Saddam Hussein will be dead by Sunday, and the Iraqi government will tape the execution. CBS News wasn’t able to find out whether the footage will be publicly available.

From the story:”‘We will video everything,’ National Security adviser Mouffak al Rubaie said. ‘All documentation will be videoed. Taking him from cell to the execution is going to be videoed, and the actual execution will be documented and videoed.’

“Iraqis, members of the coalition and international representatives will witness the execution, Pinkston reports. It’s not clear whether the videotape will be broadcast on Iraqi television.”

(Just as interesting, the government won’t release the exact date of the event, robbing insurgents of a day of martyrdom.)

The story doesn’t mention anything about the death penalty debate — activists are mostly keeping low profiles because if anyone has it coming, Saddam Hussein does — but this brings up an interesting ethical issue. Executions are government proceedings, paid for with taxpayer dollars. Should governments make and release graphic records of them?

Anti-death penalty folks have said “yes,” with the rationale that if the public saw how brutal killing is, political support for executions would drop. My response to this line of thought is, OK — but first, let’s watch a video of the criminal doing what got him put to death. A hanging, firing squad or lethal injection would often look cathartic in that context.

Pro-death penalty activists have sometimes also come out in favor of public executions, on the grounds that readily available, grotesque visuals would deter criminals.

But moving back to the more bureaucratic reason, that of government transparency. I’d argue it’s unnecessary, as basic record keeping with dates, method and trial transcripts provides enough information for the historical record. People want executions taped either out of morbid curiosity (if it makes it to YouTube, I will most definitely watch it) or the activism reasons sketched out above.

I would like to hear more from the Iraqi government, however. The story does not dwell on the issue of taping or give any defense of the practice.

Robert VerBruggen blogs at http://www.therationale.com and http://robertsrationale.blogspot.com.