The Ace of Spades, the Ace of Spades

Ah, just when you thought things could barely get any worse in Iraq, they give Saddam the death penalty. He is to be hanged for crimes against humanity.

Fuck me, it's sure to be mayhem over there in the coming days, isn't it? I mean, isn't it? Is this not a no-brainer?

Wife and I were talking about this over breakfast this morning, before they had passed the sentence, and we were saying how strange it is that Baghdad has become synonymous with all these terrible things over the past few years. Sure, Saddam was in power for 35 years, but we in our insulated cocoons knew little of what was going on. As children, we saw Baghdad as this wonderful, magical, exotic city of flying carpets and beautiful palaces. Now look at it. It's a great shame.

I don't know how I feel about Saddam being sentenced to death. I'm not really against the death penalty, truth be told, in cases where there is absolutely no question over someone's guilt of horrific crimes against people. That said, it's easier to feel that way in a country that doesn't use it. All I'm thinking right now is that it seems a barbaric thing to do, and death by hanging more so than lethal injection or firing squad, the latter being Saddam's preferred choice. In the meantime, of course, he's appealing. Well, wouldn't you?

Of course, I would add to this that the whole thing is bullshit. While Saddam has rightly been found guilty of heinous acts, the fact remains that this whole thing never would have happened if the US-led war had not gone ahead, which it shouldn't have on the reasons that were given. Nobody actually gave a fuck while he was killing people, and yet as soon as someone lied about WMDs, we were there like a shot. Ends justify the means? Maybe. But it still leaves a bitter taste in my mouth.

Anyway, whenever the death penalty is on the agenda, I find myself thinking of the following song.


"Let Him Dangle", Elvis Costello

Bentley said to Craig, "Let him have it, Chris."
They still don't know today just what he meant by this.
Craig fired the pistol, but he was too young to swing,
So the police took Bentley and the very next thing
Let him dangle.
Let him dangle.

Bentley had surrendered, he was under arrest,
When he gave Chris Craig that fatal request.
"Craig shot Sidney Miles, he took Bentley's word,"
The prosecution claimed as they charged them with murder.
Let him dangle.
Let him dangle.

They say Derek Bentley was easily led.
Well, what's that to the woman that Sidney Miles wed?
Though guilty was the verdict, and Craig had shot him dead,
The gallows were for Bentley, and still she never said,
"Let him dangle,
Let him dangle."

Well it's hard to imagine it's the times that have changed
When there's a murder in the kitchen that is brutal and strange.
If killing anybody is a terrible crime,
Why does this bloodthirsty chorus come round from time to time?
Let him dangle.

Not many people thought that Bentley would hang,
But the word never came, the phone never rang.
Outside Wandsworth Prison there was horror and hate
As the hangman shook Bentley's hand to calculate his weight.
Let him dangle.

From a welfare state to society murder,
"Bring back the noose" is all that is heard
Whenever those swine are under attack,
But it won't make you even,
It won't bring him back.

Let him dangle.
Let him dangle (string him up).