NBC is reporting that Saddam could be hanged as early as today.

Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday, NBC News reported Thursday. According to a U.S. military officer who spoke on condition of anonymity, Saddam will be hanged before the start of the Eid religious holiday, which begins at sundown Saturday.

The hanging could take place as early as Friday, NBC’s Richard Engel reported.

The U.S. military received a formal request from the Iraqi government to transfer Saddam to Iraqi authorities, NBC reported on Thursday, which is one of the final steps required before his execution. His sentence, handed down last month, ordered that he be hanged within 30 days.

I am generally opposed to the death penalty. We’ve seen plenty of evidence here in America that innocent people get convicted on a regular basis. I don’t think the justice system can be improved to the degree necessary to assure that innocent people are not put to death. And, therefore, I support a permanent moratorium on executions.

However, the question of what to do with heads of state like Adolph Hitler or Saddam Hussein is a little bit of a different question. Their guilt in not in question. Their acts are there for all to see. The decision on what to do with Saddam Hussein is now complicated by the sectarian violence that is already broiling in Iraq.

With at least 72 more Iraqis killed in sectarian violence, U.S. officials and Iraqis expressed concern about the potential for even worse bloodshed following Saddam’s execution. His lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, said transferring Saddam to Iraqi authorities could be the trigger.

“If the American administration insists in handing the president to the Iraqis, it would commit a great strategic mistake which would lead to the escalation of the violence in Iraq and the eruption of a destructive civil war,” al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press in a telephone interview.

I don’t really know how much worse things might get if/when Saddam is executed. I suppose we can be fairly sure that it will not help. On the other hand, it will bring some finality to the era of Saddam and eliminate any prospect that he will ever resume control over the country. And if there is any really solid justification for executing Saddam, that would be the argument that I would make.

Regardless, the situation in Iraq remains completely untenable.

At least 30 Iraqis died Thursday in bombings and shootings, including a suicide bombing in a crowd of people waiting to buy kerosene near a stadium in Baghdad that killed 10, according to police. Police also said 42 bodies of tortured men were found dumped in the Iraqi capital Thursday.

The U.S. military in Iraq announced five more American troop deaths: four soldiers hit by roadside bombs on patrol and a Marine killed in combat in volatile western Iraq. The Department of Defense also identified three more American servicemen who died in Iraq this week that hadn’t been previously reported, according to an AP analysis.

The figures raised the U.S. troop deaths this month to 103, second only to the 105 service members who died in October. At least 2,991 members of the U.S. military have been killed since the Iraq war began in March 2003, according to an AP count.

The al-Qaida in Iraq cell leader allegedly responsible for the deaths of two of the servicemen was arrested Tuesday in a raid south of Baghdad, the military said. Al-Qaida in Iraq had claimed it killed the two U.S. soldiers found dead in June – Pfc. Kristian Menchaca of Houston and Pfc. Thomas Tucker of Madras, Ore. Their bodies were recovered after a search by 8,000 U.S. and Iraqi soldiers, dubbed Operation Fallen Eagle.

Every morning Baghdad wakes up to find a few dozen dead young men, usually tortured. How long do we want to be referees in this mayhem?