I was in a hotel room in Greece, watching television. I don’t know what station it was, but there were many men who resembled Saddam Hussein (mustaches, dark skin, big eyebrows), all wearing military fatigues. They were outside and a man wearing a white shirt with a pocket and khakis was pushed to the front of these men. They put what looked like a pack of cigarettes in his pocket with wires coming from it. They all backed away, getting out of the way so that this man was the only one in front of the camera. All of a sudden, there was smoke and he was gone. I had just witnessed an execution on public television. It happened before I knew what was going on. It was truly heinous and stayed with me a very long time.
On the night US troops entered Iraq, I watched late at night as ABC television aired “unbroadcasted” footage of Saddam and Sons and a bunch of their rowdy friends placed bets while a victim was made to dance as they pushed swords into their bodies and heads. They were betting on how long they’d live.
I have never seen any TV network air that footage again.
When I was a kid, my grandpa used to tell me stories about some of the public hangings he went to as a kid. What you saw sounds a lot better than some of the stories I heard.