Two unrelated news items that feel... related in terms of consequences
One: President Ford died. Many obituaries include passages on how pardoning Nixon was the right thing to do in order for US to heal, even though it was a hugely unpopular pardon that cost Ford re-election.
Two: Saddam Hussein will be hanged within 2 days. Yes, he is a mass murderer. But I wonder if softening the sentence to, say, life in jail wouldn't be better for the future of Iraq? Making him a martyr will only increase the splits between different ethnic and religious groups.
I am not, in theory, opposed to death sentence. But when lives of millions of people are at stake, I'd say that there are more important issues to consider than whether one man is to die or not.
To put this in perspective, I am Jewish and I question the wisdom of hunting down elderly Nazi criminals. The Shoah is not to be forgotten; however, fifty years later, there are more productive things to do than to speed up demise of criminals who will die pretty soon, anyhow.
Two: Saddam Hussein will be hanged within 2 days. Yes, he is a mass murderer. But I wonder if softening the sentence to, say, life in jail wouldn't be better for the future of Iraq? Making him a martyr will only increase the splits between different ethnic and religious groups.
I am not, in theory, opposed to death sentence. But when lives of millions of people are at stake, I'd say that there are more important issues to consider than whether one man is to die or not.
To put this in perspective, I am Jewish and I question the wisdom of hunting down elderly Nazi criminals. The Shoah is not to be forgotten; however, fifty years later, there are more productive things to do than to speed up demise of criminals who will die pretty soon, anyhow.