Saturday, December 30, 2006
The Last One About Saddam Hussein
I just watched the execution of Saddam Hussein. I don't know why I did it?
Curiousity maybe.
On a camera phone filmed as the former dictator stood as his executioners put the noose around his neck, darkness and rapid quick flashes of light and his face. He didn't really look that scared in all honesty. CNN is reporting he had fear in his face. (The Website didn't though.)
I didn't get that at all.
He talked quite a bit but I don't speak Arabic so I don't have a clue.
More chaos as the video continued to roll on the cell phone's camera.
Then the horrible sound of of his feet giving way under the platform as it was let go, the noose tight around his neck. The cell phone showed lots of movement and was very scattered and a lot of what appeared to be gleeful cries or that's how I heard it.
Then his swinging body. Not like what you would see in a Clint Eastwood movie but different in a way I can't explain but I'm not going to go back and look at it again. It was his eyes that were so strange.
I'm not sure if he was dead or alive at this point. I've seen more than one person die, and you usually just now. But I've never seen a person hang, so I have no idea how long he lived when the noose pulled taut.
I had the opportunity to go to an execution in my official capacity once.
I declined.
I felt like shit like this would change me somehow if I did this. I may work as a reporter, but that was not something I wanted to be apart of. Another media person from here went. His staff said he was haunted, especially because he took delighted glee in going.
They say he won't talk about it.
I don't know. I'm really torn about the execution. I've said before that it goes without saying that Hussein was one brutal, terrible cruel man. There are others still lurking around this world where power means everything and simple human dignity has no value whatsoever. The situation that Sharon and Sam Davidson have written about so eloquently about Darfur comes to mind.
We know Hussein relished in his power at the expense of human life.
In the end, does it really make a difference. Once an ally with this country, he lost his usefulness and we took him out.
And I'm torn.
Because the man that was responsible for bombing the World Trade Center is still running around.
And then I read that December is the worst month ever for our soldiers in Iraq.
And I can't help but be numb about this very bloody, sad time in our lives where American soldiers stay in a foreign land that really, really hates us.
And, although I'm not a person who prays, I do tonight for those men and women who are over there because of this war. And for the men and women I personally know whose sons died over on foreign land. Because I see these families every day.
Every single day.
So Saddam, you won't be missed by me, quite honestly. But I won't mock your death either because I do believe every life has value.
Unfortunately, you didn't feel the same way and that is what created your demise.
I just watched the execution of Saddam Hussein. I don't know why I did it?
Curiousity maybe.
On a camera phone filmed as the former dictator stood as his executioners put the noose around his neck, darkness and rapid quick flashes of light and his face. He didn't really look that scared in all honesty. CNN is reporting he had fear in his face. (The Website didn't though.)
I didn't get that at all.
He talked quite a bit but I don't speak Arabic so I don't have a clue.
More chaos as the video continued to roll on the cell phone's camera.
Then the horrible sound of of his feet giving way under the platform as it was let go, the noose tight around his neck. The cell phone showed lots of movement and was very scattered and a lot of what appeared to be gleeful cries or that's how I heard it.
Then his swinging body. Not like what you would see in a Clint Eastwood movie but different in a way I can't explain but I'm not going to go back and look at it again. It was his eyes that were so strange.
I'm not sure if he was dead or alive at this point. I've seen more than one person die, and you usually just now. But I've never seen a person hang, so I have no idea how long he lived when the noose pulled taut.
I had the opportunity to go to an execution in my official capacity once.
I declined.
I felt like shit like this would change me somehow if I did this. I may work as a reporter, but that was not something I wanted to be apart of. Another media person from here went. His staff said he was haunted, especially because he took delighted glee in going.
They say he won't talk about it.
I don't know. I'm really torn about the execution. I've said before that it goes without saying that Hussein was one brutal, terrible cruel man. There are others still lurking around this world where power means everything and simple human dignity has no value whatsoever. The situation that Sharon and Sam Davidson have written about so eloquently about Darfur comes to mind.
We know Hussein relished in his power at the expense of human life.
In the end, does it really make a difference. Once an ally with this country, he lost his usefulness and we took him out.
And I'm torn.
Because the man that was responsible for bombing the World Trade Center is still running around.
And then I read that December is the worst month ever for our soldiers in Iraq.
And I can't help but be numb about this very bloody, sad time in our lives where American soldiers stay in a foreign land that really, really hates us.
And, although I'm not a person who prays, I do tonight for those men and women who are over there because of this war. And for the men and women I personally know whose sons died over on foreign land. Because I see these families every day.
Every single day.
So Saddam, you won't be missed by me, quite honestly. But I won't mock your death either because I do believe every life has value.
Unfortunately, you didn't feel the same way and that is what created your demise.
Photo from CNN
¶ 12/30/2006 10:26:00 PM
