Saddam....30 days and counting

[Pam]

I find it interesting too, that some people who said the reason we went to Iraq in the first place was to get rid of Saddam (since there was no connection with 9/11 and no WMD) are now saying....taking Saddam out won't solve anything.

Who are these *some people?* Names please. When someone says to me *some people* or *they say* it makes me crazy. Without names/sources a statement like that has no meaning.

[wombat2u2004]

What I don't understand is why so many Americans are having hissy fits about him being hanged when the Iraqi people are the people who convicted him and sentenced him to die and were happy when he did die. He was an evil despot who was responsible for incredible human suffering...is he the only one...not a chance...is there one fewer despots in the world...yes...does that make me happy?? You bet. I don't think there was ever anyone who said that Saddam's death would solve everything or end this war, but, it's one step...tiny as it may be...he's gone and cannot destroy any more lives, and for that I am beyond pleased. As far as hanging being inhumane...I don't think so...but, maybe in his time with the noose around his neck and before they dropped the bottom out, he knew a little of the fear that his victims knew before they were tortured and killed.

So very well said.
I applaud you !!!
Wombat

[Edwina's Secretary]

Who are these *some people?* Names please. When someone says to me *some people* or *they say* it makes me crazy. Without names/sources a statement like that has no meaning.

Geroge Bush....and his gang???

I am sorry Pam...I was trying to avoid pointing out that the person who, earlier in the thread said.... "I don't think there was ever anyone who said that Saddam's death would solve everything or end this war, but, it's one step.." had previously said that was the reason we sent our children to Iraq.

I was trying to be polite and less confrontational.

My point is...I believe it hypocritical to say the execution of Saddam was just the action of the Iraqi people. Isn't that why George Bush said we went to Iraq?

[Pam]

Geroge Bush....and his gang???

I am sorry Pam...I was trying to avoid pointing out that the person who, earlier in the thread said.... "I don't think there was ever anyone who said that Saddam's death would solve everything or end this war, but, it's one step.." had previously said that was the reason we sent our children to Iraq.

I was trying to be polite and less confrontational.

My point is...I believe it hypocritical to say the execution of Saddam was just the action of the Iraqi people. Isn't that why George Bush said we went to Iraq?

As I recall GW said we were going into Iraq to get rid of the WMD. I never heard him say we were going in there to rid Iraq of Saddam although I will agree that was *a given.* I don't believe for a minute that GW thinks that getting rid of Saddam is going to solve Iraq's problems.

Do you really think that if the Iraqi people were not in favor of ending his regime we would have still gone in? I am not trying to be flippant, I am just not understanding what you are saying...

[Edwina's Secretary]

Pam...you know you and I disagree on this. You took offense at me using the expression "some people" yet the post I quoted used the words...

so many Americans are having hissy fits

I don't see the difference. Who are these "so many Americans?"

The current adminstration nor anyone else has any idea how to get out of the mess they got this country into...that frightens me.

But I cannot understand the blood lust of watching a man's execution. Even an evil man. There was a time in this country where hangings were "events" that drew big crowds. I guess that hasn't really changed.

I do not know what the real reason was for the invasion of Iraq. We have been told too many different stories.

It is just so sad....

[K9soul]

But I cannot understand the blood lust of watching a man's execution. Even an evil man. There was a time in this country where hangings were "events" that drew big crowds. I guess that hasn't really changed.

I kept thinking about that analogy myself. When I was younger and watched westerns with my mom I couldn't believe that townsfolk gathered to watch hangings and made it a celebration/picnic affair. I was amazed by that. At that time I figured surely people would never do that now. I don't feel the slightest desire or curiosity to see any footage of it myself.

[wombat2u2004]

I kept thinking about that analogy myself. When I was younger and watched westerns with my mom I couldn't believe that townsfolk gathered to watch hangings and made it a celebration/picnic affair. I was amazed by that. At that time I figured surely people would never do that now. I don't feel the slightest desire or curiosity to see any footage of it myself.

But most humans are like that....yes ??? That is why they flock to the movies to see the blood and guts, and slow down on a highway to get a glimpse of some poor accident victim.
So what is it ??? Some kind of perversion ??? Or just simply human nature ???
And do they view that poor accident victim and the hanging of Saddam Hussein in the same light ???? I think not. I believe that the guy who was hanged in your western movie was the bad guy ???? Am I right ??? Which is aimed at an audience who like to know that sometimes...justice is done.
If I see an accident victim laying by the side of the road coughing up his last blood.....I feel so sick, and sorry for the poor unfortunate. When I see Saddam Hussien swinging on a rope....I feel glad....simply that...GLAD.
There is a difference...yes ???
Wombat

[junescrater716]

Sorry to say this but honestly I think only a looder would watch that video.

Gee thanks. I'm 13 it's like that old saying "curiosity killed the cat" all teens are curious it's like our job. lol

[RICHARD]

Who are these *some people?* Names please. When someone says to me *some people* or *they say* it makes me crazy. Without names/sources a statement like that has no meaning.

No kidding...

I want to know who had the threesome!


----------------

When Nick Berg had his head cut off a local radio station played the audio protion of the tape.

Didn't need to see it.....nor any other 'snuff film"

---------------


The current administration ran the same plan that any other president had...

He looked into a crystal ball and said, This is what we will do!

Then the Lord sayeth, "LO! Your plan is great! Let's see how it holds up when people start shooting at each other!"

--------------------

Some Americans were complaining about how we were on Saddam's side once upon a time.....

Those same people want to open up a dialog with terrorists.

Like WTFATT?

That's what happened with OBL too!

The stupidity behind that logic is beyond comprehension...

---------------------

All the people who oppose the war promised that we would get Blood for Oil.

I am still waiting for my oil.

-----------------------


P.S. The weapons of GAS destruction SH used against the Kurds and Iranians
was really a joke, We didn't find any, did we?

[Edwina's Secretary]

P.S. The weapons of GAS destruction SH used against the Kurds and Iranians
was really a joke, We didn't find any, did we?

No, but we do still have the receipts.....

RICHARD, the issue was not whether Iraq HAD WMD....we knew they did...we were involved in supplying some of them...the issue was whether they STILL had those weapons...in violation of the UN Sanctions. A very big difference....

[RICHARD]

No, but we do still have the receipts.....

RICHARD, the issue was not whether Iraq HAD WMD....we knew they did...we were involved in supplying some of them...the issue was whether they STILL had those weapons...in violation of the UN Sanctions. A very big difference....

Well it sure didn't help his case that he acted like he still had them.....ask the UN inspectors about the warm welcome they got while searching.

-----------------

So what can we help Iran with?

Plutonium? Uranium? Some electric guidance systems?

I think that our benevolent nature should be enacted in 2007.

Let's just give them the bomb. that way we can get the preliiminaries out
of the way-and we can say-all together.......



WE GAVE THEM THE BOMB!

[Twisterdog]

No, but we do still have the receipts.....

Good point.

Think we could deduct that on our taxes, if we itemize?

Charitable Donations to Despots - $876 billion dollars

[RICHARD]

Good point.

Think we could deduct that on our taxes, if we itemize?

Charitable Donations to Despots - $876 billion dollars

Dude!


I need a calculator!

[lizbud]

They executed Saddam's half brother and another one of his cohorts
today. They say one of the men was decapitated by the hanging.


Saddam's Half Brother Beheaded In Hanging


UPDATED: 9:43 am EST January 15, 2007

BAGHDAD, Iraq -- Two top aides to Saddam Hussein were hanged before dawn Monday, and the head of one of them -- the former Iraqi dictator's half brother Barzan Ibrahim -- was severed from his body during the execution, a government official said.

Two weeks and two days after Saddam was executed in an unruly scene that has drawn worldwide criticism, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh stressed that all laws and rules were respected during Monday's hanging of Ibrahim, the former intelligence chief, and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court.

"Those present signed documents pledging not to violate the rules or otherwise face legal penalties. All the people present abided by the government's rule and there were no violations," he said, adding the hangings occurred at 3 a.m. "No one shouted slogans or said anything that would taint the execution. None of those charged were insulted."


The official government video of the side-by-side hanging that was shown to a small group of reporters, including one from The Associated Press, showed Ibrahim and al-Bandar wearing red prison jumpsuits. As they reached the gallows, black hoods were put on their heads and five masked men surrounded them.

After the trap doors opened, al-Bandar could be seen dangling from the rope. Ibrahim's body was lying on the floor, chest down, his still-hooded severed head resting several yards away.

The execution was conducted on the same gallows where Saddam was hanged Dec. 30 in a building located in the Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah. Government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh said the gallows were built to international standards and in accordance with human rights organizations.

"We will not release the video, but we want to show the truth," he said. "The Iraqi government acted in a neutral way."

Prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi said Ibrahim looked tense when he was brought into the room and said "I did not do anything. It was all the work of Fadel al-Barrak." Ibrahim was referring to a former head of two intelligence departments."

The government came under widespread condemnation because of Saddam's chaotic execution in which video of the hanging, recorded on a cell phone camera, showed the former dictator being taunted on the gallows.

Ibrahim and al-Bandar had been found guilty along with Saddam in the killing of 148 Shiite Muslims after a 1982 assassination attempt on the former leader in the town of Dujail north of Baghdad.

The announcement drew outrage from some in the Sunni community while majority Shiites who were heavily persecuted under Saddam's regime expressed joy.

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."

"We want to see the video that was taken during the execution of the two men in order for them (government) to prove what they are saying," he added.

A government official, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to disclose the information, said the families of Ibrahim and al-Bandar would collect the bodies later Monday.

The two men were to have been hanged along with Saddam, but Iraqi authorities decided to execute the former dictator alone on what National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie called a "special day."

Last week, President Jalal Talabani urged the government to delay the executions but gave no explanation during a news conference with U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad.

On Tuesday, Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said that Khalilzad asked him to delay Saddam's execution for 10 days to two weeks, but added that Iraqi officials rejected the demand.












.

[Freckles]

T"It is impossible for a person to be decapitated during a hanging,"

This is not true. The length of rope must be calculated carefully to the weight of the person.
There are charts on the web describing this.