Six days ago this country celebrated the birth of a prince of peace. Tonight we spit on his memory by indulging in a death-gasm

Yes, folks, the President of the United States may just ejaculate in the Oval Office tonight, because his own personal bugagoo, Saddam Hussein, is expected to be hanged by midnight:

The official witnesses to Saddam Hussein's impending execution gathered Friday in Baghdad's fortified Green Zone in final preparation for his hanging, as state television broadcast footage of his regime's atrocities.

The Iraqi government readied all the necessary documents, including a "red card" — an execution order introduced during Saddam's dictatorship. As the hour of his death approached, Saddam received two of his half brothers in his cell on Thursday and was said to have given them his personal belongings and a copy of his will.

Najeeb al-Nueimi, a member of Saddam's legal team in Doha, Qatar, said he too requested a final meeting with the deposed Iraqi leader. "His daughter in Amman was crying, she said 'Take me with you,'" al-Nueimi said late Friday. But he said their request was rejected.

An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saddam would be executed before 6 a.m. Saturday, or 10 p.m. Friday EST. Also to be hanged at that time were Saddam's half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, the adviser said.

[snip]

"Saddam will be handed over shortly before the execution," the official said. The physical transfer of Saddam from U.S. to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged. Saddam has been in U.S. custody since he was captured in December 2003.

Al-Nueimi said U.S. authorities were maintaining physical custody of Saddam to prevent him from being humiliated before his execution. He said the Americans also want to prevent the mutilation of his corpse, as has happened to other deposed Iraqi leaders.

"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully," al-Nueimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated "that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed," he said.

Who else but a couple of sick fucks like Bush and Cheney could think of the concept of "being hanged respectfully." I don't know about you, but there's a big gaping hole in the back of my head where my cranium exploded. It does that when faced with this kind of laughable horseshit.

No one is claiming that Saddam Hussein doesn't deserve the death penalty, if you believe in it, for his crimes against humanity. But then, one could make a similar argument for a similar trial for crimes against humanity for the current occupant of the White House. (Note to Secret Service: No, I am not advocating that anyone commit violence against the president.) But does anyone honestly believe that this is going to make the situation one iota better in Iraq? Or does it just serve to make a man that most jihadists regarded as an infidel secularist into a martyr for the cause against the Hated Americans?

Oh, Bush and Cheney will get off on the inevitable video of the hanging, which I'm sure will be played for them over and over again as the sound of their moans of pleasure drown out Barney's barking. And I'm sure it'll be up on YouTube by morning. And President Thirty Percent will no doubt get a big round of applause at the State of the Union Address as a result (cut to footage of Obama and Clinton applauding and smiling). But regardless of whether you think Saddam deserves to die, this display of garish ghoulishness, coming right on the heels of Christmas, is pretty damn repulsive and does NOT reflect well on us as a people.


(hat tip: ShakesSis)