Should Saddam's WMD Equal Life For Him?

DEBKAfile is speculating that Saddam will try to trade his WMD secrets for his life. Personally, I don't particularly care for the idea, but DEBKA does throw out some interesting scenarios regarding Assad of Syria.

DEBKA is working on the assumption, gathered from their sources, that the US has a reasonably good idea as to the general location of the weapons in the Syrian desert. This would, of course, complicate the search for the WMD and could be a reasonable explanation as to why none have turned up in Iraq so far.

But is confirmation of our suspicion sufficient grounds for letting Saddam live? In my opinion, no. Look back at the mass graves. Look back at the pictures of kids of Halabja. Think back to the horrors of his torture chambers. Does the man whose government used a people shedder really deserve to live out the rest of his life in a natural manner after he unnaturally ended so many others? I don't think so.

But the decision is not mine to make. If Bush and Co. decide that trading Saddam his life for accurate information then so be it. That's why they get paid the big bucks for making decisions and I sit here pontificating for free.

Perhaps the capture of Saddam can lay the groundwork for the fall of the Syrian dictatorship. Perhaps. If we try to trade life for information, I certainly hope it does.

I said yesterday and I'll say it again, we have an obligation as Americans to conduct our affairs surrounding Saddam with a higher standard than the norm in the region. Machiavelli cannot be our guiding author. We must hearken back to the ideals of Jefferson and the other Framers. It would be great to use Saddam to bludgeon Syria into compliance with the world standards surrounding WMD possession and then still execute him. But it's not right. We cannot let the ends justify the means in this case.

I believe that our intelligence community could locate the WMDs without the help of Saddam, which is why I believe that we should not bargain away any possible consequence - death included.