One awaits, with great anticipation, the sentencing of Saddam later today..
Which is politically more expedient..
To condemn the man to death would certainly polarize an already fragmented population, for certainly many want his death, an example to the world that even Supreme powers will not protect a 'criminal' leader from the ultimate sentence..
And it will satisfy a large proportion of the country who have suffered for political opposition to the old regeme; those who have been subjected to what is tantamount to genocide, ordered by this man..
But there is something to be said concerning the certain escallation of terrorist acts, of those willing to join 'terrorist' organisations of those who will see the 'martyrdom' of Saddam as the ultimate atrocity carried out by Occupation Forces, who, as they percieve it, control the Courts..
It's a thorny question, an uncomfortable situation..
And while we can expect any sentence to be appealed, and while this court case will drag on for years, the sentence itself will fuel those Ba'athist cells to a return of sucide bombings, and terrorist acts, the likes of which we have not yet seen..
Perhaps the Russians have a gulag or two operating in the wastes of Siberia..
It's an option.