Note: the foolishness of American civic discourse now requires any mention of Saddam Hussein to be accompanied by a mandatory condemnation. Yes, yes, yes, he was a “bad man.” Yes, yes, yes, he ”killed his own people.”

In the aftermath of Saddam Hussein’s execution, two disparate schools of thought seem to be emerging in the US and throughout the world. More noticeable in the world-wide community is a sense of disapproval, ranging from a mild distaste one finds in the more advanced countries that no longer consider the “eye for an eye” mentality of brute vengeance a satisfactory answer to problems of the 21st century to downright outrage over the killing at the beginning of a Muslim holy day.

In a telling commentary after his death sentence was handed down in November, a CBS News story reported:

CBS/AP) Saddam Hussein's death sentence was celebrated by some as justice deserved or even divine, but denounced by others as a political ploy before critical U.S. midterm congressional elections.

Worldwide, the range of reactions — including a European outcry over capital punishment and doubts about the fairness of the tribunal that ordered Saddam to hang — reflected new geopolitical fault lines drawn after the U.S. decision to invade Iraq in 2003 and depose its dictator.

…

The European Union welcomed the verdict but said Saddam should not be put to death. At the Vatican, Cardinal Renato Martino, Pope Benedict XVI's top prelate for justice issues, called the sentence a throwback to “eye for an eye” vengeance.

After the execution, the NY Times is reporting in its Sunday edition:

Mr. Hussein’s execution took place early on a day that for Sunni Arabs was the beginning of the Id al-Adha holiday. (Shiites will begin celebrating on Sunday.) Mr. Hillu said the death “adds some more taste.”

If Shiites saw the hanging as a gift, most Sunnis were revolted that, in what appeared to be a violation of Iraqi law, the execution was scheduled on a holiday of forgiveness.

“Actually, I felt angry,” Ms. Abdul Aziz said. “It’s not a proper time. I assure you, those who are feeling that this is a good time and a good judgment, they are not Iraqis.”

In Iraq itself there were public celebrations and quietly expressed sentiments of relief and estrangement from the spectacle of state-sponsored revenge.

As Iraqis across the country awoke to the news that the former dictator had been hanged, the bitter remains of his rule defined their responses.

For Shiites, long oppressed, it was a moment of intense release.

“This chapter of Iraqi history is over,” said Mowaffak al-Rubaie, the national security adviser, speaking on national television early Saturday. “Let us forget it and live with each other.”

Sunni Arabs were skeptical. After three years of grinding violence and abuses by the Shiite government security forces, trust has all but fallen away, and few feel genuinely represented by the government. Most, in fact, are afraid of it.

“I’m not part of their world,” said Yusra Abdul Aziz, a teacher in the Sunni Arab enclave of Mansour. “They are not speaking about Iraq. They are speaking about themselves.”

In a sidebar to a USAToday story some Iraqi citizens give their opinions on the execution:

"If it was another government who executed Saddam you would find me celebrating by dancing in the middle of the street, but unfortunately I feel so disappointed today, because this government have done every ugly thing against Iraqis in the last couple years." —Asmaa Sami, 28, High school teacher, Sunni

"United states and this government have shown this morning their real ugly face to the Sunnis, today is our first day of holly Eid, this execution will be the spark of the real resistance operations allover the country, they invaded our country, they ruined our infrastructure, they killed hundred of thousands of our people and now they executed our president, they will pay for this sooner or later."
—Ghassan Abullah, 36, civil engineer, Sunni

"No doubt every criminal like Saddam deserve this fate, but I am unhappy with the timing of this execution, this is wrong message to our brothers Sunnis in their first day of Eid holyday." -Ali Abdel-Rahman, 34, Taxi driver, Shiite

In the US however, the reaction on the right was uniformly triumphalist. Larissa Alexandrovna, Managing Editor of RawStory.com discussed this attitude on her own personal blog online magazine:

It is always interesting to watch a neo-fascist with the brain cells of a flea attempt to reason. I of course applaud all attempts toward logic and reason and so I applaud these little parasites in their quest for developing a fuller, more human brain.

The latest psycho-babble from the far right is presented thusly: Anyone who is opposed to the execution of Saddam Hussein - many the world over, was a Saddam Hussein supporter. Yes, you heard (read) me right:

This is followed by a hyperlinked quote from a fantasist, and in the spirit of DCOW, there is no citation. Feel free to visit Ms Alexandrovna’s fine news and opinion site and click through, although you can just read the quote there.

But you don't want to know facts. You don't even want to know where Osama is (remember him, wanted dead or alive?). What you want is some sort of feeling that you matter and that you are a real American. Unfortunately, real Americans like you, are the reason Saddam came to power to begin with.

Those opposed to the execution are not mourning the death of Saddam. What they are mourning is the loss of our own national conscience. Some are, as I have pointed out, not happy with the farce of a trial in a country to which we are attempting to (so they say) export democracy. Some are not comfortable because of the timing, which just happens to be during a holy time in Muslim religion. Not that you would know this as xenophobes are busy only with flag waving and gay bashing.

To call me, the Vatican, human rights organizations, Christian, Jewish, Islamic leaders, the EU, most Americans, and basically the entire planet "an enemy" takes a lot of nerve for someone who is nothing but a racist with a blog. I mean really, what have you actually done in your pathetic little life that would allow you to believe for a moment that you have any right to call anyone an enemy?

Shrill, just so shrill. Yet, the accuracy of Ms Alexandrovna’s observations are frighteningly accurate. The fascists who have financed and fed a continuous 35 year assault against the American brand of Democracy had exactly this mindset as their ultimate goal: a poorly educated prole, incapable of logical and discriminative thought, trained to react viscerally to the most brutish of stimuli. These stimuli include the field-proven goads of jingoism, racism, and gender and sexual discrimination.

The US is attacked? Well, just get even. Kill someone, preferably someone who is different. Then it’s back-slapping, high-fiving and back to mindless shelf sitting until the next manufactured outrage is brought forth to stir the primitive brain stem.