As Saddam Hussein fell through the trap door at the end of a hangman's noose his death was deservingly just, and ironically merciful. Saddam Hussein, for instance, escaped the fate of Nuri as-Said, the prime minister to Iraq's kings, summarily shot after being captured while attempting to flee the capital disguised as a woman after the overthrow of the monarchy in July 1958. Nuri as-Said's body was disinterred, mutilated, burned and dragged through the streets of Baghdad before being disposed. But once Saddam was pulled out of a spider's hole in December 2003 by American soldiers, the tyrant knew fate...