SADDAM Hussein's fate is sealed. He will be hanged any day and images of his lifeless face will be flashed around the world to prove he is gone.

The execution will be celebrated by Saddam's enemies, not least the families of those who were tortured and murdered on the former Iraqi dictator's orders during a truly abhorrent reign.

It is easy to imagine George Bush smiling and proposing a celebratory toast once he gets the call to confirm that the hanging has been carried out.

But we do not endorse the decision to execute Saddam, and we do not see it as a cause for celebration.

That is not to say we do not understand the thirst for revenge among the people he terrorised, or appreciate the need for the decision about Saddam's future to be taken by an Iraqi court.

But we oppose the principle of the death penalty and therefore we must oppose the taking of Saddam's life and question what it will achieve.

While Saddam was imprisoned he was reduced to a sad, powerless, old man. We believe that is the way he should have stayed because his death will surely turn him into a martyr and inspire a fresh wave of terror.

The White House has declared that the decision to execute Saddam is a milestone in Iraq's transition to a democracy.

We suspect it will merely spur on the militants and make it even harder to establish the stable democracy the invasion of Iraq was supposed to achieve a long time ago.