'Today': Saddam Execution 'Vindictive, Primitive, Revenge, Suspect, Rush to Judgment'

NewsBusters ^ | Mark Finkelstein

[governsleastgovernsbest]

This morning's "Today" show characterized the execution of Saddam Hussein in generally negative terms. According to NBC reporter Richard Engel, reporting from Baghdad:

"The Iraqi government is now going to great lengths to say that this execution was carried out with the utmost respect for human rights; that it was a very organized, precise event. However, interviews that we've conducted with witnesses, judges and other people who attended and followed all the proceedings say it was much more emotional and chaotic."

Continued Engel: "The execution was primitive and vindictive. "

Engel stated that the site of the execution was one of Saddam's most notorious intelligence headquarters in Baghdad, where Shia radicals were executed, Shia from the same party now leading the Iraqi government.

As video of Prime Minister Maliki flashed on the screen, Engel concluded: "today was their revenge."

View video of Engel here.Host Lester Holt then interviewed NBC consultant Rick Francona, a retired Lt. Col. Francona began by unwittingly refuting Engel's claim that the execution was "primitive," noting that the gallows were newly-constructed in the western "drop" style, causing instantaneous death, in contrast with the traditional "hoist" method employed in the Middle East causing death by slower asphyxiation.

But Francona then claimed that the execution would be viewed as "vindictive" and that "the timing is now suspect." He pointed out that others had been sentenced to death with Saddam but that he had been the only one executed yesterday, prior to the Muslim holiday. Asked Francona: "So what was the rush to judgment?"

He actually went on to answer his own question: "I think everybody was concerned that this tension was building. It was getting worse ever since the appeal was denied. So they wanted to get this over with."

View video of Francona here.

Makes sense. And that being so, in what sense was the timing "suspect" and "a rush to judgment"?

Finkelstein was in Iraq last month. Contact him at mark@gunhill.net

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Ping to Today show list.

[RightOnline]

"Today Show", eh....................they still have that chimp?

[ethics]

Where was the Today Show when the Kurds were getting gased by Sadam?

[don-o]

LOL!

You gotta be an old fart (like me)

Was her name Beulah?

[Uncle Ike]

" they still have that chimp? "

Haven't watched the Today Show in years (weak stomach), but from GLGB's reports, I gather that the chimps have taken over......

[ImAmericanFirst]

Liberals lost a friend last night

http://www.cafenetamerica.com

[bushfamfan]

Thank God these people weren't around during the Nurembourg trials.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

Wonder what he would say about a hypothetical execution of Hitler? Hitler is the one evil socialist dictator who's not "cool" these days.

[samtheman]

It's the business of the MSM to spin every event in a way that is most negative to the Bush administration. Although this trial and execution was carried out by the Iraqi's, and not the Americans, the MSM evidently believes that by somehow characterizing this verdict, sentencing and execution as a "rush to judgment" and "vindictive" they are splashing some indirect excrement onto the WhiteHouse, which is their one and only goal.

[Lurker]

noting that the gallows were newly-constructed in the western "drop" style,

I hear Halliburton got the contract on a no-bid basis.

L

[RichInOC]

They have Matt Lauer. Is that close enough?

[hnj_00]

saw the report....this a-hole portrays suddamm in a better light than all the pieces he's done on Bush.....

how come when Suddamm gassed his own people and murdered so many of them with torture and also with rape rooms, etc....nbc and the msm were no were to be found!!!!

[Silly]

[Tanniker Smith]

Was her name Beulah?

No, Katie.

[ken5050]

Remember what the Romanians did to Ceaceascue (sp?) and his wife?..Now THAT was a "Rush to Judgement" and "vindictive"..

Off topic a tad, but the deaths of Saddam and Ford have really detracted from Pelosi's self-annoited "coronation"...Too bad.. (NOT!)

[Darkwolf377]

"the timing is now suspect."

Good grief, when is the timing of anything NOT suspect with these people?

Oh, right--when the event they don't approve of doesn't happen.

[Bahbah]

He pointed out that others had been sentenced to death with Saddam but that he had been the only one executed yesterday

Do they not even bother to check their facts, or do they just not want to let the facts get in the way of their "story line". Two of Saddam's henchmen were executed right along with him. Has one of them yet mused that the evil George Bush did this now in an attempt to improve his poll numbers. Good grief, they are just so transparent...and it is still working, folks, despite our efforts. I guess we need to do better.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

NBC reporter Richard Engel

Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...

Wonder if he is related.

Saddam was a Ba'ath Socialist Party leader.

[silverleaf]

"vindictive"?

Do these well-dressed suits who love to analyze from arm chairs on the TV studio set, think that maybe the Iraqi people who survived Saddam's genocidal reign - had anything to vindicate by executing him under the laws of their constitution?

Justice is "vindictive". It "vindicates" society's right to demand response to the the severity of the crime(s) the perpetrator did to the victim.

Libs need to get over it.

And Lt Col Francona needs to refresh us on Saddam's methods of trial and execution and the definition of "crime" that led to execution under Saddam's regime.

[sgtbono2002]

The chimp had more intelligence than anyone else on the show.
Does anyone still watch "Today",is Dave Garroway still there?

[Bahbah]

Here are the two executed along with Saddam: "Also, the Iraqi government executed Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bandar after hanging Saddam. The three were sentenced to death together, and they have now been put to death at essentially the same time."

Link to Captain's Quarters: http://www.captainsquartersblog.com/mt/

[governsleastgovernsbest]

Thanks for the info. What a gaffe by Francona!

[CharacterCounts]

"So what was the rush to judgment?"

None!

He was already judged some time ago.

[nonliberal]

The criminal liberal news media and the American Left have a vested interest in the United States losing this war.

[Sir Francis Dashwood]

1. NBC reporter Richard Engel

2. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels...

3. Saddam - - Ba'ath Socialist Party leader.

[Colonel Kangaroo]

The visceral reaction to Saddam's execution seems a lot more negative with these people than the demise of:

Terry Schiavo

An aborted baby

An innocent victim of crime

Victims of Moslem aggression in Somalia

etc, etc, etc.

[Uncle Ike]

" The three were sentenced to death together, and they have now been put to death at essentially the same time." "

Inadvertent, but still vaguely unsettling, Biblical parallel.....

[bella1]

Another example of how the formally MSM continues to hang itself. Good riddance to them as well.

[PghBaldy]

It is maddening. It is odd how the left will call him evil (grudgingly), and say he was our ally. What is their point? That we are evil too? NOTHING will satisfy them until the US is a third world country like the ones they adore. Every year in my neighborhood during the Clinton Administration, there were fliers announcing protests against the sanctions, and the accidently supposed bombing in '91 of a bomb shelter. They liked him cause he was anti-US and anti-Bush. I despise them.

[pleikumud]

Is Dave Garroway still on the air?

If it were up to the Democrats, Saddam Hussein would still be alive and in power, commiting mass murder and torture and providing training camps and a safe haven for terrorists.

[RichInOC]

I should probably add at this point that J. Fred Muggs was completely before my time. I do, however, remember when the morning crew was Frank McGee, Frank Blair and Barbara Walters.

[navyguy]

NBC is run by pacifists and Marxists.

Don't be surprised if they trump the funeral of President Ford with an 8 hour special documenting (read: glorifying) the life of Saddam. But whether they show the Ford funeral or wall to wall Saddam, both events serve the same purpose... to vilify and urinate on the United States.

[Disturbin]

Where was the Today Show when the Kurds were getting gased by Sadam?

Haven't you heard? That never happened. All 300,000 Kurds are safe and sound. It was all propaganda generated by President Bush in order to invade and occupy Iraq, thereby siezing their oil.

[PghBaldy]

They see convoluted meanings in everything, they probably think Bush did it to take attention away from Ford (who will now be used in death by the left as a tool against Bush). The only solace I get is how miserable they are (lefties).

[governsleastgovernsbest]

I've updated the NewsBusters item with a link to Captain's Quarters and a hat tip to you.

[Loyal Buckeye]

crapola squared.

[gopheraj]

He pointed out that others had been sentenced to death with Saddam but that he had been the only one executed yesterday,

I saw that his half brother was executed also last night so he doesn't know what he's talking about - nothing new. LOLL

[Uncle Ike]

" Is Dave Garroway still on the air? "

I'm too lazy to look it up this morning, but I believe that "Uncle Dave" passed-on some time ago...

Hopefully before he had to see the morass that his show had become.....

[The Great RJ]

The MSM seems disappointed that the massive violence they were hoping for in the wake of Saddam's execution hasn't happened.

[Bahbah]

Thanks, Mark. By golly, if they have to ignore the deaths of two other guys to advance their meme they just go right ahead and do it. It is appalling how ill-informed the general public is and, what's worse, it's intentional.

[txradioguy]

CNN is going into a period of mourning over the death of Saddam.

Screw the DBM on this. If you want to judge the proper reaction to Hussein's hanging...look at the celebrations in Baghdad and in Michigan.

Those folks have it right on how to handle this.

[tobyhill]

Richard Engel was about to cry on one of the reports I saw and then MSNBC said they won't even show stills of the body because of the insensitive nature of the event.

[RightOnline]

Pretty much interchangeable, I'd say, yeah.

[pleikumud]

NBC of course is owned by General Electric. No wonder that GE stock is such a dog.

[RightOnline]

"...is Dave Garroway still there?"

I think he was eaten by the chimp years ago.

[Brett66]

Forget about all of that! Did Saddam offer any fashion or gardening tips before he was executed?

They really want to coddle this dictator and make excuses for him don't they?

[ThreePuttinDude]

".....or wall to wall Saddam..."

I'm not too sure they can get away with trying to make Sodamn Insane look good
when the History channel has been running episodes of the life of Saddam showing
footage of the damage he has done to the country. I'm in no way backing the media, I never will.

Their time has run out, they just can't get away with their distortions and lies anymore.

[G Larry]

Should have dropped a grenade in his rat hole years ago and saved all the time, expense, and aggravation.

[gridlock]

How is it a "rush to judgement" to move the execution date up a few months. The judgement was completed some time ago. This was just the execution of the sentence.

Or is Today of the opinion that, perhaps, Saddam was not guilty? After all, he was opposed to Bush, so he can't be all that bad, right?