Just being alive sometimes fills me with a deep sense of depression, and I am an optimist. The thing is re Saddam's hanging - in a perfect world it should not have to be done. It is a reminder of the horrible evils in this world, and that some people actually choose evil. The act of making Saddam pay for his evil becomes bigger than Saddam, and a reminder of all the evil men and their deliberate choice to do evil. It can be very depressing at times, especially to those of us who grew up and live in free countries, choose good, we are at a loss why our fellow human beings and their "leaders" don't choose to do the same.
Sometimes people focus on the wrong or miss the bigger message. The bigger political message in the ME is that any tyrant can now expect that the people may rise up and hold them accountable for their brutality.
That is not the message they like to hear in that region.
But it's coming nevertheless.