Dear George:
Sentencing Saddam to hang may represent justice, but it does not make good political or strategic sense. The Sunni position that this was U.S. orchestrated,true or false,will continue to be believed.
Hanging Saddam will make him a martyr and a cause which will cost many American and Iraqi lives for years. Our U.S. Government should publicly urge the Iraqi Appellate Court to commute his sentence to life imprisonment.
He would thus soon fade as a cause and we will gain by urging justice tempered with mercy (although I personnally feel that life imprisonment is the harsher alternative). Have I an axe to grind? You bet. My career Navy grandson is on his 4th Middle East deployment and likely to see additional service there. I much prefer to see his commissioning that his funeral.
Many thanks for your kind attention.
Your strong supporter,
Richard
Age 78
Lawrenceville, GA
