Lynching the Dictator

Slate ^ | Jan. 2, 2007 | Christopher Hitchens

[Anti-Bubba182]

The disgusting video of Saddam Hussein's last moments on the planet is more than a reminder of the inescapable barbarity of capital punishment and of the intelligible and conventional reasons why it should always be opposed. The zoolike scenes in that dank, filthy shed (it seems that those attending were not even asked to turn off their cell phones or forbidden to use them to record souvenir film) were more like a lynching than an execution. At one point, one of the attending magistrates can be heard appealing for decency and calm, but otherwise the fact must be faced: In spite of his mad invective against "the Persians" and other traitors, the only character with a rag of dignity in the whole scene is the father of all hangmen, Saddam Hussein himself...."

[Anti-Bubba182]

Hitchen's is wrong about the cell phones they were forbidden but a couple were secreted in by bodyguards of a couple of those searched according to Brit Hume. Also, as far as the physical preparation of Saddam, his executioners were as gentle as the circumstances permitted. They did not force him into the green jumpsuit outfit others wore to their execution, nor did the make him wear a hood. A cushioning cloth was placed around his neck and two people carefully put the noose on and made obvious efforts to not jerk him around. The guys with hands on Saddam and the rope did behave with consideration and dignity.

Hitchens is hysterical. I cannot believe he carefully looked at the video. I only excerpted one paragraph. This one is so off as to not be worth more.

[Mr Ramsbotham]

Sounds like someone's against the death penalty.

[Anti-Bubba182]

Oh yeah, he is against the death penalty! The thing is Hitchens was solidly for the War. What did he think the people of Iraq would do to Saddam? The only way you could
keep him alive would be in isolation.

[snarks_when_bored]

Hitchens is an atheist. Why doesn't he understand that if indisputably guilty murderers aren't compelled to forfeit their lives in the here and now, they escape the just and proper punishment for their crimes?

[DCPatriot]

I think his point is that there should have been somebody among the witnesses and/or authorities that stopped the cell phone videos and removed anyone from the room that uttered a word.

That said, I bet there are many, many executions right here in the USA that have victim's families scream obscenities at the condemned.

[goldstategop]

The problem is murderers need to be executed; not coddled.

"Show me just what Mohammed brought that was new, and there you will find things only evil and inhuman, such as his command to spread by the sword the faith he preached." - Manuel II Palelologus

[Rapscallion]

Sounds like someone's against the death penalty.

The big benefit of the death penalty is they cannot be a repeat offender and society itself thus becomes safer. It must be too simple a concept for Hitchens (and his ilk) to figure out himself.

[Caipirabob]

The people who voice any concern over Saddam's execution should be forced to serve "recovery duty" of bodies from any of the hundreds of mass buriel grounds discovered throughout Iraq.

[trumandogz]

Did U.S. officials know that the designated "executioners" would be the unwashed goons of Muqtada Sadr's "Mahdi Army"

I have no problem with Saddam being hanged however, I do have a problem with the "Mahdi Army" doing the hanging.

[pandoraou812]

Exactly....... I don't understand why there is this problem with lethal injections now. It really makes me angry that we are worried it might hurt a killer for a short time to die. Someone who killed and didn't care how his victims died.... And we worry they might be in pain . I truly think that is beyond reasoning. If lethal injections are not going to be used then I am for hanging. I am angry NJ where I live is doing away with the death penalty.

[Dahoser]

The guy who made the video should get a parade, not condemnation. We are spared the conspiracy kooks and their Hendrix lives! Morrison lives! Elvis lives!, etc., blathering.

[napscoordinator]

I know some of the FREEPERS were not happy about some of the population watching the hanging on the internet. I will just let it out there that I did see it. It was very poorly done and could hardly make anything out with the bouncy way they filled it. My stomach hurt after watching it because I felt like I was on a rollar coaster. lol. The thing that I liked about this way of execution was that it cost the Iraqi's about 20 dollars to perform the death penalty. They did not make it into a hollywood type thing. It reminded me of how these were done back in Jesus' time where a bad person was put to death deservedly not like today where in America especially they spend millions and make it as comfortable as possible. Why do we do this???? These killers should be treated exactly as Sadam was treated and due to that fact, I am glad I was able to watch it. Blast away if you must but that is how I feel.

[Candor7]

Hitchens and His Liberal Socialist Mates are Tyrant Susceptible.

Hitchen's is upset because he is confronted with a case where capital punishment was required and accurate.His world has gone all agly.It provided closure for millions of Iraqis whose relatives and families were executed with the very barbarity that Hitchen's rails against. Hitchens is correct to point out that such barbarity is not the normal condition of civilized man. It is not. But thats not the point.

The point is the barbarity of Saddam's regime and of the man himself, who put himself outside the human pale.We did not put him outside the human pale, and he perpetrated the very acts of barbarism which is what Hitchen rails against. In Hitchen's world there is never an appropriate situation for such barbarism. He is wrong.

The people of Iraq and the West have sent today's tyrants , and there are many, even in our own country, that power, privilege and barbarism will not protect them from the righteous punishment and revenge of an entire people.This is particularly significant in Iraq, which unlike the USA, has a vendetta based culture.

Hissein's death is no sacrifice, nor does it enter the improbable halls of martyrdom, unless you as a person subscribe to the idea that tyranny and barbarism institutionalized is congruent with the basic notions of civilized society, which perhaps unknowingly, Hitchen does.Or as a liberal-socialist perhaps it is indeed knowingly.

Hussein joins the Hall of infamy, with others who have been tyrants in our modern era, a tyranny made all the more horrible because of advances in technology. In these times of designer biological warfare, and nuclear proliferation, membership in the chamber of horrors, and a tortured , ignoble death, should be what awaits any tyrant who perpetrates genocide, and other crimes against humanity. That is not barbarism, it comprises the very foundation of civilized society.

So who is next? Kim Jung IL,Muqtada al Sad'r, Osama Bin Laden, or Amahdinijad. Step up and get some of this.We are waiting.Come, we beckon thee, join the halls of infamy, that contain the bones of Hitler, Musolini , Eichmann, Goering, Tojo, and many others, who decided that they would sip from the cup of tyranny and genocide, and who now must suffer an ignoble eternity.

Mark you well Hitchens, we stoop to conquer barbarism, not to establish it. And God Bless our President and soldiers for doing so. Come Hitchens, join the ranks of a civilized society that abhors tyranny and genocide.Your liberal society is bankrupt and incapable of meeting tyranny and genocide with the fire and brimstone it requires to establish the very civilization you wish to advance.

You and your Liberal Socialist compadres are are susceptible to tyranny; you and your liberal running dogs would bend to kiss the bared penises and asses of tyrants who are inhuman. We cut them off and kick them, and and if you cannot be of help in that noble endeavor, at least have the decency to shut up and crawl away into a corner.

[Coldwater Creek]

Sstarting with Joe Scarbrough!

[Brit1]

I'm fairly ambivalent about the application of the death penalty it should be looked at in individual cases

One things for sure there have been mistakes, 17 here in the UK ,usually because of bad policing or collusion,
in the last 30 years where a human would have lost
their life and later found to be innocent using prov-en modern technology.

What do you say to the widow and children, especially if it was your son or father, of a wrongly executed man.. "Aww shucks never mind but we'll try to get it right next time"....Or "so what if we make a few mistakes its for the benefit of the whole country " as your innocent son is being strapped into the electric chair.

[Leisler]

Lefties really get their panties bunched if things aren't pretty, or an event doesn't lighting done by someone with a theater degree.

A few hundred years ago, if it was London, everyone would be drunk and laughing. Iraq is a tough place. Saddam fancied himself a tough guy. So, tough.

Saddam wasn't worth a pixel.

[Brit1]

You forgot to include China in your list of tyrannical governments but there again the Chinese have a standing army of 7 million and they wouldn't be quite so easy to push around .

[Earthdweller]

"Mark you well Hitchens, we stoop to conquer barbarism, not to establish it. And God Bless our President and soldiers for doing so. Come Hitchens, join the ranks of a civilized society that abhors tyranny and genocide.Your liberal society is bankrupt and incapable of meeting tyranny and genocide with the fire and brimstone it requires to establish the very civilization you wish to advance."

Are these your own words? If so, I want to be the first to shake your hand.

[Candor7]

Yes, they are my own words, but forgive me, I only have occasional lapses into any brilliance. Its only luck, I assure you.

M Thanks.

[Brit1]

Thats the point twit....."a few hundred years ago".