Hurrah. Let's hope it's done slowly.

Still, serves him right for picking an oil rich country to live in

That's just awful. Mankind will never learn.

Apparently they do.

It's spelled Hussein. And I don't know if I'm pro death sentence in any case. Locking him up for life could make him less of a martyr.

I wasn't aware of the fact that they use Latin scripture in Irak.

I am against death penalty. That is so medieval. No, Saddam may not be rehabilited, but taking the life of someone is not justice, it is revenge.

As for the lethal injection, I find it interesting that some cultures are willing to execute persons, yet they question when someone asks for euthanasia. That someone takes a life does not grant anyone else the right to take his life. As I said, that is so medieval.

I always find military tribunals on this scale confusing. The trial is technically about some massacre, yet it seems clear that what he's "really" on trial for is all the other atrocities, as well. And there's no heavier punishment than death, which some countries already hand out for killing one or two people... the whole thing is weird.

What is 'justice', then? Why do we want it?

The death penalty may be considered 'effective' in that its existence may serve as a deterrent to others (emphasized eg by the medieval practice of putting heads on spikes), and in that it does conclusively remove a dangerous person's ability to do further harm. So it's hard to say it serves only as a form of revenge.
I'm not saying I support it, here: It's an ugly practice, and introduces its own moral problems -- what if, for example, those killed turned out to be not actually guilty?
But saying it's revenge, not justice, sounds a bit like a straw man to me.

Well, there are unique moral questions around both issues.

True, although it strikes me as somewhat hypocritical to claim that you have a moral right to kill someone against their will, but not if they consent to it.

I agree totally, yet sometimes these people might not be "in their right mind", but that is all questionable also.

Then what do you do? Obviously something has to be done. You can't just let a person keep killing "civilians" anytime they please can you?

And when do you think they live? In medieval ages of their religion. It will take them 600 years till they reach the level Christianity has now. I think that hanging there is one of the more humane types of death. He could also be stoned to death.

Heh, what a coincidence, today is Guy Fawkes day: Remember, remember, the fith of november...

3 classical reasons for punishment:
1) Deter. Works for tiny offenses such as, say, speeding or shoplifting, and is basically a society's way of saying that what you've done is not acceptable. However, for more severe crimes, this doesn't hold. Countries with death penalty do not have lower murder rates than others, on the contrary.
2) Preventing the offender from doing more harm. Effectively, this means to remove the offender from society - either by locking them away for a sufficient amount of time, or by killing them.
3) Revenge. Usually disguised in religious pseudo-arguments.