Saddam Hussein's Execution: A Fox News Exclusive

At the time of this writing, Saddam Hussein's execution is scheduled to take place in about 20 minutes. Initially, I had thought his appeal would drag out and hewouldn't be executed for years, if at all. Executing him at this time, and and filming it for the world to see, is a bad idea from almost every conceivable angle. Still, it's really hard to underestimate the Bush family, or its hack, err, "model" government in Iraq. According to Iraqi law, executions are illegal on religious holidays, so it's especially fitting that a four-day Islamic religious holiday just started. A minor little holiday called The Hajj. Why not spray him with some pig's blood, while we're at it? And making a martyr out of a mass murderer is probably something they haven't considered in much detail, since, hey, "He tried to murder my dad." But sometimes vengeance isn't sweet for long. Or even real in the first place.

Saddam's death will signal Iraq's Sunnis that it's time to get serious about their survival plans, probably resulting in increased flow of foreign aid, weapons, and volunteers; whereas it will probably signal Iraq's Shiites the US has sided with them, and the Sunnis are fair game. Amping up the escalation like this dovetails nicely with a surge mentality, since the Sunnis are first on the purge list.

In the end, Saddam's execution may be a sign of Bush Administration insecurity. Maybe they want to hasten his death before they lose power over it.

Update: US-funded TV station Al Hurra was first to report that Saddam Hussein was hanged. It's widely expected that US news stations will broadcast the execution, which was filmed.