I hope that everyone has a safe, happy, and prosperous 2007.
Every year at this time millions of people (at least) make New Years resolutions to start the new year with. Most all of us want to loose weight, get a better job, go back to college, be a better husband/wife, father/mother, human being, and so on. All of those are great things to work on, but we should probably already be working on them anyway.
So after you take away all of the things that we should be working on anyway, what improvements or enhancements left are worthy of a New Years resolution? I can’t really think of much either. I have been thinking all day about what I’m going to come up with for a New Years resolution, and it’s been kind of tough. Until this past year, I had never had much success with New Years resolutions, and since absolute failure was inevitable, I really didn’t put much effort or thought into the formulating my resolutions.
My 2006 New Years resolution was to keep smoking, and I have been able to stick to it without any problems at all. In fact, not only have I not quit smoking, I’ve managed to increase my usage by about half a pack per day. Now that I know what success feels like I want to jump into 2007 with a winner, so I think that my New Years resolution for 2007 is to NOT watch that video of Saddam getting his neck stretched again.
I thought it might be fun to hear some of your New Years resolutions for 2007, and whether or not you think you will be able to stick to them.
At this moment the top 5 Technorati searches are all about Saddam Hussein’s execution video. We have the Unedited Uncensored Hanging Video, but methinks things are getting a little ridiculous.
If you aren’t searching for #1, the “Saddam Execution Video”, there is a chance you are searching for “Saddam Execution” or the lazy-fingered “Saddam” among the other top searches.
Several million people have watched Saddam Hussein’s execution video on YouTube in one day. My own uploaded version, which I thought was first for a moment has a modest 100,000 views in 24 hours.
Even Britney Spears didn’t get this much attention. Neither did Miss Nevada, Katie Rees, although she is managing to hang on to the #6 spot with her kissing lips. And sure, we have Miss Nevada’s photos for you. Give the customers what they want and you can’t possibly all want Saddam Hussein. Can you?
Check out this fellow’s monthly Sitemeter chart. He managed to get a #1 Google position with his Saddam execution video that was thrown into a post on another topic.
How did these guys ever win? I just finished skimming Nicholas Kristof’s column in the New York Times called Ten Suggestions For Rescuing The Bush Legacy. It is a veritable driver’s manual for liberal nonsensical poopy-talk, a meatloaf of mushy and spectacularly naive liberal ideas. And to think that enough people voted for their Democratic candidates to give these guys a bigger voice. God help us all.
I have been waiting to comment until I knew more about the details of Saddam’s execution. Now that I do know more about his last seconds on our planet, here is what I think will ultimately be the fall out.
Violence will increase in Iraq. The Sunni/Shia divide will continue to fester. This is now an all out war between the various groups within Iraq. It is too simplistic to state that it is merely Sunni versus Shia since there are, at last count, at least 9 factions involved in the fighting. However, it would be fair to say that the Sunni/Shia issue is the one dominant factor that is causing much of the violence in Iraq, even more that Al Qaeda. That certainly was not the case in the immediate aftermath of the removal of Hussein.
The fact that Shia’s were chanting Al Sadr’s name at the hanging is only going to make things “worse” in Iraq. The Sunni’s, with good reason, will now be more paranoid than ever. What we are witnessing here is the beginning (imo) of a regional conflict between the Sunni’s and Shiite’s. I know this was not Bush’s intention but a divided Muslim world works to our favor. As long as they are fighting one another, they will not have the strength to take on the western world including the United States. Perhaps they will crumble from within.
I know that many innocent people of are dying and will continue to die. I have sympathy for them. In the end, this boils down to a battle of cultures. It is a nasty business where even the “winners” will feel very little joy in victory.
Okay, if you want to see Saddam Hussein hanged (“hung”) without the media censorship, here is a new video of his execution. The quality of the video isn’t that great but it gives you a better sense of being there. If it bothers you, obviously don’t watch. It actually isn’t THAT graphic, which leaves the main stream media censors with some explaining to do.
Personally I oppose the death penalty in all cases, as perhaps a puritanical intellectual sacrifice to an entirely pro-life position, so I’m not posting this for any sense of glee. Certainly I don’t share the peculiar sense of blood-thirsty euphoria that I’ve noticed on other websites. Saddam Hussein has been irrelevant for two years, and I doubt his execution really changes anything in Iraq.
However, one thing is certain. This brutal dictator who started three wars and is responsible for the graves of two million people will soon be in the ground himself. And if the act brings even just a little more legitimacy to the Iraqi government in the eyes of their people, perhaps good has come of it.
I AM posting the video because it is a newsworthy event, capping the life of one of the brutal tyrants of the past century. And I don’t like other people censoring and editing what others may want to watch.
This is a video of Saddam at the gallows from the time he was fitted for the noose up until the point of the executioner actually pulling the lever to drop the floor beneath the now departed former diabolical dictator. At the end of the video there is a clip of Saddam’s lifeless body, neck twisted and wrapped in a sheet.
For those of you that were asleep last night while the airwaves were buzzing with the news of Saddam getting his neck stretched, here is a longer clip (5 seconds shy of 10:00 mins.) from CNN that should pretty much cover anything you missed. Of course this clip is jam packed with exclusive team coverage, expert opinions, theories, and assumptions, but that’s the CNN for ya. (You may have to crank the volume up a bit.)
The life of Saddam Hussein ended today the way he ended the lives of so many others. He was executed shortly before sunrise in Baghdad. Photos and video are below and in related posts here and here and here.
The death of Saddam will bring joy to few people. He has been largely irrelevant since he was pulled out of a filthy hole in the ground by American forces two years ago. Iraqi infighting and general Iraqi incompetence continued with Saddam in jail, and it will continue with him permanently in a new hole in the ground. The death of Saddam is not the antidote to the current problems in Iraq.
Saddam Hussein is Dead
Nor is it something to complain about, however. The Butcher of Baghdad started three wars with his neighbors which accounted for over 2,000,000 dead people. Those who complain about Iraq’s “kangaroo court” are disguising their real complaint as usual. Any topic will suffice for creative criticism of the United States and the elected administration of President George Bush.
Never mind it is the new Iraqi government themselves who tried Saddam Hussein under the new rule of law in Iraq. That doesn’t matter to liberal defeatists so blinded by anti-American hatred that they can’t celebrate an example of the Iraqi government actually working.
Whether one approves of the death penalty or not, approves of Iraqi justice or supports free peoples generally, we should all at least all be thankful that a brutal tyrant is no longer meting out his own justice. Unfortunately as the catcalls from liberals will attest, we don’t all share the same humanitarian interests. They went so far as to narcissistically try to block his execution in a U.S. court!
Hussein’s lawyers filed documents Friday afternoon asking for a stay of execution. The 21-page request was filed in U.S. District Court in Washington before Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.
Attorneys argued that because Hussein also faces a civil lawsuit in Washington, he has rights as a civil defendant that would be violated if he is executed. He has not received notice of those rights and the consequences that the lawsuit would have on his estate, his attorneys said.
“To protect those rights, defendant Saddam Hussein requests an order of this court providing a stay of his execution until further notice of this court,” attorney Nicholas Gilman wrote.
A similar request by the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, was denied Thursday and is under appeal. Al-Bandar also faces execution. The Justice Department argued in that case that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction to interfere with the judicial process of another country.
Al-Bandar argued that his trial violated his rights under the U.S. Constitution but Justice countered that foreigners being tried in foreign courts are not protected by the U.S. Constitution.
Here is the execution video from Arabic television:
Al-Nueimi, a member of Saddam’s legal team in Doha, Qatar, said U.S. authorities were maintaining physical custody of Saddam to prevent him from being humiliated before his execution. He said the Americans also want to prevent the mutilation of his corpse, as has happened to other deposed Iraqi leaders.
“The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully,” al-Nueimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated “that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed,” he said.
The lucky few that were cleared to attend the much anticipated execution included a Muslim cleric, some Iraqi lawmakers, a handful of senior officials of the current Iraqi administration and some relatives of victims of Saddam’s barbarianism and brutality.
Some Arab media, including Saudi-owned Al-Arabiya and the U.S.- financed Al-Hurrah, reported about an hour before daylight Saturday (about 10 p.m. EST Friday) that Saddam had been executed. There was no confirmation from the Iraqi government.
Courtesy of BREITBART.COM .
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Iraqi TV said the execution took place just before 0600 local time (0300GMT). It was witnessed by a doctor, lawyer and officials. It was also filmed.
Courtesy of BBC News.
___________________________________________________ Saddam Hussein Execution Tonight: UPDATE
(11: 15 ET)
Three Arab television stations in Iraq report that the execution happened around 9:00 p.m. CT Friday night, 6:00 a.m. Baghdad time Saturday. A senior U.S. official and Hussein’s attorney have confirmed the execution.
