Free Republic

BEIRUT, Lebanon, March 28 (UPI) -- Iraqi commander Ali Hassan al-Majeed ordered seven Baath officials in Basra executed on charges of "treason," Lebanon's al-Mustaqbal newspaper reported Friday. The newspaper also said al-Majeed dismissed the Baath party leader and replaced the military commander.

Texas put two men to death last week and has 16 more scheduled for injection by the end of April, putting the state on a record-setting pace at a time when capital punishment has come under increased scrutiny elsewhere. Even as the decision to empty Illinois' death row continues to reverberate, and as the Texas Legislature prepares to deal with a new U.S. Supreme Court prohibition on executing the mentally retarded, the Lone Star state's death penalty system churns forward with machine-like efficiency. "We're seeing people coming through at a quicker pace," said Larry Fitzgerald, spokesman for the Texas Department...

If Osama Bin Laden is ever caught alive, former Mayor Rudy Giuliani has one wish: He wants to be the one to execute the terrorist. In his new book, "Leadership," Giuliani revealed how he asked President Bush - three days after the Sept. 11 terror attacks - if he could be the executioner. "What can I do for you?" Bush had asked. "I told him, 'If you catch this guy, Bin Laden, I would like to be the one to execute him.' "I am sure he thought I was just speaking rhetorically," Giuliani wrote. "But I was serious. Bin Laden...