I've seen the video of Saddam Husseins hanging, which is something I never thought I'd ever see. Not Saddams hanging specifically, I mean any kind of hanging. I'm not sure what it says about the world that we're now able to watch executions on You Tube. Is this what Samsung and Nokia were thinking about when they first installed camera's in mobile phones?
Will the US have any grounds to complain the next time Al-Jazeera shows footage of dead US Soldiers now that their news networks have shown Saddam Husseins execution? Is it justified in this instance because he was such a nasty chap? That's an arguement for another time. Anyhoo...a couple of things struck me funny watching this video. More than a couple of things really. First of all. Why a hanging? I know that Iraq is not perhaps the most developed nation and fair enough, most of Iraq is just a pile of rubble, but surely a lethal injection could have been found somewhere. Secondly, I was kind of surprised by the reletively basic looking structure in which they chose to hang him. I didn't look to be the most secure building. And as gallows go, I don't know what I was expecting, but I thought they looked a little erm..well unsafe. Yes, I know they're not safe, they're gallows. They're there to kill people. Yes, I realise this. I don't mean unsafe in that poor Saddam could have hurt himself dangling from that fat rope...I mean that they looked to me like they may collapse at any time and thus Saddam would have to be pardoned under the acts of God clause I assume they have written into their execution orders like we used to have when we were happy snapping the necks of various murderers and treasoners.
It wouldn't have taken the A-Team to get the guy out of there is basically what I'm saying. Any bunch of motivated Sunni muslims could have piled in there and had him away in the back a transit van easy. When you consider the whole point of this invasion by Bush was to rid the world of this fella, you'd have thought the whole disposal part of the operation would have been conducted with a little more efficiency.
Another thing that struck me was how remarkably calm Saddam was. Incidently, is it me, or is not a bit strange that we all seem to refer to Saddam Hussein by his first name? Tony Blair does it. Like he's best mates with him. "I am in no doubt that Saddam has weopans of Mass Destruction and we are in no doubt that Saddam will use them" Tony would tell us. Why first name terms? He doesn't call Bush George does he? It's President Bush. Churchill never refered to Hitler as Adolf did he? Call him Hussein, call him Saddam Hussein, but not just Saddam. It's weird and I think Saddam Hussein has earned the right by now, through his relentless pursuit of ethnic cleansing and genocide, to be addressed in the appropriate manner.
Finally, I couldn't help but wish it had been Donald Rumsfeld swinging from that rope. I'm not advocating the gassing of anyone. And I would never encourage youngsters to invade their neighbouring countries if they were ever in the position to do so, and I've never been keen on torturing anyone, but there was a part of me that, quite large part of me, that would definately have rather seen Donlad Rumselfd executed than Saddam Hussein.
I don't know if Iraq was a better place before the invasion than it is now...that's another whole different arguement...but there is no denying that Rumsfeld is at least as evil as Saddam Huseein. They're both clearly crazy. They're both responsible for roughly the same amount of civilian deaths, somewhere in the 100,000's by now, but the difference and crucial difference in my opinion, is that Donald Rumsfeld is mates with the President of the United States. This makes him very dangerous and makes me nervous. It makes him a danger to the entire planet, while Saddam, as evil as he was, was never a threat to the entire world, no matter how may times Bush or Blair may have tried to convince us he was.
I want Rumsfeld to swing instead of Bush, because although Bush may sign the papers, he's clearly not writing the documents. Bush is just a moron, I never really thought he wanted to President in the first place. I bet he was quite happy being home in Texas on his ranch shooting beer cans off a fence and fooling around with the Mexican house keeper in his barn. But Rumsfeld knew what he was doing and is absolutely evil, evil to the core. He's so evil, he's actually got me feeling sympathetic towards a man who would easily make human histories top five tyrants.
Donald Rumsfeld and Dick Cheney, these people are personally responsible for me losing my faith in humanity. If there is any justice and my faith is ever to be restored in humanity, then one or all of these men will have to meet incredibly painful ends and really have to suffer and it'll all have to be available on You Tube.
