The Execution of Saddam

So, Saddam Hussein has been sentenced to death.

Read a compelling op-ed by a friend of mine, LeAnne Clausen, questioning the wisdom of executing the man, vicious as he is.

Something she, as do most people, acknowledge is that Hussein "deserves to die". I doubt many people dispute this. But that's only one factor in a society or global community's decision to exercise a policy of capital punishment.

LeAnne talks about the fact there are lots of bad folks doing terrible things, and our own government is implicated in many of the atrocities for which Hussein is responsible. But we aren't going around killing everybody who has a hand in catastrophe.

In a future column, she might delve further into other arguments against capital punishment, such as the fact that most societies (especially ours) have proven to be utterly inept at administering the death penalty fairly across the population, with huge biases leveled against marginalized communities.

The Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sr. gives a thorough and exquisite treatment of this phenomena in his book, Legal Lynching: The Death Penalty and America's Future.

Thanks, LeAnne, for your article.