Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Scheduled to televise tonight between 9:30 and 10 pm EST on State TV...developing story.
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Oh, heck. Sorry everybody. They're showing the atrocities on State tv...they're not releasing the execution time/date as of yet. Just forget I exist....
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove Proof I'm on Rx meds: okay, it is set for around 10 pm est....no word on televised or not...half brother and former chief justice of the revolutionary court will be hanged with him. (end of my days as a reporter, I promise)
Originally Posted By gadzuux Okay - tell the truth now ... Who really wants to watch saddam get hanged? And why - what'd he ever do to you?
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka I don't want to see anybody executed...ever. That doesn't really mean that I'm going to shed any tears of this.
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove I don't want to watch any execution or anyone's death. I believe he has committed terrible crimes against humanity and will now be punished for his crimes. I was just posting the information; not trying to be bloodthirsty in any way.
Originally Posted By gadzuux I'm not singling you out at all - sorry if it came off that way. My "disdain" is because I'm well aware of what a tiny minority I'm in as an american who's opposed to capital punishment. As a result, I entertain myself with the goulish delight that some people take in public executions. "Vengance is MINE"! seems to be the mood of the day. Except that you had nothing to be avenged. You've got no horse in this race, so don't be in such of an all-fired hurry to take joy in the death of another. No matter who they are.
Originally Posted By SoThisIsLove No worries, gadzuux! As I've gotten older, I've appreciated "life in prison" a lot more.... Have a happy new year, LP'ers! I'm outta here!
Originally Posted By ecdc >>My "disdain" is because I'm well aware of what a tiny minority I'm in as an american who's opposed to capital punishment. As a result, I entertain myself with the goulish delight that some people take in public executions.<< I used to support the death penalty. And there's definitely people - like Saddam, bin Laden, serial killers, etc. - that I frankly don't care whether or not they live or die. But I've come to believe that revenge, no matter how justified, is ugly and appeals to our worst nature as humans. It ultimately destroys us. And that's all capital punishment is - revenge. Those who support it take great delight in seeing scum get their come uppance. It isn't - or it shouldn't be - skin off anyone's nose whether someone like Saddam spends the rest of his life behind bars or whether he hangs. The desire to see him hang is based in revenge, not justice. I think Spielberg's film, Munich, illustrates beautifully the tragedy that revenge reaps on those who pursue it.
Originally Posted By Ursula As far as capital punishment goes, my wanting for bad people to die isn't for revenge or a thirst for blood. It's really so that 1) they never even get the chance to do whatever crime again and 2) that they are not a burden on taxpayers since our jails, especially in CA, are overcrowded as it is now. I would rather my tax monies go to support other things than to feed and clothe criminals. I did read up on the hanging that Saddam will get, and let me tell you, I do not wish that on anyone.
Originally Posted By SingleParkPassholder Hanging is the worst form of execution. Hussein will suffer and will be swaying there for a bit of time, well aware he's being choked out of his life. That fun said, I have no desire to see this, and am ambivalent over it anyway. I'm on record here as being anti-capital punishment. I realize he did unimaginable and horrible things to his people. I know a lot of Iraqis will breathe easier and come to accept the new government when they have proof he's dead and can't somehow come back to seek his revenge. But don't anyone kid themselves if they think this was an Iraqi court by and for the Iraqi people that meted this out. This was the U.S., pure and simple, and no one can tell me this isn't U.S. sponsored execution of a foreign leader. It's funny. If this were bin Laden, I'd want to watch, and I'd like to be the one who kicks the chair out from under him. Al-Zawahiri as well. But I'd like to hear of one concrete thing we know Hussein did against the American people. Yet here we are, responsible for this based upon what we thought he might have done if he had what we thought he did. Yeah he's a bad guy and it's good he's gone. but I'm not celebrating this, not at all.
Originally Posted By SuperDry I guess we could say that Saddam is nearing the end of his rope. <<< Hanging is the worst form of execution. Hussein will suffer and will be swaying there for a bit of time, well aware he's being choked out of his life. >>> Doesn't it depend on which of two types of death by hanging is used? One is suffocation as you describe above, and the other is where the neck gets snapped and supposedly leads to instant death. <<< As far as capital punishment goes, my wanting for bad people to die isn't for revenge or a thirst for blood. It's really so that ... 2) that they are not a burden on taxpayers since our jails, especially in CA, are overcrowded as it is now. I would rather my tax monies go to support other things than to feed and clothe criminals. >>> Considering that it costs far more to execute someone in the US than house them in prison for the rest of their life, are you willing to change your mind based on the financial aspect?
Originally Posted By barboy " 1) they never even get the chance to do whatever crime again" This part of the argument is weak because if one is imprisoned then he/she could not do anything ugly again. I have noticed that many pro death penalty folk bring this up often.
Originally Posted By melekalikimaka <<if one is imprisoned then he/she could not do anything ugly again>> Right. Prisons are lovely places where everyone treats each other with the utmost respect.
Originally Posted By officerminnie I think alot more people are potentially vengeful than are willing to admit. Imagine a guy breaks into your home, ties you up and makes you watch as he repeatedly rapes and beats your wife. Then he slowly stabs her to death. Can you honestly say you wouldn't want to kill that guy? Or wish the death penalty on him? If I were that husband, I know I would want him erased from this world. I do know that I don't want my tax dollars paying for him to spend time in prison watching cable tv, reading pornographic magzines, and working out on the bowflex. And as far as the cost of execution costing more $$ than housing a person in prison for life, I'm not sure you can make that blanket statement. It would depend on how long the life expectancy is for that criminal - life in prison for one guy might be 10 years, but for another it could be 40 years. And the appeals process is very expensive(especially since most the criminals' defense attorneys are paid for by the taxpayers) and can go on for years and years.
Originally Posted By barboy "It's funny. If this were bin Laden, I'd want to watch, and I'd like to be the one who kicks the chair out from under him." But if we are talking about total atrocities committed Bin Laden and Al-Z are not even in the same ballpark as Saddam-- not even the same sport. Saddam had people horrifically executed just for kicks by the thousands--not to mention his full scale decimation of entire populations. Saddam is on par with Kampuchea's Pol Pot whereas Bin Laden is just as much of a mass murderer as Japan's Yamashida during the early 1940's.
Originally Posted By cmpaley Unpopular as this will make me (since mercy is so unpopular in this country nowadays), "May God have mercy on his soul!"
