NPR - Saddam's death quite different than reported.

[ChairmanAgnostic]

Of course, I can't find anything on MSM.
But apparently, it was not the smooth, cool, collected professional affair it was made out to be to a captive US audience.

Anyone have any sites or cites to the real story?

[Canuckistanian]

1. Here, read this post

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3007684

[xultar]

2. What are you talking about? There are at least 4 links here with the video.

They also include discussion about what happened.

So you can see it and or discuss it for yourself.

[LonelyLRLiberal]

3. See earlier post with crude video of the hanging.

This is disgusting, so don't watch if you are easily upset.


http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x3008269

[OPERATIONMINDCRIME]

4. He's Still Dead Right?

[sam sarrha]

12. i heard one of his doubles dissappeared...

:sarcasm:

[k_jerome]

5. ya know, you can actually watch it. who has made it out to be...

a smooth collected professional affair? a monster was killed. simple as that.

[cali]

7. Wrong.

It's not as simple as that. He was killed in such a way as to look like a gang Shi'a on Sunni lynching. Cell phones were "snuck" in. He was taunted by guards- and evidently held his own, burnishing the martyr image he so desired. There was dancing around his corpse. It was in short, a circus. And nothing good will come from this badly botched execution and the show trial that preceded it.

[k_jerome]

8. it was just that...

those are the people he spent decades killing. they are the majority now and in control, for better or worse. you think it was a circus. they think it was justice. it is all a matter of perspective.

[cali]

11. Sorry. That's just wrong.

The U.S. has been further damaged by it all over the world, as it's widely and correctly viewed as the controlling power in in Iraq. The circus further escalates the violence. Bad for both US armed forces and Iraqi civilians. Furthermore al-Sadr is, as far as I can see, no better than Saddam, and it clearly shows how much power he has that his henchmen were the executioners. You can feel as much satisfaction as you want, but it doesn't take a genius to see that this was just one more horrendously bad decision from an admin that's setting a record for making bad decisions.

[k_jerome]

18. again, you and I can debate this till the cows come home...

the sentence was handed down and carried out by the group that he spent decades slaughtering. did they delight in it? i should think so. you or i don't have to like it. its their show.

[mike_c]

15. there was vengence, but no justice....

None.

[k_jerome]

17. for you maybe, i can agree. you do not, however...

speak for the Shia and Kurds in Iraq.

[xchrom]

19. the arab world does not see this as entirely iraqi justice.

quite the contrary they see it as u.s. justice.

the maliki government -- EVEN BY THE SHIITE -- is seen as a puppet.

yes i'm sure they are happy he's dead.

but there are reasons why you don't always give a mob what they want.

[Dhalgren]

16. You and I often disagree, Cali, but in this you are dead on.

A show trial and a circus lynching. And lynching is the best term for it. It makes no difference how guilty Saddam was, it matters how justice was administered. There was little justice beyond the "vigilante" in this affair...

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

6. Here you go.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20061231/ts_nm/iraq_saddam_taunts_dc_1

[ChairmanAgnostic]

9. thanks all, and considering how well we've done in Iraq elsewhere

why would this event be any different?

I suspect that this adds more fuel to the fire and that in 2008, a majority of people will vote Dem, if only to remove the last vestiges of these buffoons.

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

10. It was conducted like a lynching. Here's a transcript.

From an Iraqi blogger:

http://www.healingiraq.blogspot.com/

Saddam (as the noose is put around his neck): Ya Allah (Oh God).
Someone in the audience: Mercy be on those who pray for Mohammed and the household of Muhammed (Everyone repeats the prayer, including Saddam) -
Executioner and two people in the audience: ... And hasten his return (the Mahdi), curse his enemy and grant victory to his son, Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada! (This is a common Sadrist chant.)
Saddam (smirking): Muqtada? Is this your manhood? (unclear)
NSA Muwafaq Al-Rubai'i: To Hell!
Saddam: (laughing) ... disgrace to you. (unintelligible)
Prosecutor Munqidh Al-Far'awn: Please, no.
Muwafaq Al-Rubi'i: Longlive Mohammed Baqir Al-Sadr!
Someone in the audience: To Hell!
Prosecutor Munqidh Al-Far'awn: No. Please, no. I beg you.
Saddam (solemnly recites the Shahada prayer): I witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Mohammed is the messenger of Allah. I witness that there is no god but Allah, and that Mohammed is the- (trap door is opened).
Audience: Prayers for Mohammed and the household of Muhammed.
Someone: The tyrant has fell. May Allah's curse be upon him.
Someone: May Allah's curse be upon him.
(commotion in the hall)
Someone: No. No. Stay back.
Someone: Leave him for 8 minutes, boys. Don't take him down.
Someone: Everyone. Stay back. Everyone. Back.

comments from the blogger:

It utterly disgusts me that Sadr's supporters have infiltrated every level of the state, and that the witnesses, including Iraqi government officials, have made this look like a sectarian issue. They were doomed to repeat Iraqi history by hanging their former oppressor and labeling it as justice. In a perfect situation, Saddam's execution would have united Iraqis, but thanks to the actions of the new Iraqi rulers, it will only serve to divide further. I doubt any of them will prevail as much as Saddam did, though.

UPDATE: Some Iraqis are saying this was part of the deal for the Sadrist bloc to return to parliament, that they would take care of Saddam's execution themselves. Recent statements from Sadrists demanding a swift execution of Saddam seem to support this theory. In any case, the fact that masked Sadr followers took care of the hanging follows a familiar formula in modern Iraqi history, where the victors taunt and execute whoever was in rule before them. It looks like Iraq is doomed to repeat that cycle.

[sam sarrha]

13. he was drugged... to shut him up

[sam sarrha]

14. anyone disturbed at this should consider * executed 152 in TX, many Innocent

there is effectively no appeal in tx