In search of a civil execution

I have to admit it's a little baffling to read headlines like the ones where British bigwigs are falling all over themselves to say that the hanging of Saddam Hussein wasn't a very proper hanging.

British Prime Minister Tony Blair criticized the way in which Saddam was executed, his office said Sunday.

"He believes that the manner of the execution was completely wrong, but that should not lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam Hussein committed, including the deaths of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis," a spokeswoman for Blair's office said on condition of anonymity in line with policy.

Blair's likely successor, Treasury chief Gordon Brown, said Saturday that the taunting of Saddam during his execution and the release of an illicitly recorded cell phone video was "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable."

If everyone in the audience had been quiet and folded their hands in their laps, would that have been an acceptable execution? How exactly does the state kill someone in a manner that is civilized and reasonable?

What a peculiar world we live in.