Iraq: Now add 'judicial' death to the dirty war

The Washington Post reports that capital punishment is back in Iraq, and that three men - found guilty of murder, rape and kidnapping (particularly vile and repulsive crimes to whip up some blood lust) - are to be hanged "in the next ten days".

There is nothing very democratic about killing your own citizens - for whatever reason. In that moment all countries that practice it become totalitarian. But - whatever - people in some countries do like a primitive response of this kind towards the perpetrators of particularly gruesome and inhuman crimes.

That's alright then in a way, I guess.

On the other hand given statements like this: "Now, the government has pledged to make broader use of the death penalty, as it struggles to put down an insurgency that has taken more than 600 lives in the past month." suggest to me that it's not just the child-killers and kidnappers who will be subject to death - but rather those engaged in the insurgency - or that might be. You can be guaranteed that plans are underway to televise the hangings [hello Orwell again] - perhaps serving to enhance even further the already massive rating of 'Terror in the Grip of Justice' which appears on the US funded Al-Iraqiya TV.

What with the activities of the 'death squads' and now 'judicial' death running in parallel, this dirty war just got dirtier.