Politics: Excellent Point

Lambert over at Atrios makes a great point about the killing of Saddam Hussein's sons. Lambert builds the case that we should have surrounded, waited out and eventually seized Qusay and Oday, and brought them to justice in a way that would enhance our standing in about a million different directions. Here's a good bit, but read the whole thing:

Great powers that survive over centuries know that "soft power" is both more efficient and more effective than "hard power."

Bringing Saddam's sons to justice would have reinforced true "American justice." The Iraqi people would have seen Saddam's sons in captivity, and seen justice in action (which they have not seen much of). Our soft power would have been reinforced.

The strategy of bringing a dictator to justice instead of killing him worked in the Balkans with Slobadan Milosevic (but since Clinton did that, it must be wrong). Again, why not go with what works?