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December 3, 2008
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Ear to the Ground

Guard Arrested for Execution Video

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Posted on Jan 3, 2007

Iraqi officials arrested a guard believed to have been responsible for releasing the unauthorized video of Saddam Hussein’s execution.  From The New York Times: “Some American officials suggested that Iraq was seeking a low-level scapegoat to carry the blame for the almost Gothic display of intimidation and death seen in the video.”

NYT:
The Iraqi prime minister’s office gave its first public defense today of the way the government carried out the execution of Saddam Hussein, and said that a guard who they believe recorded the moment in a macabre unauthorized video had been arrested. The video and the scenes it depicts have prompted a wave of revulsion around the world.

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By Eleanore Kjellberg, January 5, 2007 at 3:33 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

“When all is said and done, the hanging of Saddam will cost U.S. taxpayers about $3 trillion. That puts any video of Saddam’s execution in the public domain.”

John F.,
That was pretty expensive production--did we really need another remake of the Titanic?

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By John F. Butterfield, January 4, 2007 at 5:27 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

When all is said and done, the hanging of Saddam will cost U.S. taxpayers about $3 trillion. That puts any video of Saddam’s execution in the public domain.

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By Bukko in Australia, January 4, 2007 at 3:02 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

You got that right, Skruff—it’s typical of these Bush times that they go after the people who exposed the deed, not the ones that did it. Who got busted for Abu Ghraib? The sad sacks who were in the pix, not the ones who organised the torture. Who got in trouble for the “yellowcake from Niger” lie? Valerie Plame, wife of the man who revealed the lie, not the liars who said it.

And Rae: I was alive when Saddam gassed the Kurds. I remeber the outrage from the LEFT WING. I a;so remeber how Ronald Reagan’s administration pooh-poohed because Saddam was AMERICA’S ALLY holding back the Iranians. REPUBLICANS helped cover up Saddam’s crime. Donald Rumsfeld sold Saddam the chemicals needed to make the poison gas he used against Iranians on the battlefield and Kurds in their homes. George Bush the First stood idly by when Saddam used helicopters and tanks to massacre 400,000 Shiites after the first Gulf War, when Bush had the army that just kicked Saddam out of Kuwait sitting mere miles away. REPUBLICANS ALLOWED SADDAM TO MURDER!!!!! Where is YOUR outrage? Oh yes, it’s directed at Bill Clinton, because he got a few blow jobs.

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By Skruff, January 4, 2007 at 7:09 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

Sometimes I feel like I’m living under the “Mad Hatter” in Wonderland. (The real one by Lewis Carrol, not the disney trash).

Here we have a whistle blower telling the world what’s REALLY happening, and our government pulls out all stops to find the one who filmed this attrocity.  Of course the whole episode (Saddam’s execution) was carried out in the name of “freedom”

I’m left to “wonder” if I understand the new “English” spoken here.

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By Flashman, January 4, 2007 at 5:36 am #
(Unregistered commenter)

After viewing the cell phone camera video of Saddam’s hanging something stood out. If, like they say, all recording devices were prohibited from the execution then who was the still photographer who was there taking photos. I am a professional photographer and the first thing I noticed was about twelves bursts of light coming from what I think was a camera flash. It is difficult to be inconspicuous with a camera flash popping off. So, who took those photos and why were they not punished?

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By rae2, January 3, 2007 at 7:58 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

Where was the “wave of revulsion” when Saddam was gassing his citizens?

May I suggest that if such a fuss had been made over those murders some benefit might have come from the effort. What exactly is the purpose of “shooting the messenger” in this case?

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By Eleanore Kjellberg, January 3, 2007 at 7:10 pm #
(Unregistered commenter)

They say three Iraqis were arrested today, for filming and distributing the video of Saddam being executed—-is this the democracy we formed; one that imprisons Iraqis for showing the truth—-3,000 U.S.  Troops died to establish a government that is a repressive chaotic mess, controlled by street gangs on the move, or perhaps they are just like a Wild West posse having a good old lynching party.

The Iraqis who distributed the video should be commended rather than convicted—- why hide Saddam’s execution, his trial was expedited, Bush wanted him executed, so it is significant that we see the handiwork of those responsible.

The public is tired of being patronized—the Iraq War is not a movie set, real people die, 660,000 Iraqis are dead, a figure not much talked about by the Bush Administration, just like those flag draped coffins of U.S. troops that are hidden from MSM cameras, why are those in the White House frightened to show the effects of their policies—let all see the price that some pay for corruption. 

The tall stately statue of Saddam was torn down three years
Ago three men set-up a ladder, climbed up the pillar, and draped a long rope, noose style, around the statue’s neck.  They climbed down, and a few others, swung away at the pillar with a hammer.  The pillar was about 30 feet high and 6 feet or so in diameter. The statue stood about 30 feet high. A couple of American Abrams tanks were loitering about; they could easily topple the statue in a minute, but they seem disinclined--leaving the task, to the Iraqis; with the help of some ropes.

Three years later a rope was once again used by Iraqis to tear down all remaining reminders of the previous regime, however, this time they had the actual head of Saddam in their hands, but yet he stood just as noble and calm as a statue, refusing to be shrouded by hood, wanting to see how he was to die, surrounded by masked men chanting and tormenting him until the very end.

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