Maybe this is the last word on Saddam's execution

David Gelernter in The Weekly Standard makes a worthwhile point:

"Those infractions of execution etiquette ought not to have been allowed, but don't kid yourself: No execution is ever pretty. And in this squeamish, fastidious nation it is easy to forget the significance of a hanging; a British royal commission once spelled it out. Hanging is 'a peculiarly grim and derogatory form of execution, suitable for sordid criminals and crimes.'

"In any case, those who criticize the manner of Saddam's execution invite the world to contemplate the ways in which the convict himself did the deed. How much dignity did his thug henchmen allow Iraqis who were about to be fed into industrial shredders or to have nails driven into their skulls?"