Daily archives: December 31st, 2006

Saddam’s Execution — a Grim Tale

The execution of Saddam Hussein is retold in a grim article from the New York Times that appeared in the U.S. on December 31. The story includes a strange exchange of curses between Hussein and one of the guards present. No video of the actual execution has been released, the opening of the trap door. And that’s for the best. I have no doubt that Drudge will try to find it and air it if it exists. Or Fox News.

But we don’t need to see that.

The account in the NYTimes says volumes:

At 6:10 a.m., the trapdoor swung open. He seemed to fall a good distance, but he died swiftly. After just a minute, his body was still. His eyes still were open but he was dead. Despite the scarf, the rope cut a gash into his neck.

His body stayed hanging for another nine minutes as those in attendance broke out in prayer, praising the Prophet, at the death of a dictator.


Happy New Year: 3000 American Soldiers Dead in Iraq

2006 took us to the 3,000 mark in Iraq. 3,000 American soldiers dead. This confirmed with an announcement today from the Pentagon releasing the name of a soldier from Texas.

Spc. Dustin R. Donica, 22, of Spring, Texas, was killed Thursday by small arms fire in Baghdad, the Defense Department said.

3,000 now.

And counting.


Iraq No Better Off Today

An editorial from Friday’s New York Times talks about the rush to execute Saddam Hussein, and suggests that Iraq is no better off today than it was under the former dictator. The reports are:

This week began with a story of British and Iraqi soldiers storming a police station that hid a secret dungeon in Basra. More than 100 men, many of them viciously tortured, were rescued from almost certain execution. It might have been a story from the final days of Baathist rule in March 2003, when British and American troops entered Basra believing they were liberating the subjugated Shiite south. But it was December 2006, and the wretched men being liberated were prisoners of the new Iraqi Shiite authorities.

These tortures are being committed by a government our soldiers fought to establish.

Turn the page.