. . . And a Bad Man Gets a Good Lynching

You don't have to be a Sunni to be horrified by the manner in which Saddam Hussein was executed.

This Al-Maliki government rush job took on the air of a Shiite sectarian lynching with the former dicator, the noose around his neck, being taunted by shouts of “Go to hell!” and “Moktada! Moktada! Moktada!” — a reference to the radical Shiite cleric Moktada Al-Sadr.

Josh Marshall speculates that the man who took the Saddam hanging snuff film is none other than Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser.

Predictably, the circus has provoked outrage and rioting among Sunnis who do not need to be reminded that Al-Sadr has directed death squads that have killed thousands of their brethern.

Once upon a time, Saddam's execution was seen as an opportunity for the closure that Iraqis so badly need, a chance to exorcise demons.

Instead, it is the death rattle for the last chance for Sunni-Shiite comity.