This story from ABC News http://blogs.abcnews.com/bizarrebazaar/2006/12/saddams_hanging.html#comment-27102907 states that the executioner put a scarf around Saddam’s neck before the noose was placed there. Why did he do that?
I think its standard procedure, just like they swab your arm with alcohol before lethal injections. :dubious: I’m not sure what a hanging does to the outside of the neck, but I assume it’s to prevent showing blood, or the disfigurement afterwards to viewers.
WAG: The rope and fall from the hanging would probaly break the skin and be a bloody mess. The scarf probably prevented this. After all, I presume the Iraqis have a number of people versed in the art of hanging, given Saddam’s history.
This is spot on.
if I can’t be hanged with a kicky accessory, I’m not going quietly.
Did you see the scarf? It was a far cry from kicky. Looked a bit like a neoprene hand towel.
I assumed they didn’t use a hood because the Iraqi People had to see it was really Saddam.
I couldn’t tell from the clip on CNN, but did the Iraqis use a long drop (which would snap his neck) or a short drop (causing strangulation)?
Based on the photo of his body in the body bag, I’m guessing a long drop. His head seemed to be at a peculiar angle.
One poor quality video (looks like a guy with a cell phone camera or low-end consumer camera) shows the drop, then blackness as the videographer scrambles for position, and then the body swinging. The head is definitely out of position, and he was definitely dead. Also, even on the CNN video I saw earlier you could see that there was a good amount of rope hanging loose for a long drop.
Just a thought: instead of a scarf, why wouldn’t someone have had a Survivor buff?
‘Why couldn’t…’
It’s hard to be glib before coffee.
According to the news articles I read, it was Saddam’s decision - he refused the hood.
Yes, I quoted that part. That’s what surprised me. Until I read the quote upthread I thought the executioners intentionally withheld a hood.