Tariq Aziz's turn

If you follow the news, you probably heard that Tariq Aziz, Iraq's foreign minister and later deputy prime minister, was sentenced to death earlier this week by an Iraqi court for crimes against members of rival Shiite political parties. It's not that I'm a fan of Mr. Aziz, but I continue to believe that the death penalty is barbarian and shouldn't be part a country's toolbox that pretend to start anew like Iraq does. I don't think either that, in terms of Iraqis' deaths, he bears nearly as much responsibility than do, for instance Messrs. Bush and Cheney.

It is interesting to note that Tariq Aziz was born from a Chaldean Christian family, and that just weeks before the American-led invasion in 2003, he had an audience with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican. Since Aziz was sentenced to be hung, I was glad to hear that the Catholic Church had taken position against his execution on the grounds that the Holy See was against the death penalty and that such an act of clemency would "foster reconciliation and the reconstruction of peace and justice in Iraq after great suffering" according to its spokesman, Frederico Lombardi.

The Vatican wasn't alone as it was joined in its cries for clemency by the United Nations, the European Union, Amnesty International and even Russia. The United States, which motto is “in God we trust” and where most folks believe in the sanctity of life has said nothing...