Referring to Sharon Rideout’s letter to the editor, “Hanging Saddam,” (BDN, Dec. 28) it’s no surprise that liberals are once again lumped into one neat package with the insinuation that it is something for which to be ashamed.

I am fine with being one myself if it means standing for peace and justice, and the sanctity of all life.

I am against the death penalty whether for the atrocities Saddam Hussein committed, or for George W. Bush and his administration’s illegal, immoral and unjust invasion and occupation of Iraq based on their flagrant lies and deception, where hundreds of thousands of Iraqi civilians and more than 3,000 U.S. troops have died.

Saddam Hussein and President Bush and his administration should pay for their crimes against humanity by spending the rest of their lives in prison.

Peter Phillips

Bangor