What To Do With Him

While Kofi Annan opposes death penalty for Saddam Hussein, British government is taking more flexible approach. I think that the latter is correct way to handle this issue.

British government supported the war, knowing that it would claim the lives of thousands of innocent civilians. Showing more respect for the life of someone who ultimately deserved the fate suffered by aforementioned thousands would represent hypocrisy that goes beyond lowest standards of early 21st Century politics.

This policy would also have disastrous political consequences in Iraq itself. One of the few things where there is wide consensus among Iraqis, regardless of their faith, ethnicity, gender, political persuasion etc., is the way Saddam Hussein should pay for what he did to their country. To deny them this sort of justice would only rub more salt in the wounds of national humiliation. And Saddam Hussein alive, even behind the walls of maximum security prison, is Saddam Hussein that has slim chance of getting out and continuing to scare and torment his victims. I guess that even some of Saddam's die-hard supporters would prefer trial that could ultimately fetch them martyr-like figure to rally around – something that Saddam himself refused to provide in that hole.