# Just one more thing gone wrong in Iraq **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 16, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200 "2007-01-16T16:09:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/1 "2007-01-16T16:09:33Z")
[Oops!](http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/15/iraq.executions/index.html) What’s the big deal? Dude was dead at least as quickly as if things had gone right. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/2 "2007-01-16T17:18:42Z")
What’s the big deal? He’s in two pieces! Damned unprofessional, if you ask me. Honestly, it’s getting harder and harder to find a competent hangman. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/3 "2007-01-16T17:40:48Z")
**Tuckerfan’s** [previous thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=404123) Was the same executioner used as for Saddam Hussein? That one, apart from the scenes around the hanging, was textbook. Either it’s different executioners – and this one was a novice – or they were lucky first time around and guessed the body-weight to drop ratio correctly. More stuff to be talked about by both sides over there, however it happened. ---
**Author:** ![Harmonious\_Discord](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/74df32/32.png) [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/4 "2007-01-16T18:12:53Z")
I don’t see the difference either. His head popped off, so what? The death is as sudden as the other. It’s not like it was the difference between a torturous death and a quick death. People always want to nitpick on the minor variations instead of focusing on the large variations. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Arky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/87869e/32.png) [@An\_Arky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Arky)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/5 "2007-01-16T18:36:41Z")
OK, this is just my cynical, paranoid side thinking here: What if they “accidentally” decapitated him on purpose, in order to send a message? Something along the lines of “OK, you loyalist assholes…you think hanging’s no big deal, eh? How about we accidentally take your fucking heads clean off? It can happen to you, too.” This cynical, paranoid side also thinks maybe they let cell-phone camera dude capture Saddam’s hanging to send a message, as well. Eh, think I’ll kick back, have a beer, and adjust my tinfoil hat… ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/6 "2007-01-16T18:37:01Z")
What’s the difference? Ask the guy who has to clean up the place… ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/7 "2007-01-16T19:30:59Z")
Still muttering about this one. You know, with all the croneyism and powder-puff favorite positions handed out by this administration to Bush loyalists, you’d think that W. – of all people, George W. Bush – would know a competent hangman he could have sent over there to over see what is essentially the most volatile operation we’ve conducted in Iraq to date. **An Arky** , I’m with you on this one. I think the Dems are behind this. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/8 "2007-01-17T01:39:54Z")
[QUOTE=Inigo Montoya] You know, with all the croneyism and powder-puff favorite positions handed out by this administration to Bush loyalists, you’d think that W. – of all people, George W. Bush – would know a competent hangman he could have sent over there to over see what is essentially the most volatile operation we’ve conducted in Iraq to date. [/QUOTE] I thought the executions were handled by the Iraqis. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/9 "2007-01-17T01:49:51Z")
> [@An Arky](#): > > OK, this is just my cynical, paranoid side thinking here: What if they “accidentally” decapitated him on purpose, in order to send a message? I don’t know who you mean by “they” here. Regardless, it’d be ineffective and you’d have to be stupid to try it, believing it would work. [QUOTE=Imasquare] I thought the executions were handled by the Iraqis. [/QUOTE] They were. ---
**Author:** ![Inigo\_Montoya](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inigo_montoya/32/124_2.png) [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/10 "2007-01-17T15:13:55Z")
[QUOTE=Imasquare] I thought the executions were handled by the Iraqis. [/QUOTE] Sorry–I’m just so completely disgusted with the we’ve handled this whole affair I have a hard time not believing the US’s paw prints are all over everything including the trial, sentencing and execution of the former regime. _The_ Iraqis didn’t hang these guys, _our_ Iraqis–specifically those we knew would execute him–did. Don’t get me wrong, these were some really vile men. If you’re into the death penalty then these would be your poster children. But these guys were sentenced to _hang_, and for all the competence displayed by those carrying out the execution, what they got was _lynched_. ---
**Author:** ![Squink](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5e925/32.png) [@Squink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Squink)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/11 "2007-01-17T15:41:20Z")
Wikipedia on [Hanging/Decapitation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging) > [@](#): > > This process, also known as the measured drop, was introduced in 1872 by William Marwood as a scientific advancement to the standard drop. Instead of everyone falling the same standard distance, the person’s weight was used to determine how much slack would be provided in the rope so that the distance dropped would be enough to ensure that the neck was broken. > > Prior to 1892, the drop was between four and ten feet (about one to three meters), depending on the weight of the body, and was calculated to deliver a force of 1,260 lbf (5,600 newtons or 572 kgf), which fractured the neck at either the 2nd and 3rd or 4th and 5th cervical vertebrae. However, this force resulted in some decapitations, such as the famous case of “Black Jack” Tom Ketchum in New Mexico in 1901. Between 1892 and 1913, the length of the drop was shortened to avoid decapitation. After 1913, other factors were also taken into account, and the force delivered was reduced to about 1,000 lbf (4,400 N or 450 kgf). Postcards from the gallows: [Sepia-tone photo from a 1901 postcard of Tom Ketchum’s decapitated body after hanging. Caption reads “Body of Black Jack after the hanging showing head snapped off.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KetchumDecapitated.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/12 "2007-01-17T16:45:46Z")
Send a message? “wet clean up on aisle three” Oddly enough, an execution is supposed to be solemn and humane. Most people consider the ripping apart of a body to be a desecration. It is bad form, especially when he was just supposed to be hung. ---
**Author:** ![ASAKMOTSD](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/919ad9/32.png) [@ASAKMOTSD](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ASAKMOTSD)\ **Post date:** [January 17, 2007, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/just-one-more-thing-gone-wrong-in-iraq/388200/13 "2007-01-17T19:30:08Z")
[QUOTE=Squink] Wikipedia on [Hanging/Decapitation](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging) Postcards from the gallows: [Sepia-tone photo from a 1901 postcard of Tom Ketchum’s decapitated body after hanging. Caption reads “Body of Black Jack after the hanging showing head snapped off.”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:KetchumDecapitated.jpg) [/QUOTE] If you look closely, the postcard reads “Having a great time. The rides at this amusement park are killer!” 😃