Saddam

[whiffey]

It seems to me that Saddam showed great courage on the brink of death. All I glean from it is the enormous difference between our culture and that of the Arab/Muslim nations. Pierrepoint in the glorious days of British hangings could have a man dead on the noose within seconds. Not these people though. Drag it out, film it.

Oil ? Oil ? Whatever we (the West) have to do to safeguard our supply has my blessing. The world belongs to ALL of us. Not just warring Muslim factions in the Middle East. Saddam's execution was humane compared to hoisting teenagers by the neck on a crane. I do think he behaved with great courage.

[brachiopod]

Eh? What?

I haven't a clue what you are trying to say.
That Albert Pierrepoint would never have allowed it to happen? Probably not, since there were not many easily concealed mobile camera-phones around in his day.

Or are you trying to say that the "Good old British way" of execution was always dignified? Well we only have the official written record and Albert's memoirs to tell us.

Much in the same way that, for a few short hours, we were led to believe that Saddam's hanging was a humane and dignified affair. That is, until the inevitable mobile-phone footage emerged that told a completely different story.

What would be the real events behind the execution of capital sentences under the British justice system if the mobile phone camera had existed then?

[LordOfLife]

Courage yeh, well let's go the whole hog and praise Hitler's bravery for doing the deed of sucicide on the brink of his nations defeat in war.

[Bazile]

Dont forget that he was also a man of principles , too .

Now , now , no need for that sort of language - according to a Bath Party spokeswoman , he was

[prattler]

I used to wonder about people who said newspapers are depressing.but to be faced with front page pictures of saddam with a noose round his neck on new years eve is unbeleivable.I dont care what this man has done, this really is time for me to stop reading newspapers if this is what the modern world and the press are coming to!

[Bazile]

Prattler
Would you have rather seen pictures of the many innocent people , with ropes around their necks , whose lifes Saddam ordered to be extinguished ?

[Theland]

The bottom line is ... public executions have returned. The brutalising effect on our society is inestimable.
Apparently, (according to a newsapaper report), 50,000 people in UK had downloaded it.
That's a jeering mob of 50,000!

[Gromit]

"The world belongs to ALL of us."

Come all you Bulgarians and Romanian, whiffey says what's yours is ours and what's ours is yours.

[IggyB]

it was a ridiculous spectacle and ruined the point of the entire trial - nobody will remember that he was tried in an allegedly impartial court of law, instead everyone will remember a crowd shouting the names of religious leader that oppose saddam helping people to forget that he was hung for his brutal crimes and making people feel that he was hung due to the old old religious differences that have been the cause of much blood shed in themselves.
it was a very effective way of creating one martyr completely and providing a focus point for even more death and destruction... a sad state of affairs indeed.
what else could saddam do but go out with a sneer

[WaldoMcFroog]

Quite Gromit. Who would have thought that Wiffey was such a Communist at heart?

[zimzam]

I think we have to consider other countries methods and laws. Be it euthanasia or by lethal injection, hanging, beheading, electrocution and so on. It�s hard for British people to comprehend that some Countries adopt the eye for an eye principle, so yes we are shocked to see such videos as are readily available to view of his demise because it is contrary to our laws. Saddam was found guilty and the punishment according to the laws of his land was hanging. To the Iraqi people then this was the normal means of punishment. I feel it very unfair that his hangmen and the aids were chosen from be the sect that were Saddam�s enemies and yes I do feel it unfortunate that he was subjected to the indignities that he saw and heard in his final moments. It would have been better to have brought in someone from another country to have given him a more dignified send off. I was never a Saddam lover but he did deserve to die with dignity around him and not necessarily to be receiving the ridicule that he received. It is not his death that will fuel more war and bloodshed � it is the hangman and the people who are recorded on film and how they acted and what they said that will create a bigger void and even more warfare. He did die with dignity which is more than I can say for those responsible in ending his life. As you say, Pierrepoint could despatch someone quickly and silently and with an element of dignity and almost reverence and respect for a person however crass the person�s crimes were. To have seen Saddam�s execution filmed in silence and showing dignity and respect o the person about to die would have scored more points psychologically to me than what I have seen.

[Pippa68]

I wouldn't have called it courage. More the demeanour of a man who never showed any emotion in his life. Which of course is an important attribute in a murderous despot.

I have read that Pierrepoint saw 'no good' in capital punishment at all.

[chitchat]

He was arrogant to the end just like he was in life.

[Ollie_P]

Well said zimzam