A Birthday Present For Me: Saddam Death Knell

Feeling every one of my now 56 years this morning because of a cold that won't give up, I trudged downstairs to check the news and found this gift in my in-box:

Court: Execute Saddam Within 30 Days

Iraq's highest appeals court on Tuesday upheld the death sentence for Saddam Hussein in his first trial and said it must be carried out within 30 days. The sentence "must be implemented within 30 days," chief judge Aref Shahin. "From tomorrow, any day could be the day of implementation."

Hussein was not toppled, captured, tried by a newly democratic Iraqi government and convicted because we pulled out our military or set firm dates for withdrawing or launched investigations into Halliburton's contracts. It was accomplished from a position of strength, militarily and willfully.

Happy as I am to see Saddam almost gone -- a Nobel Peace Prize for GW, anyone? -- the better birthday present would be a return of that position of strength, through resolve behind a plan for victory in Iraq.

Related Tags: Iraq, War in Iraq, Saddam, Hussein