The new Iraqi government just botched another execution with the hanging of two men accused of aiding Saddam Hussein in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims. Hussein's half brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court, were hanged early Monday morning.

The hanging resulted in the accidental decapitation of Ibrahim, which has caused outrage across the world, especially among the Sunni population of Iraq.

The circumstances surrounding the hangings are already suspect, as the men were originally scheduled to be executed with Hussein. After being forced to wait for their executions for nine hours, the men were taken back to their prison cells and told their executions would come later. Iraqi authorities decided to hang Hussein alone, to mark the death's significance.

Only weeks after Hussein's execution became a rowdy and uncivilized affair, the foundering Iraqi government has yet to learn its lesson. Hussein's death has been criticized around the world as an embarrassing display lacking any sense of human rights. Witnesses of his hanging taunted Hussein on the gallows and recorded videos of the death on their cell phone cameras.

And while Ibrahim's decapitation was accidental and Iraqi government officials were quick to release videos demonstrating that his body was not mutilated, this most recent incident just goes to show that the democratic process is not yet working in this country.

To make matters even worse, three members of Iraq's presidential council had asked for the hangings of Ibrahim and al-Bandar to be delayed. Vice President Tariq al-Hashemi went on record saying he should have been consulted before the executions occurred.

The event has also done nothing to remedy the rapidly widening sectarian gaps. Sunni angry reactions have shown a great contrast from much of the Shiite populations' celebration, and run counter to efforts of finding common ground. Sunnis quoted in a recent Associated Press article express sentiments such as "to hell with this democracy." When even the Iraqi people feel their own court system is acting outside the grounds of democracy, a serious problem is at hand.

What this incident goes to show is that a democracy is not yet functional in its premature stages. The Iraqi government is too rapidly trying to both design and implement a democratic process that deals with the most serious issues it will face, including capital punishment.

The executions of Hussein, Ibrahim and al-Bandar were plagued by illegitimacy and should have been delayed until stability has returned to the region. The Iraqi government needs to learn to look before it leaps, or it's going to land in even hotter water. Building a democracy takes patience and time.