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The BBC article on the execution, Iraq investigates Saddam footage, show that the al Maliki government seems more interested in finding the individual who made the video that showed their mistakes, than the people responsible for the errors in judgment. Of course, they know who approved this mess, but they obviously don’t intend to deal with the core problem.

Both PZ Myers of Pharyngula in his post, How can they screw up this badly?, and Mary of Pacific Views in her post, The Washing of Hands, see a parallel with another, rather well-known, execution.

One of the major problems with the Shrubbery’s administration is that the “attack dog” propaganda that they have used to win elections doesn’t work on the international stage. Instead of selling their program, they have always won by trashing the program of the opposition. That’s why Republicans keep calling for the Democrats to produce plans – they need something to oppose, to attack because they don’t actually have any plans of their own. This is government by slogan and bullet points because the “leader” can’t deal with anything as complex as a paragraph.

Thirteen months ago the White House produced an outline, National Strategy for Victory in Iraq, that was supposed to be “the plan.” They never wrote the paper explaining what it meant.

Now they are going to announce the McCain “surge” plan, which is actually an escalation, but they won’t tell us what the extra troops are going to be doing beyond vague references to “security” or “training.” This will be more improvisation from a troop of “players” lacking in wit and talent.

A public execution is a staged, theatrical event. It is a morality play put on by a government to teach a lesson. The participants are in costume and the gallows is a stage. The purpose is to demonstrate that “crime doesn’t pay” and “justice will be served.” If the forms aren’t properly observed it can turn the villain into a martyr.

What John refers to as the Ox-Bow Incident in Baghdad took what should have been a ritualized set piece, and made it a badly performed improvisation.

Having seen the unedited video, Riverbend calls it a lynching in which Saddam is the only one showing any dignity.

Glenn Greenwald notes that Iraqi law was not followed and links to a Steve Soto post that reveals that the “cast” was replaced by members of Moqtada al Sadr’s Madhi Army.

Now the media is reporting the U.S. tried to delay the execution, an exercise in crisis management now that it is obvious that that the Shrubbery’s one seeming success in Iraq is as flawed as every other action he has taken.

The “script” is centuries old and there are detailed “stage directions” covering the “props.” Everyone knows that in Westerns, when the mob takes a suspect out of jail to lynch him, the surprise evidence appears to prove the suspect was innocent. In the old days it occurred before the suspect’s death, but later, if the screenwriter was looking for an extra dose of morality and wanted to really punish the mob, the innocent was allowed to die.

Ellroon Rants from the Rookery of has picked some assistance from Susie of Suburban Guerrilla in watching the evil rodents with a link to a story on their research efforts: Squirrels Outwit Trees*.

I’m highly skeptical of reports of Sqrats.

[* – This should not be confused with outwitting the Shrubbery.]

Do not expect to see the flag-draped casket of the 3,000^th American who died in combat in Iraq this weekend. Unlike the hanging of people the Shrubbery doesn’t like, the funerals of Americans who die in combat are too “disturbing” to be shown on television.

Brother Wolcott keeps knocking them over the fence, as in Rites and Wrongs:

…It’s as if we’re trying to soothe ourselves into believing that we’re still the country we used to be, that’s there’s a higher seamlessness to American life undisturbed by the staccato rhythms of bad news. What happens in Iraq stays in Iraq. A flag-draped coffin is acceptable viewing only if a dead president is inside.

So many targets struck with such a wonderful economy of words.

You have to wonder exactly who in the Iraqi government thought it would be a good idea to execute Saddam on the sabbath and coincidentally the Eid ul-Adha, the commemoration of Abraham’s willingness to sacrifice his son for G-d.

Why this couldn’t have waited until mid-week? Saddam wasn’t going anywhere and they had 30 days to take action.  This is the kind of thing the CPA did routinely.

Update: OWL, noted in comments that there are radio reports that only Saddam was executed; that the other two will be executed after the holiday.

According to the BBC, Saddam Hussein, his half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti, and Former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar were executed just before 6:00AM local time on Saturday [9:00PM CST Friday].

Nothing has been resolved, and no one is safer because of this rush for vengeance.

Update: Riverbend has an end-of-year post up that deals with the pending execution. Read the entire post for the local view of what the year has brought to the Iraqi people.

PSoTD notes that Susie Madrak of Suburban Guerrilla is following Billmon’s lead at the Whiskey Bar and dropping out of blogtopia.

Both sites are gone today, so it looks rather permanent.

Their voices and perspectives will be missed, but you have to want to do this to maintain the grind of frequent posting, and there is a “real world” to attend to, beyond blogs.

Although no one knows when it will be finished, the Royal Mail gears up for final Potter book launch. After all the work and extra equipment needed to deliver the sixth book, the Royal Mail is trying to get ahead of the crush for the last book in the series.

Even though it exists only as a name, pre-orders have already made Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows the number one book on the UK branch of Amazon.

In Australia a cat is credited with saving a family from a house fire. If they invent a cat-friendly can opener you can forget the heroism.

If you decide to get drunk and obnoxious on an airplane, you really should avoid slapping an undercover federal air marshal.

Just what the world needs – a cheese cam:

“It’s better than watching paint dry – just,” said chairman Philip Crawford.

“As you can see we really do take our cheese-making seriously. We nurture our cows so they produce lovely milk which in turn creates exquisite cheese.

“Some might say this is the most boring website of 2007, but our cheese is worth waiting for,” said Mr Crawford.

Cheddarvision, because your life really is that boring.

Ellroon continues to provide coverage of one of the most underreported stories of the year: squirrel terrorism.

Regarding the recent death of Gerald Ford, let me say that Betty Ford was one of the best First ladies the country has ever had. She turned her problems into opportunities to help millions and brought things that were suppressed out into the open so that solutions could be actively sought.

[A point of information: Harry Truman was President when I was born, so my feelings about Presidents since Harry are based on personal knowledge.]

Mark Fiore has responded to the holiday season with The Twelve Days of Whoopsmas: [Part 1] and [Part 2].

You have to wonder why the smartest male in the White House is the only one that has been neutered.

[Note: I had some problems with Part 2, but you will get the point rather quickly.]

James Wolcott notes that the winger war on the AP continues, but their “intelligence” isn’t improving. Parallel Numbers is an explanation of reality for those who object to anyone not among their group using 9-11 as a point of comparison.

It is rather jarring to hear the wingers essentially saying that Iraq had nothing to do with 9-11.

From an article in the CNN travel section:

The stranded travelers were gone from Denver’s airport by Tuesday, but the stranded suitcases were not.

[snip]

Megan McCarthy, a spokeswoman at United, said the airline allows passengers to go online and enter their baggage ticket number to find out where their luggage is.

Baggage handling at the Denver airport has been a mess since the new terminal area opened, but the fact that United has established an on-line version of Where’s Waldo for your luggage makes the scope of the mess clearer.

Update: If you flew on Continental, you might start checking dumpsters for your luggage.

I realize that I’m not part of a “professional media organization”, like CNN, but I would like to think I would have noticed a problem with the QuickVote question posted at 10:01PM EST:

“Do you think driving would be safer with less rules of the road?”

Even the grammar checker in Word noticed.