Another Milestone on that Treadmill to Democracy

"With the execution of Saddam, the life dossier of one of the world's most criminal dictators was closed," proclaimed Iranian television as the government welcomed the hanging. Saddam Hussein started a war with Iran which lasted for eight years and killed a great many people; but he was hanged for something else, because the West paid his bills. "Saddam Hussein's execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops," proclaimed George W Bush, rather accurately. "Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice", or, in Standard English, stringing him up after a bit of a trial to amuse the folks, "will not end the violence in Iraq," Bush continued, rather accurately; "but it is an important milestone on Iraq's course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain and defend itself and be an ally in the war on terror" because, well, hangings tend to have that effect, especially when they fail to stop violence. The Vicar of Downing Street made no comment at all, possibly because he is too busy being star-struck at the home of a Bee Gee. His Minister for Lesser Breeds stressed that the Iraqis were responsible for stringing up Saddam Hussein and for televising the moments immediately before and immediately after his execution. Britain does not support the death penalty "in Iraq or anywhere else", except possibly for the United States, where it is more anomalous, some of the time. Anyway, it is encouraging to see that Tehran and Washington have found something to agree upon at last: Tehran approves of hanging former US allies, and so does the US. It may provide a useful alibi should somebody - Olmert bar Sharon, perhaps, or even, in a final, explosive orgasm of transatlantic co-operativity, the Vicar himself - decide to rain liberation on Iran during the New Year.