alongside Bush – if all Presidents who fought for liberation are “Smirky” in your book.

“Never put an innocent or honest person to death. I will not allow anyone guilty of this to go free” (Exodus 23:7b, NLT).

In Saddam’s case, he’s far from innocent, and I admit that though I generally oppose the death penalty, it’s hard to work up much compassion for this guy, kinda how I thought about Timothy McVeigh.

Killing Saddam martyrs him, as you will see very soon. This will not improve the situation one bit.

As far as the killers in our country part of your post is concerned wouldn’t it be nice if we could be sure that they really are killers first? Far too many cases recently have shown that the jury system is perfectly capable of getting it wrong. Sorry, but someone serving life with no parole can be released. We can’t resurrect someone mistakenly executed.

I do not expect to change the opinions of the anti death penalty people, but I do think that the punishment is appropriate for the kind of crimes Saddam Hussein is convicted of. I do not think people who commit mass murder are going top be rehabilitated and made productive members of society. Yes it is punishment, pure and simple. Punishment which fits the crime. If you deprive someone else of life and liberty, your life and liberty should be taken from you.

Hanging is much more merciful than the death many of Saddma Hussein’s victims received. If you want to show some sympathy, how about extending it to his vicitms? The sooner he swings, the better. Likewise, I’m all for executing killers in our country.

One of the theories I’ve heard about concerning how civil society was formed, was that once, crimes involved things like blood debts and families taking revenge for things (the eskimo, or was it Inuit? still practice this to some extent). Revenge was the dominant issue.

Eventually, the group decided it was better to have the dirty work placed into someone other than the hurt party’s hands. Thus the concept of justice was born. As part of the deal, however, part of a person being guilty meant that they should be punished.

To not kill Saddam would mean that people would feel an inequity was committed, and assume the courts weren’t going to give them justice. It’s too fragile to worry about the best moral decisions, and instead go for what the people want. The system needs to establish itself.

This all said, my favorite way of dealing with these things is a South African Truth Commission, but we let that ship sail a long time ago when we did things like disband their officer corps.