I do not mourn Saddam Hussein , but the Death Penalty is still wrong...

[SaveElmer]

I have NO sympathy for Saddam Hussein...NONE. With some people, some truly evil people such as Saddam, death is not to be mourned in my opinion.

However, I am unalterably opposed to the death penalty...not because in some very rare cases the person being executed doesn't deserve it, but because murder is always wrong, makes no difference that the government is the one doing the murdering.

Though I am not a practicing Christian (actually a Unitarian), I believe that the ethical teachings of Jesus, stripped of the supernatural mumbo-jumbo that has become the focus of so much of Christianity, is one of the best guides for how to live our lives.

In Matthew 5:21-22 Jesus said "You have heard it said long ago, "Do not murder". . . But I say that if anyone is angry with his brother, he will be worthy of judgment. And if anyone says to his brother, "Empty-headed," he will be answerable to the Sanhedrin . But if anyone says, "You fool," he will be in danger of the fire of hell."

Not only does Jesus admonish against murder, he warns against anger and the devaluation of others...which at its base, is the true source of murder. When we murder, even monsters like Saddam Hussein, we are encouraging the devaluation of human life which then permeates the conciousness of our society, and ultimately makes it easier for others to murder as well.

Bottom line, we are demeaned by the practice.

[Ninja Jordan]

1. The point is the effect his execution has on Iraq and stability in the greater region

Most likely, we'll see an uptick in violence. He should have been tried at the Hague, similar to Milosevic.

[Viva_La_Revolution]

2. or less stability...

whatever.












Book TV Schedule: December 30th - January 2nd
*Fish: A Memoir of a Boy in a Man's Prison
*Combat Trauma & the Problem of Returning Home
*Indian Yell: The Heart of an American Insurgency
*Overblown: How Politicians and the Terrorism Industry Inflate National Security Threats, and Why We Believe Them
*Insecure at Last: Losing It in Our Security Obsessed World
*Econospinning: How to Read Between the Lines When the Media Manipulate the Numbers
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.ph...

[gratuitous]

3. Yep

Well said.

If you say you're against the death penalty, but Saddam (or Manson or Bundy or Gacy or . . .) is a special case, then you're really not against the death penalty.

We've wasted hundreds of thousands of lives and half a trillion dollars popping the pimple on humanity that was Saddam. And he wasn't worth the first soldier, the first civilian or the first dollar. And while Saddam is gone, the killing and the waste will go on until we get a handle on this concept.

[SaveElmer]

4. You misunderstand...

I do not believe Saddam should have been executed. It is possible to believe someone deserves to die, but be opposed to their execution. The practice of execution is wrong no matter who the person is.

[gratuitous]

6. I thought I got your point

My second sentence was ambiguous; it wasn't addressed directly to you, but to persons who say they're against the death penalty but this guy or that guy is a special case. If the death penalty is wrong (and both of us think it is), it's wrong when carried out on Saddam Hussein, Karla Faye Tucker, Steven Alton Harris or anyone.

[beaconess]

5. You are so right - thanks.

[Contrite]

7. The problem is that we executed him

not the Iraqis. At least that's how the Sunni world will see it.

I am opposed to the death penalty in general (two wrongs not making a right) but especially when it is imposed incorrectly. We did not serve justice but revenge with this act and helped to make Saddam a martyr.

[leesa]

8. I think the world deserved the truth about Saddam instead of the Crime Family

lies. We NEEDED him to testify against these criminals and he deserved a fair trial, which he did not get from the US. The US is no longer a beacon of democracy.