"Our respect for human rights requires us to execute him..."
There's a lot there to jump on, once that ice-cream-headache reaction to outrageous bullshit recedes a little..
I could jump on the obvious paradox of how to respect human rights while violating them. What was it that was said during Vietnam? "We had to destroy the village to save it"? Bull-oney. Fighting for peace, fucking for virginity, honk if you love peace and quiet.
I could rant and excoriate al-Miliki and the usual gang of idiots for profaning the very concept of human rights, or I could launch a satisfyingly frustrating debate about the death penalty. Or..
I can focus on the word "requires."
This really just serves to underscore all of the above possible discussion topics, and it also illumines the conceptual axis upon which our two general philosophies pivot: fascism and progressivism (or whatever you'd choose).
These monsters act out their rages and insecurities on the world's stage and they are incapable of living in a world without wrath. Incapable. Tell one of them to calm down and they'll swear and scream at you: "I AM CALM, OR AT LEAST I WAS BEFORE YOU STARTED BOTHERING ME!"
If Saddam Hussein had to be removed from power, I would have wanted an international consensus on the matter, and I would have chosen an authentic international coalition to do the dirty work, and I would have wanted a real trial, and I don't see the need to execute him. Death penalty arguments aside, death is an inferior punishment for a head of state. Rotting (humanely) in a high-security prison for the remainder of his (hopefully long) life would have been adequate, and the cynic in me suggests that it could have been of equal or greater political value than his execution.
"requires."
Prime Minister al-Miliki, my Arabic is rusty, but I believe something may have been missed in the translation:
"Since we have no respect for human rights, let us offend further by citing such a respect as our reason for executing him, which we were going to do anyway."
"Fuck Saddam, we're taking him out!"
--the Decider, pre-trial comment
This is why... this is why, you vultures, you vampires.. this is why you are wrong and we are winning. And if we ever become you, then may we meet the same fate that you chose for Saddam Hussein.