# Saddam execution video on TV **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [December 30, 2006, 12:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051 "2006-12-30T00:08:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 7
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/121 "2007-01-02T16:19:58Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] You posted someone else’s rant without any debate and managed to use “fuck” twice in the same sentence. Huh. [/QUOTE] Good thing you took the time to shoot the message and no the messenger. Oh wait! You didn’t. Because you can’t. Here’s another chance to berate _me_: [**Conveniently forgotten**](http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16044.htm) **Saddam committed most of his crimes when he was an ally of those who now occupy his country** > [@](#): > > It was symbolic that 2006 ended with a colonial hanging - most of it shown on state television in occupied Iraq. It has been that sort of year in the Arab world. **The trial was so blatantly rigged that even Human Rights Watch had to condemn it as a travesty. Judges were changed on Washington’s orders, defence lawyers were killed and the whole procedure resembled a well orchestrated lynch mob. Where Nuremberg was a relatively dignified application of victor’s justice, Saddam Hussein’s trial was the crudest and most grotesque to date.** > > The great thinker-president’s reference to it “as a milestone on the road to Iraqi democracy” is as clear an indication as any that Washington pressed the trigger. The leaders of the European Union, supposedly hostile to capital punishment, were passive, as usual. > > Although some Shia factions celebrated in Baghdad, the figures published by a fairly independent establishment outfit, the Iraq Centre for Research and Strategic Studies, reveal that more than 80% of Iraqis feel the situation in the country was better before it was occupied. (The ICRSS research is based on detailed house-to-house interviewing carried out during the third week of November.) Only 5% of those questioned said Iraq is better today than in 2003; 12% felt things had improved and 9% said there was no change. Unsurprisingly, 95% felt the security situation was worse than before. > > Add to this the figures supplied by the United Nations high commissioner for refugees: 1.6 million Iraqis (7% of the population) have fled the country since March 2003, and 100,000 leave every month - Christians, doctors, engineers, women. There are 1 million Iraqis in Syria, 750,000 in Jordan, 150,000 in Cairo. These are refugees who do not excite the sympathy of western public opinion, since the US - EU-backed - occupation is the cause. Perhaps it was these statistics, and estimates of a million Iraqi dead, that necessitated the execution of Saddam. > > That Saddam was a tyrant is beyond dispute, but what is conveniently forgotten is that most of his crimes were committed when he was a staunch ally of those who are now occupying the country. It was, as he admitted in one of his trial outbursts, the approval of Washington and the poison gas supplied by what was then West Germany that gave him the confidence to douse Halabja with chemicals in the middle of the Iran-Iraq war. Saddam deserved a proper trial and punishment in an independent Iraq. Not this. > > The double standards applied by the west never cease to astonish. Indonesia’s Suharto, who presided over a mountain of corpses, was protected by Washington. He never annoyed them as much as Saddam. > > **And what of those who have created the mess in Iraq today? The torturers of Abu Ghraib; the pitiless butchers of Falluja; the ethnic cleansers of Baghdad; the Kurdish prison boss who boasts that his model is Guantánamo. Will Bush and Blair ever be tried for war crimes? Doubtful**. - bolding mine. Ball’s on your side of the “court.” Flail away… ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [January 2, 2007, 9:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/122 "2007-01-02T21:38:14Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] Why wasn’t Saddam charged with every crime he committed? You need this explained to you? Because he would have died of old age during the process. You only need to convict him once to render the remaining trails a dead issue. [/QUOTE] So you’re admitting that you didn’t care about whether or not there was a fair trial to deliver justice – all that mattered was that the verdict you wanted was delivered in an expedited matter. Excuse me for not lining up behind _that_ vision of morality. :rolleyes: > [@Magiver](#): > > He got a pretty nice send-off for someone who used a chipper-shredder on his enemies. You mean the one that [never existed?](http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4866114-103674,00.html) ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/123 "2007-01-03T01:03:20Z")
[QUOTE=rjung] So you’re admitting that you didn’t care about whether or not there was a fair trial to deliver justice – all that mattered was that the verdict you wanted was delivered in an expedited matter. Excuse me for not lining up behind _that_ vision of morality. :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] You never cease to amaze me with your ability to extrapolate something from nothing. How did you come to the conclusion that I didn’t care about the fairness of the trial. And when you get done explaining that one you can elaborate on why you think a trial that took over a year was “expedited”. [QUOTE=rjung] You mean the one that [never existed?](http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,,4866114-103674,00.html) [/QUOTE] If you’re going to disprove something than it’s best if you bring evidence to that end. All you’ve done is quote someone who challenges the event. This man killed thousands. Not a couple, THOUSANDS. He was tried and convicted of killing hundreds of people and put to death for it. There is no logic in prosecuting a dead man for additional crimes. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/124 "2007-01-03T01:09:12Z")
[QUOTE=RedFury] Good thing you took the time to shoot the message and no the messenger. Oh wait! You didn’t. Because you can’t. Here’s another chance to berate _me_: [**Conveniently forgotten**](http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article16044.htm) **Saddam committed most of his crimes when he was an ally of those who now occupy his country** - bolding mine. Ball’s on your side of the “court.” Flail away… [/QUOTE] Can’t debate someone who doesn’t have an opinion. Grow a pair of sentences and we’ll talk. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/125 "2007-01-03T01:12:11Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] All you’ve done is quote someone who challenges the event. [/QUOTE] And you’ve got no proof that it happened, so how can you assert it happened and dismiss his cite? :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [January 3, 2007, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/126 "2007-01-03T01:18:23Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] There is no logic in prosecuting a dead man for additional crimes. [/QUOTE] Of course there is; to uncover the people and groups who helped him do so. Like the US, which IMHO is one of the major reasons for _not_ prosecuting him. ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/127 "2007-01-04T02:26:33Z")
[QUOTE=Der Trihs] Of course there is; to uncover the people and groups who helped him do so. Like the US, which IMHO is one of the major reasons for _not_ prosecuting him. [/QUOTE] ??? The people who helped him are also on trial. Do you think the Iraqis were going to let them walk? ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/128 "2007-01-04T02:36:49Z")
[QUOTE=Marley23] And you’ve got no proof that it happened, so how can you assert it happened and dismiss his cite? :rolleyes: [/QUOTE] He’s responsible for so many deaths what is the point of this exchange? If it makes you happy you can pretend he massacred thousands of his own people by rocking them gently to sleep. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 4, 2007, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/129 "2007-01-04T02:47:26Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] He’s responsible for so many deaths what is the point of this exchange? [/QUOTE] Don’t ask me, I didn’t bring up the people shredders - they must’ve meant something to you. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 1:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/130 "2007-01-05T13:56:42Z")
[Boy who hanged self may have copied Saddam](http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16472727/): > [@](#): > > HOUSTON - A 10-year-old U.S. boy who hanged himself may have been inspired to do it by television coverage of Saddam Hussein’s execution, police said Thursday. You know, I can’t recall ever having been ‘inspired’ to emulate things I saw on TV when I was ten. I mean, I never thought ‘I think I’ll hang myself to see what it’s like!’ or ‘I think I’ll shoot myself in the face to see if my head turns black and my hair gets all spikey like on the cartoons!’ or ‘Hey, This cape can let me fly!’. (By ten, I was well past the point of running around in a cape and pretending I was Superman. Anyway, I was more of a Batman kid.) ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/131 "2007-01-05T15:15:22Z")
[QUOTE=BobLibDem] The execution video doesn’t exactly instill confidence that the new Iraq “government” is either competent or organized. This was the biggest thing they have done to date, they had months to prepare a site for the event. Yet judging by the hole in the ceiling where the rope was anchored, they seem to have hired Alf and Ralph Monroe from Green Acres as the contractors for the project. [/quote] [former Boy Scout] And that noose? You’d think that in a country where so many people have been executed they could find someone who could tie a noose. Compare Saddam’s noose with that of Arthur Seyss-Inquart in **Fear Itself** ’s link: tightly wrapped; good–and parallel–extension of the end beyond the knot; and, most importantly, _the end wasn’t wrapped with duck tape!_ Tacky. Just tacky. [/former Boy Scout] > [@](#): > > The fact that the executioners wore hoods doesn’t speak well for the government’s ability to maintain order- we all know that showing their faces is too risky and that there is no law in the streets whatsoever. Finally, the utter lack of order in the procedure made it look more like a KKK lynch mob than the execution of justice. Hoods are _de rigeur_ for hangings. It was the amateurishness of the hoods, the lack of formality, and the crowding of the scafold that bothered me. Again, the Iraqis should know how to hang somebody by now. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/132 "2007-01-05T15:23:19Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Again, the Iraqis should know how to hang somebody by now. [/QUOTE] That’s what happens when you fire all the Baathists. ---
**Author:** ![carnivorousplant](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carnivorousplant/32/3563_2.png) [@carnivorousplant](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carnivorousplant)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/133 "2007-01-05T15:50:11Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] Hoods are _de rigeur_ for hangings. [/QUOTE] Hangmen in the USA wear/wore hoods? Did everyone in the room wear a hood? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dropzone](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dropzone/32/7515_2.png) [@dropzone](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dropzone)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/134 "2007-01-05T16:03:37Z")
[QUOTE=Fear Itself] That’s what happens when you fire all the Baathists. [/QUOTE] True. The videos of the early hostage beheadings show they can’t even cut off somebody’s head quickly and cleanly. Amateurs. By now, though, some have probably gotten enough practice that they can do it right and teach others. “Remember, a vertebra hooks over the one below it so you pull the head to the side like this so you can get the blade under spinous process, twist the blade…” > [@carnivorousplant](#): > > Hangmen in the USA wear/wore hoods? In matters of style it’s never a good idea to use the USA for your baseline. ---
**Author:** ![Tuckerfan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eada6e/32.png) [@Tuckerfan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tuckerfan)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/135 "2007-01-05T16:19:52Z")
[QUOTE=dropzone] True. The videos of the early hostage beheadings show they can’t even cut off somebody’s head quickly and cleanly. Amateurs. By now, though, some have probably gotten enough practice that they can do it right and teach others. “Remember, a vertebra hooks over the one below it so you pull the head to the side like this so you can get the blade under spinous process, twist the blade…” [/QUOTE] Some of them have even developed their own style. Wazzisname who’s heading AQ in Iraq now, has his own signature coup de grace: He takes a power drill and bores a hole in his victim’s skull. [E.T.] Oooouuuuccccchhhhhh! [/E.T.] ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 4:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/136 "2007-01-05T16:30:45Z")
E.T., **Tuckerfan**? Why not _Pi_? [QUOTE=Johnny L.A.] You know, I can’t recall ever having been ‘inspired’ to emulate things I saw on TV when I was ten. [/QUOTE] I’m more concerned with the fact that Saddam is now killing from _Beyond The Grave_. ---
**Author:** ![Lissa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lissa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lissa)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/137 "2007-01-05T17:28:50Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] If you’re going to disprove something than it’s best if you bring evidence to that end. All you’ve done is quote someone who challenges the event. [/QUOTE] We had several debates about the existance of the shredders long before this. [Here is a thread I started about it in 2003.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=172060&highlight=Plastic+Shredder) [Here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=5096248&highlight=plastic+shredder#post5096248) is another one where we discussed it. Personally, I’m chalking the story up to a myth until the actual shredder used is found. (And shredders large enough to consume a human are pretty large, so it’d be hard to hide.) ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/138 "2007-01-05T17:59:03Z")
[QUOTE=Magiver] Can’t debate someone who doesn’t have an opinion. Grow a pair of sentences and we’ll talk. [/QUOTE] My opinion is happens to coincide and is very well-expressed by the writers of the cites I’ve provided. Grow a pair, stop posting bullshit about mythical, Kool-Aid induced, chipper-shredders and respond to the charges contained therein. Namely that the US was firmly behind his regime during the time of his worse atrocities. Ironically, the ones he was never tried for. Well, there was nothing really _ironic_ about it, simply another implementation of the American occupier’s edicts on its Green-zoned puppet Iraqi “Government.” ---
**Author:** ![RedFury](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ec9cab/32.png) [@RedFury](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RedFury)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/139 "2007-01-05T18:04:23Z")
PS-Just in case, please don’t go off on a tangent about [incubators](http://www.geocities.com/CapitolHill/3589/us-iraq-lie.html) either. ---
**Author:** ![Kevbo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e47774/32.png) [@Kevbo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevbo)\ **Post date:** [January 5, 2007, 9:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051/140 "2007-01-05T21:03:45Z")
[QUOTE=rjung] So why didn’t Saddam’s trial bring up the most egregious charges against him, such as … [/QUOTE] The Australians objected. Though they consider kangaroos to be mostly a nuisance, expanding the scope of Saddam’s trial would have made them an endangered species. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/saddam-execution-video-on-tv/386051.md?page=8)