Links and Minifeatures 01 01 Monday (Happy New Year!)

Michelle Malkin extensively researches pro and con of the alleged Israeli ambulance attack. After looking at the evidence presented, I have to come down firmly on the side of "It sure looks staged to me."

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Saddam Hussein Executed



I would like to say I'm sorry that he's dead, but that would be a lie. There's a horrible mean little voice inside of me singing "Ding Dong, the witch is dead!" but I'm certain I'll pay for that karmically somehow. No matter how evil he was, to rejoice at another's death is wrong.



The man was evil. In order to move Iraq forward and bring closure to his horrible regime and the horrendous crimes perpetrated by it, he had to die. Either by execution or by waiting for him to die in prison, and this way removes one very concrete incentive for continued violence by his supporters (which are few) or those who might use him for their own ends (which are many). The Iraqi people and government did precisely the right thing in putting on an admirably restrained trial, and carrying out the verdict and sentence quickly.



It doesn't begin to do justice for his victims. It certainly doesn't bring them back. It certainly doesn't end the current insurgency, which has little to do with die-hard Ba'athists. It does close, once and for all, the brutally repressive Ba'athist chapter in Iraqi history.



Iraq the Model has the view from a much closer observer.



Don't remember where I read it, but we may end up wishing we had treated him like the Nuremburg defendants after WWII: Those found guilty were cremated after execution, and their ashes scattered at sea, to forestall their graves becoming rallying points for German resistance. The Ba'athists are essentially gone. But those remain who could pervert Saddam Hussein's memory to their own ends.



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Now that Saddam Hussein is dead, Scrappleface notes the release of a Woodward interview with him.



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via willisms, America's Red Ink



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Tigerhawk on the nature of risk and the value of being able to take it.



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Riehl World View has some perspective.



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Mark Steyn wants some resolution, or resolve.