The Saddam Snuff Movie
Iraqi authorities say it was necessary to show Saddam's execution so as to scotch conspiracy theories that he wasn't really killed. There is some truth to that argument, but it feels like a return to the dark age of public executions, only with much greater effect courtesy of digital recording technology that let you view the death in painstaking detail as many times you like.
Some like TVNZ say they didn't want to show the hanging:
TVNZ's head of news, Bill Ralston, said he did not know whether the footage was likely to be released, but it was not something the state broadcaster would screen. "We feel that's some thing best left to the websites," he told the Sunday Star-Times.
Leaving aside Ralston's haughty and dismissive attitude towards "websites", I can't help wondering if the real reason he decided not to show the imagery was that TVNZ would've had to pay a great deal for it, as the SST story hints at.
The only national newspaper in New Zealand, the New Zealand Herald, didn't hesitate to publish pictures and video of Saddam's hanging however. Overall, it TVNZ's reticence appears to have been matched by few media outlets around the world. Most slapped up pictures and video as soon as possible, in whatever format available.
Capital punishment is in my view bad enough - and yes, I fully appreciate that Saddam was a monster - but are we not debasing ourselves further by televising the execution? Was this news or was it a snuff movie shown for the sake of bumping up viewer numbers? Nasty way to end the year in either case.
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Comment by gillesroy, on 31-DEC-2006 12:17
Political designs behind Saddam's execution :
1. Saddam is clearly the scapegoat for an international war syndicate, which includes many in our current political leadership, both in front and behind the scenes. Evacuating due process, controlling evidence and terrorizing the defense team were all par for the course in Saddam's trial. A key reason for the speedy road to execution, was to eliminate a prominent player and key witness of this international criminal war conspiracy, thereby avoid further indictment of members of our leadership, many of whom have been accessory to Saddam's actual crimes.
2. To « bookend » media fatigue and public indifference, re : Saddam's trial. The whole point of the « trial » was to deliver a quick public execution, and thereby feed the hunger for blood so brilliantly cultivated in Western public opinion. An execution gives sense of heightened drama, and inagurates the next round of intensified bloodshed in the region... and beyond.
3. Lastly, to make Saddam a martyr for (gasp!) sympathisers, thereby deepening chaos in the middle-east over a longer period of time. Certainly, the US-led war in Iraq can be called a success insofar as its central purpose has been to aid the spreading of chaos in the Middle-East.
Comment by Lawrence, on 31-DEC-2006 15:07
As pathetic as the footage of Saddam's execution, I think its inappropriate...Unfortunately the death sentence is carried out in its manner, being filmed, televised for the world to see.
Comment by nondeedeedee, on 31-DEC-2006 17:30
All of you must be left wing...you freakin pansies. He got what he deserved. He killed thousands of people...his own people....and you want to call him a scape goat. Rediculous. People like you are the reason why we are all going to hell in a hand basket wrapped with ultra P.C. wrapping paper.
Comment by George Gold, on 31-DEC-2006 18:39
Such is life!!! Yes, power may belong to you today but always have it in mind that it also shift and may turn against you. always think twice before your actions.
Comment by Reverend Aquaman, on 31-DEC-2006 22:26
Living in New Zealand for about 6 years now and previous coming from the old USA where I spent the previous 33.
I watched the video. Only because for the past 15 years of my life Saddam Hussein and his legacy are all that I have heard about. I am not going to voice my political affiliations but only my personal opinion.
I feel like that the method of this execution is quite effective. There was a time in history that these "public executions" were very common place and there was quite a turn out then. Vendors would even set up shop to turn a profit on the "show". I have noticed that in a perspective of getting your point across over a certain sector of the population who might need this kind of re-enforcement to get the message across, then so be it. I come from a belief that if you can't do the time, don't do the crime. If you know what the rules are and you break them, then you pay the consequences. It is that simple.
I know that if I had performed the violations on human rights that Saddam Hussein was guilty of and knew that what I did was pretty damn fubar, as he did, then I would accept that I knew I had it coming.
I also understand that Sharia law is pretty severe and the average everyday fella in the streets of Iraq would have rather had him strung up like Mussolini and everyone got a crack at humiliating him.
I wish Iraq only the best in rebuilding their country as a united entity. I hope that they can settle their differences and move together forward to take advantage of the assets that they as a country have to offer the world and get paid some pretty serious dosh for it. GOOD ON THEM!
Happy Gnu Year!
Comment by freitasm, on 1-JAN-2007 09:09
It just strikes me that after "liberating" Iraq, the people came after him with charges on old facts. Why didn't an invasion occur when those facts happened, years ago? Why did the Desert Storm war stopped where it did then, without going all the way to Baghdad?
The situation wasn't different back then, so the only reason must be the motives that led to the current war.
Comment by Reverend Aquaman, on 1-JAN-2007 12:00
Yeah, they could have stopped Hitler before he slaughtered 6 million Jews, but the politics weren't right at the time either.
It is really too bad in this world politics take precedence over human lives.
Eventually, everyone has to pay the piper.
Comment by Donna, on 22-JAN-2007 12:19
I have no sympathy for Saddam. He was a monster, but if you think it's okay to televise public executions, this will be done for executions of the innocent as well as the guilty (and already has been done in some cases--remember those guys who were beheaded by terrorists).
That is because people will come to accept killing as a form of entertainment, and this should not happen.
BTW, Slowing down to watch a car wreck is a choice. I guarantee you not everyone does it. We're not animals. People who know that it ties up traffic, makes people late for work, picking up their kids from school, etc., don't make such a dumb mindless choice.
Comment by tim, on 8-MAR-2007 09:10
I've been feeling morbid recently so I revisited this video to remind myself of life and death. Were so damned insulated in the west. I guess even though he was a brutal man (most dictators have to be if they plan on staying in power) when watching the end one is aware he is now the meek, and shows some courage in the facing the end. Death is the great leveller.
Deserve has nothing to do with it in this life unfortunately, and all the self-righteous comments about just desserts are shallow and cover a deep misunderstanding. There but for circumstance may be any one of us.
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Comment by alasta, on 31-DEC-2006 12:00
Saddam is still alive. This video is just a cleverly composed hoax.
But seriously, people have to accept the consequences of their actions and if that means being put to death and having the experience screen around the world, then so be it. It's a bit sad to think that people would actually want to watch this video, but it's human nature much like when people stop and stare when passing by the scene of a car accident.