Saddam Is Dead

[Nomaken]

I'm not sure I would call it okay, but I would say I would be willing to tolerate it a whole lot more.

[Peter]

<Just watched the unofficial phone-video, and downloaded it for posterity.>

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

The unofficial one shows the guards taunting him and chanting Shi'ite political slogans.  Looks like the mute sound on the official one was more about hiding the Shi'ite bias of the guards than anything to do with making it a dignified event.

One man shouts "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada," a reference to cleric Moqtada al-Sadr, who heads a powerful Shi'ite political movement and a militia blamed by Washington and Sunni Arabs for running death squads targeting Saddam's Sunni Arab minority.

After he falls, the cry "The tyrant has fallen" is audible over shouting and other comments that could not be made out.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061231/ts_nm/iraq_saddam_taunts_dc

    But a crude cell-phone video leaked less than 24 hours later goes much further — showing bitter exchanges between Hussein and his Shiite guards.

    After Hussein offers prayers, the guards shout praise for Muqtada al-Sadr, the radical Shiite cleric whose father is believed to have been murdered by Hussein’s regime.

    They chant, “Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!”

    Hussein smiles.

    “Is this how you show your bravery as men?” he asks.

    “Straight to hell,” someone shouts back at him.

    “Is this the bravery of Arabs?” Hussein asks.

    A sole voice is heard trying to silence the taunts.

    “Please, I am begging you not to,” the unknown man says. “The man is being executed.”

    Another shout, “Long live Mohammed Baqir Sadr” — referring to Muqtada al-Sadr’s father-in-law and a founder of the Shiite Dawa movement who was executed by the Hussein regime. Dawa is al-Maliki’s party.

    The taunts continued, and the trapdoor dropped shortly after 6 a.m. Saturday. Hussein was hanged. (Watch Hussein’s last moments Video)

    Immediately after, Shiite witnesses danced around his body, chanting celebratory slogans.

http://www.blogsofwar.com/2006/12/30/video-saddam-husseins-execution-hanging-shown/

[Leto729]

Could have the hanging be dealt better and been more respectful "yes".

Saddam I believe though was not respectful to His Countrymen when He ruled over them.

Did He get what He deserved yes and no. Remember this how many more did He kill, torture, gas, war against, etc. 10,000, 100,000, 1,000,000.

Yes it would have been better if they would have been respectful.

[odeon]

What I don't understand is why all those people were present to begin with. Wasn't a few witnesses enough? And then, when it all became chaos, why present the Iraqi television with an edited version where everything went calmly? They know they blew the whole thing, and now all that there's left is to find a scapegoat (=the guy holding the mobile phone).

[Litigious]

What I don't understand is why all those people were present to begin with. Wasn't a few witnesses enough? And then, when it all became chaos, why present the Iraqi television with an edited version where everything went calmly? They know they blew the whole thing, and now all that there's left is to find a scapegoat (=the guy holding the mobile phone).

That's the way it works (or rather; doesn't work) in those countries. That's the kind of mentality that we westerners should be so thankful to eagerly embrace...

[McGiver]

What I don't understand is why all those people were present to begin with. Wasn't a few witnesses enough? And then, when it all became chaos, why present the Iraqi television with an edited version where everything went calmly? They know they blew the whole thing, and now all that there's left is to find a scapegoat (=the guy holding the mobile phone).

That's the way it works (or rather; doesn't work) in those countries. That's the kind of mentality that we westerners should be so thankful to eagerly embrace...

freedom of press?

or in reality: freedom to tell us which way to think.
i hold no truths, because all i am told is a lie.

[Litigious]

No, I mean that there was a lot of people at the hanging that didn't belong there.

[McGiver]

No, I mean that there was a lot of people at the hanging that didn't belong there.

i thought that we wqere talking about how the press gave a false overview of the proceedings.  but the cellphone video showed the truth.

[Litigious]

Well, we were talking about both.

[ozymandias]

What I don't understand is why all those people were present to begin with. Wasn't a few witnesses enough? And then, when it all became chaos, why present the Iraqi television with an edited version where everything went calmly? They know they blew the whole thing, and now all that there's left is to find a scapegoat (=the guy holding the mobile phone).

The Iraqi people deserve whatever government they get!  As far as I'm concerned, let them kill each other to their hearts content.  The point being.......we should never have been there!  It was just a bunch of deluded old men..cheney, rumsfeld, rove, and a stupid moron named bush aka shrub, that have the blood of 3000 good soldiers on their hands.

I hope they all burn in the fires of hell!

[Litigious]

+ Ozy.

[ozymandias]

+ Ozy.

Thanks, and + back!

And it keeps me ahead of you on post count, thats my inner post whore ascending above reasoning!   mwhahahahahahahahaha

[Leto729]

We all need to respect each other beliefs ultimately that is what I was saying. Thou it most likely not understood in the end at all in the end.

[odeon]

The Iraqi people deserve whatever government they get!  As far as I'm concerned, let them kill each other to their hearts content.  The point being.......we should never have been there!  It was just a bunch of deluded old men..cheney, rumsfeld, rove, and a stupid moron named bush aka shrub, that have the blood of 3000 good soldiers on their hands.

I hope they all burn in the fires of hell!

I'm not sure the average Iraqi person deserves any of this. Between 50,000 and 60,000 civilians have been killed in Iraq since the war started, in addition to the 3,000 soldiers.

IMO, Bush, Cheney and Rumsfeld should be court-martialed.

[McGiver]

or tried for crimes against humanity.