Saddams' last word

I am not going to link to it from here but Drudge has a link to a video of Saddam's actual hanging (w/sound). The video, taken from a cellphone, is choppy at times. However it does show Saddam fall and it does, briefly, show him hanging. The man was dead within seconds. The video is not that graphic but I am aware that such images can deeply bother some people. If you can handle such images you should visit Drudge and see the video.

Personally I think the Iraqis may have messed this up. It seems like the people who were doing the execution had personal issues with Saddam and therefore could not act in a professional way. It appears that they may have even had some sort of religious/political argument before they killed him and the reports of dancing around Saddam's body makes for a disturbing picture. I am concerned that it will be viewed as an act of revenge and not justice.

I share the concerns of ABCs Terry McCarthy who wrote...

"However, the impact of this video could be quite significant. First, it may reinforce Sunni suspicions that the execution of Saddam was merely an act of Shiite revenge for decades of repression under Saddam. The building where the execution took place was expressly chosen because it was once used as a detention center by a division of Saddam’s secret police that was focused on the Shiite Dawa party. Some of the witnesses whom the government invited to the execution had themselves once been tortured in that same building. Indeed, Prime Minister Maliki, who signed the execution order the day before the hanging, is a long-term member of the Dawa party and had himself been sentenced to death by Saddam back in 1980 before fleeing the country.
Worse, it may also reinforce the fears of Sunnis that Maliki’s government is beholden to the Mahdi army, Moqtada’s militia. Executions are generally expected to be solemn affairs –- certainly not opportunities for thugs to score some final sectarian points before the “enemy” is disposed of. The video itself seems quite distasteful –- but it is informative to the extent that it reveals the political baggage that the current government carries on its shoulders. It does not add up to a pretty picture." -From article "Bizarre Bazaar" on ABCNEWS blog.

Any execution should be carried out in a professional way. This is all the more true of a man like Saddam.

Another question I have is why is the Iraqi government using men who support Moqtada al Sadr to carry out offical government actions? Mainly high profile government actions? Those two questions raise some very troubling possibilities.

 

Anyone know how the Judges were selected?

How about these executioners?

What a sad way for ones life to end...

 

You're right Martin, that video needs a warning.

 

Almost tempted to see the execution on youtube but couldn't bear the grimness of watching some ones death.Saddam didn't have much in the way of dignity left before he died but he should have been afforded the right to die without the taunting.

 

These are the guys we are waiting to get democracy right so our troops can come home.

 

Yea, and that is why I now believe it is time for us to pull out of Iraq.

 

I wondered why the knot was to the side of his neck as they put it around him. But after seeing the video it looks like having it to the side of the head rather than the back of the head breaks the neck at impact. Pretty nasty.

 

That is really good to know. Maybe with some further research, you can find out how many loops were in the noose.

 

The video wasn't the least bit graphic..............a rather dignified method of execution given the horrible way in which many of his victims died.

 

I didn't count them, but traditionally I have been told that a hangman's knott has 13 loops.

 

You think Saddams executioner was in the union or belong to the guild?

 

I can try to count them if you'd like. Oh... you were being a smarty-pants. I get it.

 

Glad something sinks in.

 

Have you nothing better to do than follow me to forums? Get a life.

 

Excuse me while I got out my hanky.:tear:

 

It's a snuff film.

 

That's not nasty, it's quick & humane compared to strangling to death (if you're going to be killing someone).

 

I wasn't comparing it to any other method. Snapping a neck, no matter how or where is pretty nasty.