Why do I not look forward to Saddam's execution?

Why?

First, it is quite simple. I take no delight in murder or revenge. They are the marks of animals, not human beings.

As Percy Shelley wrote, in The Mask of Anarchy:

...What is Freedom?--ye can tell
That which slavery is, too well--
For its very name has grown
To an echo of your own.

... 'Tis to be a slave in soul
And to hold no strong control
Over your own wills, but be
All that others make of ye.

...Then it is to feel revenge
Fiercely thirsting to exchange
Blood for blood--and wrong for wrong--
Do not thus when ye are strong.

Simple enough advice. A measure of strength, I believe.

Murder is barbarism. The death penalty is unbecoming a modern world. Execution is barbaric; it reflects on the victors far more than the victims.

Second, assuming Saddam is guilty of even a portion of what he has been accused (which I have little reason to doubt), the least, the very least, that a civilized nation, a civilized court could offer is a fair trial, which I have little reason to believe his was. The closure that a fair trial, a fair finding of guilty, a harsh but civilized penalty that reflects the nature of the society in which it is issued rather than the bestial properties of the accused.

Pity that. And pity that the animals who led my great nation to war, to exchange barbarism for barbarism, violence for violence, blood for blood, wrong for wrong, who ensnared the innocent in the midst of that, who caused the deaths of thousands upon thousands, who destroyed a portion of our youth, poisoning their lives with death and murder still have not acknowledged their mistakes, their deceit for God-knows-what purpose to attack the tyrant of a nation, indeed that nation itself, in exchange for an attack on our soil which had nothing to do with them.

I grieve for my world, and hope that humanity will return for my children's sake.