EnMasse

[Norse of 60]

[leftcoastguy]

Remember those initial media reports about how dignified Saddam's execution was and how he was treated with respect, etc. Absolute falsehoods from the mainstream media as we have learned now through details coming to light as a result of someone's cell phone used to record the event.

Saddam buried in his home village
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Thinking is so overrated.

[Hephaestion]

[leftcoastguy]

Quite the prison guards.

When he was cornered in the foxhole he knew he would die

Tyrant met his end with fortitude
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Thinking is so overrated.

[Agent86]

Here's the actual execution video of Saddam Hussein. It was taken with a cell phone camera so it's a bit choppy, but still, it's very graphic. Please don't watch if you have a weak stomach.


http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-7532034279766935521

[Diane Demorney]

I'm a little leery about having that link to the execution posted here, Agent86. It is so offensive, on so many levels. However, I'm not sure if it actually violates the AUP. I will ask you, though, as a favour, to edit it out. TIA.
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The truth is out there...

[Hephaestion]

Y'know what's really funny? The Lapdog is refusing to comment, on the grounds that he's "morally opposed" to the death penalty.

Yaaa, sure, Tony. "Washing his hands" didn't do much to redeem the reputation of Pontius Pilate, and it sure as fuck won't get rid of all the blood on yours, you hypocritical maggot.
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"The dignity of an animal is measured by his capacity to revolt in the face of oppression." -- Mikhail Bakunin

[al-Qa'bong]

The image was this:



spliced with Saddam and two hangmen, in case you're interested. It's at the link.

[Edited by Diane Demorney to remove offensive image]

Please don't let on that you knew me when

A BBC account of what happened (WARNING: There's a photo at the link)

Saddam hanging taunts evoke ugly past

[Change]

You know. I am really against the idea of posting pictures or links that show images of the execution. To be honest, it really pisses me off that the images are shoved down our throats even if some of us tried our hardest to avoid witnessing this brutality. For god's sake, please get rid of the picture.
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What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. And I don't like it any more than you men.

[Diane Demorney]

I'm backing babblerwannabe on this one.
/mod hat on
I did ask Agent86 to remove the link to the video (as a favour), however the picture is over the line. al-q, please remove asap. You can link to a photobucket account if you wish.
/mod hat off.
ETA: al-q is not online, and I don't know when he will be. Therefore I am deleting the picture. He can link to an off-site account later, if he wishes.
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The truth is out there...

[Change]

I also want to say I have nothing against al-Qa'bong, I am sorry if I sounded rude.
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What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. And I don't like it any more than you men.

[Diane Demorney]

Obviously, babblerwannabe, I can't speak for al-q. However, I did not find your post to be rude. Quite the contrary. I don't like "censoring" posts, but there is a limit to my flexiblity. Links that give warnings (e.g. graphic images, not safe for work) are okay.
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The truth is out there...

[Hephaestion]

[al-Qa'bong]

[Diane Demorney]

Military nurse recalls softer Saddam

[skeptikool]

I did not, and would not, open a link that displayed anyone's death throes. So I thank the poster for the warning.

Even at his death, many will attempt to further smear Saddam Hussein, and a certain spin is at work, but I believe he went with a class that those that delivered him to the gallows lacked.

[Change]

But the picture was not completely artificial, it did use the real image of the execution of Saddam. I don’t think anyone should have to look at such violent act without their permission. I just don’t see the point of actually seeing something like that.
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What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. And I don't like it any more than you men.

[Hephaestion]

[Change]

It didn't shock me, it disgusts me.
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What we've got here is failure to communicate. Some men you just can't reach, so you get what we had here last week which is the way he wants it. Well, he gets it. And I don't like it any more than you men.

[leftcoastguy]

Well I am glad that person, whoever it was, filmed the execution with their cell phone camera I presume. The reason being is that we now have a different version of how SD's conducted himself the last few minutes of his life, compared to what was being said in the mainstream press prior to the video being released.

Does anyone here at enMasse remember another prominent person being executed like this during their lifetime?
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Thinking is so overrated.

[Agent86]

[skeptikool]

While there are those who may express disgust at certain aspects of this killing, it is clear that the Americans rendered assistance.

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/31/world/middleeast/31iraq.html?th&a...

excerpt:

[Tehanu]

Well, different interpretations, I guess ... the NY Times today is reporting that the Americans were unhappy with the "rush" to execute him.

However, given that they controlled the custody, they were the ones who did the transporting ... it rings a little hollow.

And if it's immoral to do an execution during the Eid holidays, is it not immoral to do one just before?

[anne cameron]

Ah, well, maybe Pete and Steve believe "ignore it and it will go away" is the way to handle all foreign affairs questions.

[sparqui]

I'm guessing Harper can't bring himself to condemn capital punishment because he would love to bring back the death penalty. He also has to avoid drawing attention to his past record -- cheering on the US invasion of Iraq. Canada's new government's nuanced approach will be to throw out meaningless goodwill statements like this one:

[No Yards]

[al-Qa'bong]

Naw, that's not it.

He knows that if he, Pete "The Bone" McKay, and Stockpile Day actually said "the only good Arab is a dead Arab" in public, they might lose a percentage point or two in the polls.
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"The purpose of government is to protect the weak from the powerful" Hammurabi

We can't all be Sam the Sham; some of us have to be Pharoahs

[peterjcassidy]

The chickens are coming home to roost. The taunting of Saddam as he faced death and questions about the legality of the execution lead to:


http://www.hamiltonspectator.com/NASApp/cs/ContentServer?pagename=h...

[skeptikool]

As objectionable as it was, the "unruly behaviour" at the hanging, should not distract from the U.S.'s role in the whole affair.

At large: G.W. Bush

[Agent86]

Arrest made in Hussein hanging video probe
Associated Press

Baghdad — The person believed to have recorded Saddam Hussein's execution on a cellphone camera was arrested Wednesday, an adviser to Iraq's prime minister said.

The adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, did not identify the person. But he said it was “an official who supervised the execution” and who is “now under investigation.”

“In the past few hours, the government has arrested the person who made the video of Mr. Hussein's execution,” the adviser said.

Iraqi state television broadcast an official video of Saturday's hanging, which had no audio and never showed Mr. Hussein's actual death. But the leaked cellphone video showed the deposed leader being taunted in his final moments, with witnesses shouting “Go to hell!” before he dropped through the gallows floor and died.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20070103.wiraqvi...

[unionist]

[anne cameron]

Only if dubya says they should... and I think it's a him, I doubt any hers were in there...

[unionist]

2 Saddam co-defendants will reportedly hang Thursday

[bshmr]

I saw something that TWO (2) officials were shown to visibly hold cell-phones as if recording the events, that would be in addition to the official recordings.

Rather than the recordings and dissemination being an issue, the baiting damns the process for what it was -- 'king of the mountain' abuse, to victors go the spoils and the writing of history.

*

Reminds me of that conspiracy to circumvent justice plotted by the Gingrich mob -- the radio phone call bounced to Florida, was recorded by common citizens, who were prosecuted for reveling it to a congressperson, who in turn is still litigating away thousands for actually addressing a obvious crime which went unaddressed.

[Agent86]

[bshmr]

[Agent86]

It doesn't matter what was recorded. The fact is that someone was going around recording private conversations, which is against the law for good reason. It could very well have been a call to your doctor or insurance company that was recorded. You probably wouldn't like that very much. I know I wouldn't.

The fact that the original recording may have captured an ethical lapse on the part of Newt Grinch is irrelevant, at least as it relates to the illegal act of those who recorded it. You can't just say to them "Oh great, you caught pol in the act, so we're going to overlook this crime of yours". How many other calls did these two record without authorization? Guess we'll never know.

[anne cameron]

Thou shalt not in any way by any means at any time do, say, think or cause to be done, said, or thought anything which might in any way show the soundless "official" version was bullshit of the first order.

Dubya's anus lickers intended to show a sound-free abreviated clip which would have suggested a decently conducted execution. The grainy cell phone clip, with sound, shows that official version to be an outright lie.

This was not an execution, it was a lynching, done by a mob. And they managed to make a mass murderer actually look dignified, almost regal. At one point, Saddam actually smiles. Betcha he KNEW the clamor was going to show much of the world what a goddam travesty the whole thing was.

Betcha there's no cell phone coverage when the next guys swing. Betcha we wind up with a sanitized official version.

And for those who have objections to the linking to the cell phone coverage...THIS is why it was important to make it widely available, so there would be witnesses to the lies coming from the official version fictionalizers.

[Agent86]

[bshmr]

[Agent86]

[Senor Magoo]

[anne cameron]

No, Magoo, dear friend, the "big deal" is that after a kangaroo court the US controlled "officials" wanted to show a dignified execution. And the big deal is that cell phone coverage showed it for what it was, a lynch mob.



And while I have read about this "official" record, I haven't seen any sign of it so maybe they're at least smart enough to realize showing it would only make them look like even bigger jerks.

[Senor Magoo]

[anne cameron]

Are you in a bit of a mood today, dear? Maybe a nice cup of tea... with just a shot of lemon...

[al-Qa'bong]

Definition of a lynching:

[Senor Magoo]

An unfair trial resulting in a hanging could reasonably be called a lynching, I suppose, but a few people yelling something out at said lynching don't necessarily constitute a "lynch mob". If nothing else, a "lynch mob" typically seeks to take the place of any kind of trial or verdict, no? They aren't simply the attendees at the execution.

And that said, one of the peculiarities of Hussein's trial is that, while it was clearly flawed in process, it's hard to say it arrived at the wrong verdict. I wasn't keen on the sentence, but the verdict didn't really surprise me, "kangaroo" court or no. Does anyone think Hussein was innocent? I don't mean, "does anyone think Rummy was more guilty?". I mean, does anyone really think the court, such as it was, arrived at a guilty verdict when it should have acquitted?
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ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°`°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,¸_¸,ø¤°°¤ø,

[al-Qa'bong]

[sparqui]

Of all the charges against him, the violent vengence on 148 men in a village that attempted to assasinate him is not what one would call genocide. Brutal and repressive? Most definitely. But in the scheme of things, in terms of how dictators hold on to power (think Pinochet, Franco and Suharto for example), that is one of his lesser crimes. So are the courts going to make a reasonable case in these subsequent trials in proving that he comitted crimes against humanity without implicating his US overseers? I highly doubt it. And how are they going to manage to draw a verdict without a defendant?
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“If my grandmother had wheels, she'd be a tractor.”

-- Gilles Duceppe

[No Yards]