Saddam Hussein hanging from a noose after execution in Baghdad early on Saturday, in a photograph seemingly taken by camera phone and obtained from an Arab-language website. Photograph: AP
How Saddam died on the gallows
Posted on 01/01/2007 1:24:52 PM PST by Kaslin
It is hard to believe that some people in this country defend this monster.
I think if I had lost a loved one to a monster like this, I might have acted the same way. I'm glad he's gone.
“Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada,”
One down. Many more to go.
The Dilbert victory dance?
Sudden stop.
Saddam Hussein hanging from a noose after execution in Baghdad early on Saturday, in a photograph seemingly taken by camera phone and obtained from an Arab-language website. Photograph: AP
How Saddam died on the gallows
Raghad Saddam Hussein, daughter of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein, attends a protest against the execution of her father in Amman January 1, 2007. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed
I hope Castro gets the same treatment when he drops dead (hopefully soon).
The death is a welcome end to this despot. I hope he suffered mightily in those last moments.
"Fallen tyrant" taunted in Saddam video
Mon Jan 1, 2007 3:18am ET
By Claudia Parsons
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - "The tyrant has fallen," a witness shouted after Saddam Hussein dropped through the trap door of the gallows, his neck broken in an instant by the rope moments after exchanging sectarian taunts with onlookers.
Grainy footage of the execution, apparently shot on a mobile phone by a witness who was standing below looking up at the gallows, was circulating widely on the Internet on Sunday, a day after Saddam was hanged for crimes against humanity.
As the hangmen prepare him for his final moment, some of those invited to attend standing below the platform taunted the former president, who was executed on Saturday before dawn.
The top news, photos, and videos of 2006. Full Coverage
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.
Saddam, the noose around his neck, appears to smile and shoot back: "Is this what you call manhood?"
Another onlooker, despite pleas from another for witnesses to observe the proprieties, yells: "Go to hell!" and Saddam, seemingly accusing his enemies of destroying the nation he once led, replies: "The hell that is Iraq?"
The sound was muffled and at times indistinct, leading some who initially heard low-quality versions of the video to conclude Saddam had made rather different comments.
Another voice can be heard shouting "Long live Mohammed Bakr al-Sadr," referring to a relative of Moqtada al-Sadr killed in the 1980s.
Though Sadr's movement is a major force in the coalition government of Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, the outspoken comments by his supporters in the execution chamber may fuel charges by Saddam's defense lawyers and his supporters in Iraq and the wider Arab world that the process has been "victors' justice".
The video, lasting about two-and-a-half minutes, shows Saddam drop through the trap door while still intoning the Muslim profession of faith. He was abruptly cut off in the second verse: "I bear witness that Mohammad..."
After he falls, the cry "The tyrant has fallen" is audible over shouting and other comments that could not be made out.
The top news, photos, and videos of 2006. Full Coverage
The video bore out witness comments that the 69-year-old former leader, who looked calm and composed as he stood on the gallows in an official video broadcast on Saturday, had shouted angry political slogans while masked guards were bringing him into the execution chamber once used by his own feared intelligence services.
Toward the end of the film, Saddam's body is shown swinging, eyes partly open and the neck bent almost at right angles to one side. The film is punctuated by flashes, apparently as witnesses took photographs.
(Additional reporting by Aseel Kami and Mohammed al-Ramahi)
CNN's Christiane Amanpour reacts to news of Saddam's death
It may have been better to have the bastard shot when he was first found hiding in that rat hole.
Meadow Muffin
I know, but then there isn't any dictators they don't like
Who can?
I bet she was especially saddened and Wolf Blitzer too
Internet images fuel anger among supporters
The Telegraph Group
Baghdad: Saddam Hussain was buried in a secret funeral Sunday amid growing anger among his supporters as images showing his executioners taunting him and the moment of his death were published on the internet.
In accordance with Muslim tradition, Saddam was buried less than 24 hours after he was hanged in Baghdad for crimes against humanity.
His body was flown from the capital by American military helicopter to his home village of Awja, north of Baghdad, and washed and dressed in an unstitched white cloth before prayers in a grand mosque built by his regime in the nearby regional capital, Tikrit.
Iraqis ponder their violent history after execution
Reuters
Baghdad: When Ali Mohammad was woken by gunfire celebrating the hanging of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain, he thought about the lessons of history in his country where rulers tend not to die quietly in their beds.
"When I realised Saddam had been executed I was very happy," said the 25-year-old student from the southern city of Diwaniya.
"I started watching television and it occurred to me that the end of every president in Iraq is either execution or assassination. I find that troubling."
Even in a region where power rarely changes hands through elections, Iraq has proved a dangerous place to rule.
http://www.gulfnews.com/region/Iraq/10093666.html
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