"To judge from the excited build-up, Saddam Hussein will be killed very soon. Once his location is identified, the spectacle of his death can soon be orchestrated. To have the greatest impact, perhaps it will be televised in all time zones on a weekday, avoiding the competition of weekend sports. There must be burnt offerings and a triumphal revelation of the corpse. For an insecure America, this killing will be a "ritual of blood," a "compact of fellowship" – terms used by West Indian sociologist Orlando Patterson in the context of ritual lynchings in the Old South." full story by Tom Hayden on AlterNet