Saddam: More dangerous dead than alive

A mere weekend ago, I nodded in agreement when bloggers suggested that Bushco arranged the hanging of Saddam because our Fearless Leader could not do anything else right. Now it turns out that the execution itself was a botched job of the worst sort:

The first chief judge who presided over Saddam Hussein's trial for crimes against humanity said on Monday that the late dictator's execution by the Iraqi government was illegal.

And this:

Enraged crowds protested the hanging of Saddam Hussein across Iraq's Sunni heartland Monday, as a mob in Samara broke the locks off a bomb-damaged Shiite shrine and marched through carrying a mock coffin and photo of the dictator.

The demonstration in the Golden Dome, shattered in a bombing by Sunni extremists 10 months ago, suggests that many Sunni Arabs may now more actively support the small number of Sunni militants fighting the country's Shiite-dominated government.

The Golden Dome is associated with the politically explosive cult of the Hidden Twelfth Imam-- a belief in a messianic Islamic future leader. This prophesied figure has impacted history in the past; you may want to check out this page -- or rent the movie Khartoum.

Turns out some within the U.S considered the hanging premature:

"The Americans wanted to delay the execution by 15 days because they weren't keen on having him executed straight away," said the senior Iraqi official, who was involved in the events leading to Saddam's death and spoke on condition of anonymity.

"But during the day (on Friday) the prime minister's office provided all the documents they asked for and the Americans changed their minds when they saw the prime minister was very insistent.

Ah, but could the U.S. have stayed the execution? Yes:

U.S. forces handed over Saddam only at the last moment before he was hanged at dawn, following late-night negotiations between Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and senior U.S. officials, several Iraqi government sources have said.

U.S. officials, whose troops had physical custody of Saddam for three years, have declined comment on their role in the execution.

Now that the hanging has proven as disastrous as everything else we've done in and to that country, expect to see al-Maliki blame Bush while Bush blames al-Maliki. A secular thug has been transformed into a sectarian martyr. Only someone as inept as Dubya could manage a trick like that.