Talk about rewriting history. What really “set all of this into motion” was the CIA overthrow of the democratically elected Mossadegh government and the subsequent installation of the US puppet, the Shah, in 1953. Note that Dwight David Eisenhower was president in 1953 and that he was a Republican.

While everyone either celebrates or condemns the hanging of Saddam Hussein, Rick Moran shares his thoughts and reminds all of us, no matter what we think of the hanging, exactly where our perspective should be. The fact that the world…

Hundreds volunteered to be Saddam’s executioners. There should be little surprise that he was treated in a nasty manner after what he did to countless Iraqis. But they took a departure from what at first appeared dignified as we discover how h…

I just read this post by Rick Moran on the execution of Saddam Hussein. It’s worth your time.No, there is nothing funny about killing this brute, a man who has shown no remorse nor the slightest flicker of regret at…

it’s ghoulish and won’t change a single thing

this invasion will go down as the biggest blunder in history

by the way dems took the house and senate

as a reminder that most of the people in the country feel the way i do

This hanging will at last bring needed closure to the surviving victims and the families of those who had died under the dictatorship of Saddam Hussien. Rest in peace victims of his horrors. The long nightmare of Iraq is indeed over.

It would have been far, far better if Saddam’s “trial” had been objectively fair rather than the sham show trial that it actually was. Not too far from some of the “trials” in the former Soviet Union or (at possible risk of invoking Godwin’s Law) Nazi Germany. An objectively fair trial would have left those who still support Saddam and his cohort with no reason to be able to claim him as a martyr.

The execution of Saddam on the Sunni Eid-ul-Adha or Feast of Sacrifice which commemorates Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son Isaac to God was a deliberate insult to Sunni Muslims around the world and specifically those Sunnis in Iraq. I really don’t think that anything other than evil can come from such a provocative and unneccesary act.

I’m personally opposed to the death penalty and consider it barbaric. After all Jesus said:

John 8

3And the scribes and Pharisees brought unto him a woman taken in adultery; and when they had set her in the midst,

4They say unto him, Master, this woman was taken in adultery, in the very act.

5Now Moses in the law commanded us, that such should be stoned: but what sayest thou?

6This they said, tempting him, that they might have to accuse him. But Jesus stooped down, and with his finger wrote on the ground, as though he heard them not.

7So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her.

8And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground.

9And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.

10When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee?

11She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

Note that the woman had violated Mosaic Law and putting her to death was the official Mosaic penalty for that crime.

I will shed no tears for Saddam, he was a man who let his evil side posess him and he committed many horrendous crimes. But by allowing Saddam to be put to death I feel that we have become, in some small manner, like him. The crime for which Saddam was convicted was that of taking bloody vengeance for an act committed against him. To likewise take bloody vengeance against Saddam does not speak well of us I think.

Romans 12:

18If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

19Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord.

20Therefore if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire on his head.

I realize that I’m in the minority in the USA in opposing capital punishment and I can live with that. Obviously there are those who, like Saddam, do not deserve to have a place in society and should be incarcerated in order that they may not commit further crimes. But I feel that taking bloody vengeance, no matter how justified we may feel it is, demeans us as individuals and as a people.

I also feel that torture is evil demeans us and I feel that solitary confinment is a form of psychological torture. I do not wish to see Saddam tortured either physically or psychologically since that only makes us more like him.

Matthew 5

43Ye have heard that it hath been said, Thou shalt love thy neighbour, and hate thine enemy.

44But I say unto you, Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you;

45That ye may be the children of your Father which is in heaven: for he maketh his sun to rise on the evil and on the good, and sendeth rain on the just and on the unjust.

46For if ye love them which love you, what reward have ye? do not even the publicans the same?

47And if ye salute your brethren only, what do ye more than others? do not even the publicans so?

48Be ye therefore perfect, even as your Father which is in heaven is perfect.

For what it’s worth, I’m an agnostic atheist. But I had an excellent religious education as a child (perhaps that’s why I *am* an atheist) and feel that there is much wisdom in the Bible, particularly in the words of Jesus.

Have a happy and safe New Years everyone!

Jonathan