Sadam Hussein has finally paid the price for crimes against humanity

I just heard that phrase on the news (I heard about his hanging last night, but that phrase caught my ear).

Actually, I think he's just beginning to pay the price. The hanging was the beginning. He will continue to pay the price forever.

I think there's something significant that he was hanged in the same week that Gerald Ford died. It's that "compare and contrast" thing you hated so much in high school. Gerald Ford, who pardoned Nixon, did something that was extremely un-popular, but now most historians feel it was the right thing to do. It closed the book on one of the ugliest periods in American history. Somehow, Saddam's death now closes the book (or maybe starts the closing) on another ugly period (the Iraq war).

My sincere belief is that Saddam needed to be removed from office. I'm not sure if this was the right way, but I'm also not sure if there was another way. I'm not sure his death will help bring the war to a close, but I hope it turns the page, ends the chapter and all that's left is the epilogue.