Comments on: CNN coverage of Saddam’s hanging

By: AUNT MARSHA

AUNT MARSHA — Mon, 01 Jan 2007 16:05:00 +0000

No, Hon. I do not think the South Afs will be watching much of any of this.
I thought Mandela was dead, too. (also)The whites are still not laughing about having let him loose, period.
Speaking ill of the dead, I just finished “Jokes My Father Never Taught Me”, by Rain Pryor. Very poorly written book, unfortunately, even though she didn’t apparently write much of it herself.
I was aghast, however, to learn of just how my dear Richard entered the end. Horrible!If the account is true (and I had wondered mightily just why we never heard ANYTHING AT ALL ABOUT THE FUNERAL, HIS LIFE, ETC. after the announcement of the death itself), he died afraid and all but captive in the hands of the evil Jennifer.Funeral only barely attended by anyone.
I am hoping he is now with friends like James and laughing.I sure hope I go somewhere where there is laughter when I die.The Funny Farm of Eternity for dead stand ups? Would I have to actually BE a stand up to go there?Well, I got a bartending licence—why stop now? I could become anything. What was the guy’s name who married you and Meg? She just recently told me that he got the certification FOR your wedding. I could do the next one! Molly and Q???????? I think I can even get extra Memolink points for applying for the paper.

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 20:14:09 +0000

And James Brown, too.

Hey, do you think the folks in South Africa will watch Iraq over the next couple of years and regret forgiving all those apartheid leaders? “Man, if Nelson Mandela had just been willing to hang a few of those white supremist assholes, we could be on the fast track to healing and democracy and freedom like Iraq is!”

By: AUNT MARSHA

AUNT MARSHA — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 18:59:41 +0000

I COULDN’T BELIEVE I ACTUALLY WATCHED IT THIS MORNING ON AOL…WHAT THEY SHOWED. I FELT NO HAPPINESS. NO GLEE. NOT AN IOTA OF SATISFACTION FOR THE MAN’S BEING HUNG FOR THE CRIMINAL DEEDS HE, INDEED, COMMITTED.
I SOMEHOW…FOUND MYSELF WATCHING HIM AND SEEING NOT A BROKEN MAN—BY ANY MEANS–BUT, A TRULY HUMAN MAN…WITH SOME DIGNITY…AND PERHAPS EVEN GRACE.
NOT TRYING TO TIE IN ANY OF HIS ATROCITIES TO THESE FEELINGS….JUST NOT GETTING OFF ON HIS HAVING BEEN PUT TO DEATH.
(if, in fact, he was.I always think he’ll go to the JFK farm and sit drinkin sweet tea with Elvis and crew, ya know?)

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:42:01 +0000

Remember last night CNN was saying that “Saddam was a broken man” over and over? Now this morning it comes out that he refused to wear a hood and was “defiant to the end,” even mocking Muqtada al-Sadr in his final words. Iraqi Judge Munir Haddad, an eyewitness, says Saddam appeared “totally oblivious to what was going on around him. I was very surprised. He was not afraid of death.”

By the way, the source of the “broken man” comment last night was Iraqi national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie, a lifelong friend of al-Sadr’s pro-American uncle, Grand Ayatollah Hussein al-Sadr. Probably a coincidence that his version differs from that of everyone else who was there, and that he was the one person the American media turned to for initial reactions. Well, him and some frat boys in Dearborn.

By: Tom

Tom — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 16:19:15 +0000

Yep, this morning they’re wandering the streets of Dearborn, finding more Iraqis who will produce good TV. I notice they haven’t talked to anyone who has a pessimistic view of the situation in Iraq — I can’t believe that every Iraqi American believes that this will immediately solve Iraq’s problems, but that seems to be what the people CNN found are saying.

I’m reminded of whenever it snows around here and they send every reporter they have out to stand on an overpass somewhere and report for WinterWatch ‘06. If you have to try that hard to produce it, it’s NOT news.

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 06:45:46 +0000

Yeah, I’ve always wondered why he wasn’t tried for gassing the Kurds or Iranians, but instead for this much smaller incident from long ago.

And the timing of the execution sure gives Sunni death squads a reason to get busy on the Shia holiday Sunday. Guess we’ll just have to “surge” in a bunch more troops after that unpredictable reaction and its unpredictable consequences. Who knew?

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 06:00:41 +0000

Juan Cole has posted an article about the execution on Salon.com:

http://www.salon.com/opinion/feature/2006/12/30/saddam/

Some interesting specifics I hadn’t heard before about the Sunni-Shia conflict and how it relates to the trial and the timing of the execution.

By: Doug

Doug — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 04:18:57 +0000

Yeah, poor Wolf was left out on this one, although Peter Arnett got to re-live some Gulf War glory this evening. That guy’s hair makes me glad I shave my head, I must say.

By: Megan

Megan — Sat, 30 Dec 2006 04:14:17 +0000

My favorite was at the end of Larry King when he said “It’s just around the corner and it’s all yours, Anderson.” It must have been hard for poor Larry to hand off that juicy plum.

And just think how Wolf Blitzer must feel!