War resistors still aren't openly discussed in the corporate media, but they are there. 28 arrested in San Francisco as Ltd. Watada faces pre-trial hearing in Ft. Lewis, WA. : Indybay (indybay.org): "Lt. Ehren Watada, the first U.S. commissioned officer to refuse deployment to Iraq, is being courtmartialed."

It will be interesting to see at what point the tide in the military will turn, as we approach yet another anniversary of the beginning of this particular war. War resistors have always existed, but they complicate the historical picture: it is one thing to say that "everyone" supported a war, or "everyone" believed the propaganda that led to an invasion, or even that "everyone" had no choice but to obey orders and do as they were told. War resistors prove that isn't true.

High speed, frontier justice. I don't think I know anyone who believed that Saddam Hussein would not be found guilty of any and all crimes that he has been accused of by the strange Iraqi court that has been set up under U.S. occupation. It also seemed very, very likely that the past rosy relationship between Hussein and various U.S. historical governments was an embarrassment - aiding Iraq with chemical weapons and other behaviors of which the US was not proud - and that many in the US who had a relationship with the dictator in the past would like to see him executed. Just the same, it was a surprise as to how quickly the ex-despot met his end in the gallows on the eve of an Islamic holy period.

Before Hanging, a Push for Revenge and a Push Back - New York Times (nytimes.com, 1/07/06). The execution seemed abrupt and hastily thrown together, and a smuggled in camera recorded the event made the event seem especially... how to put it. Ill planned? Vengeful? Old west?

Even before a smuggled cellphone camera recording revealed the derision Mr. Hussein faced on the gallows, the hanging had become a metaphor, among Mr. Maliki's critics, for how the "new Iraq" is starting to resemble the repressive, vengeful place it was under Mr. Hussein, albeit in a paler shade.

Americans, always looking for an end to an ugly chapter, are eager to count this as a positive outcome in an otherwise untenable post-invasion situation.