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JandP

Sunday, December 31, 2006

Saddam's execution

Any reader who wants to watch the full video (2 minutes & 36 seconds) of Saddam Hussein's execution can go to the web site that I'll list at the bottom of this blog entry. But please be forewarned that this is not the video the general media is showing, where the camera stops after they place the noose around Saddam's neck. This video, despite its poor resolution and jerky cell phone camera motion, is graphic, period. Right after that URL, I'll list one for an Aljazeera article that gives the English translation of the audio and some detailed commentary.

In my view, this execution was a travesty. It flies in the face of the growing movement around the world to end the use of the death penalty. And now there will be no further trials to record for history the full range of Saddam's crimes against humanity. (However the execution cannot hamper history's reporting of Washington's help - by Ronald Reagan through Donald Rumsfeld - to Saddam as he carried out war crimes in the early 1980s.)

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-1734042717556560160

http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/0515065C-787D-47ED-90DE-3C82C9DF6A64.htm