# More Hangings in Iraq **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [January 15, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046 "2007-01-15T07:54:25Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 7:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/1 "2007-01-15T07:54:25Z")
[Saddam’s half-brother and a judge.](http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L15195259.htm) > [@](#): > > Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and a former judge were hanged at dawn on Monday, 16 days after the ousted Iraqi president was executed, a senior official said as the government tried to maintain a media blackout. > > “It’s true. The government will confirm it,” the source told Reuters, adding that Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki’s government was trying to control the flow of information after illicit video of Saddam’s death prompted international uproar. > > The government spokesman is expected to announce at a news conference scheduled for 10:30 a.m. (0730 GMT) that Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam’s half-brother and former head of intelligence, and Awad al-Bander, former judge on his Revolutionary Court, were hanged for crimes against humanity. So, does this conflict with any holidays and will there be cellphone videos of it on the net? ---
**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 15, 2007, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/2 "2007-01-15T08:03:20Z")
After the last time, I’d say they’d be searching everyone involved before the event. Thoroughly. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/3 "2007-01-15T08:26:33Z")
Well, they were supposed to be searched before Saddam “did the dance,” but that didn’t happen. ---
**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 15, 2007, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/4 "2007-01-15T08:33:11Z")
Ah. I wasn’t aware of that. Well then - time will tell, eh? Probably not as much interest in these two, tho’. ---
**Author:** ![MEBuckner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mebuckner/32/2896_2.png) [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/5 "2007-01-15T14:30:50Z")
Oh, for fuck’s sake: [Hussein’s half-brother decapitated during hanging](http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/01/15/iraq.executions/index.html) ([CNN.com](http://CNN.com)) “The official video of the hangings shows Hussein’s half-brother lying headless below the gallows, his severed head several yards away, The Associated Press reported.” It’s good to see the well-oiled machinery of our good friends and allies in the Iraqi government is still smoothly humming on. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 3:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/6 "2007-01-15T15:00:11Z")
The Medical Examiner pronounced him dead at the scene. ---
**Author:** ![Mehitabel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8797f3/32.png) [@Mehitabel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mehitabel)\ **Post date:** [January 15, 2007, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/7 "2007-01-15T15:09:11Z")
Whoa! You’d think executions were the one thing Iraqis would be good at. Somebody needs a new calculator, unless Barzan was always wearing a weight belt under that robe. ---
**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 15, 2007, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/8 "2007-01-15T18:53:40Z")
Well, there ya go. They got their headlines, after all. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Santo\_Rugger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e95f7d/32.png) [@Santo\_Rugger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Santo_Rugger)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/9 "2007-01-16T17:54:15Z")
From an article in the [Santa Fe New Mexican](http://www.freenewmexican.com/news/55254.html): > [@](#): > > Khalaf al-Olayan, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, demanded to see any video taken during the execution. > > “It is impossible for a person to be decapitated during a hanging,” he told Al-Jazeera television. “This shows that they (the government) have mutilated the body and this is a violation of the law.” I guess Khalaf isn’t to familiar with hanging, per this [Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging) article: > [@](#): > > 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 (see illustration). Between 1892 and 1913, the length of the drop was shortened to avoid doing so. After 1913, other factors were also taken into account and the force delivered was reduced to about 1000 lbf (4,400 N or 450 kgf). ---
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [January 16, 2007, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/more-hangings-in-iraq/388046/10 "2007-01-16T18:10:05Z")
[QUOTE=Mehitabel] Whoa! You’d think executions were the one thing Iraqis would be good at. [/QUOTE] Well, they certainly are. They invented the hanging/decapitation method.