Turns out that you can hang a bloodthirsty, genocidal dictator and not create a martyr and/or long term problems for yourself. Go figure.
That’s it: I was just meaning to bring that up eventually, and I figure that four years is a reasonable amount of time to wait before doing so. Also: read that link. Pre-Surge Iraq coverage by the regular media never ceases to amaze with its passive-aggressive schadenfreude.