saddam and execution again, (sigh)

[vicious_sid]

After watching the debacle that the iraqis call execution I was wondering are there any "professional" hangman still in employment anywhere in the world?

[Loosehead]

Yes in Iraq, they hang about a dozen a week and they get wages. I think the hanging itself whilst not up to Pierrepoint standards was competant, it was just the behaviour of the periphery that was out of order.

[whiffey]

The hanging was not competent, but it was lucky. If ever dropping a person 7ft with a rope around his neck can be called humane, then getting him to climb up the scaffold steps first cannot. The noose has to be placed expertly in order to achieve the desired neck-breaking that Pierrepoint got to a fine art. The Iraqis struck lucky, that's all. I sleep better tonight in the knowledge that John Prescott, Gordon Brown, and Tony Blair have complained about the hanging. They'll have to get Saddam back and do it again properly, or else, so there, na na ni na na.

[johnlambert]

I've watched the mobile phone version and they were lucky not to decapitate him

[Loosehead]

Hanging when done properly is instant death, where as they may not have had Pierrpoint's drop table, dropping him 7ft with a rope around his neck broke his neck so this hanging at least was sucessful, Im not making any comments on their general standard of work.

[zimzam]

I've just watched the last part of the video that was taken by a mobile phone camera. We have now seen 2 parts pretty much available everywhere. The last part shows the camaraman walking up to a trolley that has someone in a shroud, the shroud is pulled back to display Saddams face and neck. He has a lot of blood on him and a huge gaping hole in his throat. It is considered that something was done to him post mortem. It is not a pretty sight, and although I feel it will soon be available on the net I am not going to give the link to it here. The abuse to his body in death will certainly create a whole heap of trouble and make him more of a martyr to his people than a simple hanging would have done.