Saddam Swings
John on December 29, 2006 at 8:44 pm
Hot Air links to the first reports of his hanging. Pictures shortly.
No tears for this murderer, as Scott has said earlier today, “Saddam is lucky to be getting off as lightly as he is with just being hanged.” Saddam didn’t face the gallows alone:
Also hanged were Saddam’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court. State-run Iraqiya television news announcer said “criminal Saddam was hanged to death and the execution started with criminal Saddam then Barzan then Awad al-Bandar.”
Here’s a timeline of Saddam’s violent life from the London Times.
Category: Crime & the Law, Foreign Affairs |
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December 30, 2006 @ 5:24 amSic Semper Tyrannis…
Da queste parti siamo (quasi) sempre contrari alla pena di morte. Per Saddam, invece, facciamo volentieri un’eccezione. Tanto che oggi la cosa che ci turba di più non è certo la morte di questo dittatore sanguinario, che ha ammazzato a sangue freddo…
December 30, 2006 @ 11:05 amRoger,
What do you think Saddam was thinking today, before the noose? I wondered if he had a brief flicker of fear, some small moment of enlightment that he is not really in control afterall. He certainly didn’t look like a man fully convinced he was going to meet his kingdom of virgins.
How do you think you will handle “the noose” if you have a few moments to know that it’s coming before it arrives?
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December 30, 2006 @ 1:23 pmHello Amy,
I just finished a comment to Scott’s post on Pat Robertson, and had intended that it would be my last comment on this blog. I had a discussion with Scott many months ago on a challenge and a response to a piece by Dan Barker. It never went anywhere and I had assumed Scott had forgotten. After I posted my comment I decided to take a quick look at the latest topics and the comments. Well, lo and behold, there you are Amy, posing a question for me.
What was Saddam thinking? Did he have a flicker of fear? I really don’t know what he was thinking. I know he was defiant right to the end. Whether he was thinking of the virgins awaiting him, I don’t know. However, I don’t find that concept any more ludicrous than the belief that Scott is going to heaven and I’m not.
I’m puzzled by your question, how will I handle “the noose” if I have a few moments to know that it is coming. Does the question refer to how I would deal with fear or is it an implication that my final judgement does not bode well for me. I know that I am capable of great fear. I first realized this when my wife and I were in a gift shop at Cape Foul Weather on the coast of Oregon. We got caught up in an armed robbery by two guys and two gals who looked pretty scruffy and strung out. With a 45 Cal. pointed at us and being forced to get on the floor on our bellies – spread eagled I found out that I’m no hero. After the robbery and the perpetrators were gone, I was so traumatized that I couldn’t get up off the floor. Maybe because Saddam knew that it was coming, he was able to prepare himself for it.
I have always been opposed to the death penalty, no matter what the circumstances.
I have enjoyed the dialogue with you and blondie. Be happy.
January 3, 2007 @ 6:04 pmRoger,
You said, “I’m puzzled by your question, how will I handle “the noose” if I have a few moments to know that it is coming. Does the question refer to how I would deal with fear or is it an implication that my final judgement does not bode well for me.”
I wondered, if Saddam, in his last moments, realized that all his power and deeds had come to nothing, and that he, like everyone else, was going to end up simply . . . DEAD.
And I wonder if you are so absolutely certain about your beliefs that there is no God that, if you have a moment before you die, you could say with absolute certainty, “I know that the way I have chosen to live my life and to put my trust in my own conclusions about truth, is the absolute best choice I could make. I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that no God made this beautiful earth that I live on. I am confident that I am not going to some eternal punishment. I am confident that there is no possibility that there is anything I could have done to live forever with God and those who have been accepted by Him through the sacrifice of His Son.”
I’m looking at this from my own perspective, which you may consider weak. My perspective is that I know beyond a shadow of a doubt that if I lived a life apart from God and put my trust in my own goodness, my own ideas about what is true and right, I would certainly be full of fear facing death. Because I know that there is nothing in me that will make God accept me. I know this according to Scripture (Romans 3:23); I know it because the Holy Spirit has revealed it as truth to me.
Everyone who has become a Christian has faced the truth that they are separated from God by their sins. You won’t admit that there is a God, and you won’t admit that you are unworthy of the God you don’t acknowledge; you have essentially made your own ideas your “Bible.”
What is the basic difference between you and the Christians who write on this site? It’s not that we are better than you, more deserving of God’s grace, but simply that by God’s grace we acknowledge how rotten and fallen we are, how undeserving of God’s grace, and by God’s grace have believed that Jesus suffered in our place. He lives in us enabling us to do what is right, giving us the desire to do what is right.
I have appreciated the way that you treat Blondie and I and perhaps because of that I perceive you as basically a kind person. I have little doubt that if you were my next door neighbor we would get along fine, and that you might even be friends with my kids. I don’t perceive you as some “wicked infidel” who I would avoid in real life. But spiritually speaking I know that you are a “wicked infidel.” That saddens me simply because I don’t want it to be so, because I do believe in a life of suffering apart from God, and I don’t want anyone to go there, especially someone like you who has spoken nicely to me. It also saddens me because I think that your perception of who God is is quite wrong. I wish that you could know and understand who Jesus Christ really is. I don’t think that you have ever understood that He is gentle and loves in a way that is perhaps best reflected in a mother’s love for a baby.
January 4, 2007 @ 11:29 amHello Amy,
I have been trying to break away from this blog, but I enjoy dialogueing with you and Blondie so much that it is difficult. I once compared you two to my mother, who radiated love, respect and kindness from every pore. I also said that my mother would have had all those attiributes whether she was a Christian or not. If you and Blondie were Jewish I’m sure that your goodness would still shine through and you probably would be one of the pillars of your synagogue.
Last year I went through a period of time where I got caught up in the grips of incompetent doctors. I was being treated for high blood pressure, which was strange, in light of the fact that no one in my family has ever had high blood pressure. After experiencing black outs, shortness of breath, extreme weakness and tiredness and being told that I had severe life threatening heart disease, I was sure that I was going to die. After getting together with the kids and divying up my toys (tractors, mowers, golf equipment, pickup truck, power tools, etc. ) I was prepared to die. I can truthfully say that as much as I love life and the people in my life, I am not the least bit fearful of dying, as long as it isn’t violent and painful. I used to joke with the family that when I die that I wanted my headstone to say,” Hi, I’m Roger, I used to be alive, now I’m dead.” Since then my wife and I have decided to be cremated and our ashes scattered at locations that are dear to us.
Fortunately I am still alive and in good health since I got rid of the quack doctors who were killing me with unneeded medications. And my blood pressure is normal.
What is interesting, is that although you and I want essentially the same things out of life, we see our lives totally different. I truly believe, and I don’t, if there were a God he would not be a God similiar to the Christian perception of a God. To perceive of a God who would create subjects to worship him is repulsive to me. That would be analogous to me having kids so that they could serve me. I had kids so that I could shower them with love and watch them grow up to be happy productive citizens. The God of the Old Testament, killed and punished so many of his subjects and the Jesus of the New Testament said that we should buy the whole kit and kaboodle of the Old Testament. A male, macho warrior is not my idea of a loving God.
I find the whole concept of humans being rotten, fallen and undeserving of a God’s grace to be incomprehensible. I feel that the only thing I’m deserving of is the respect or lack of it, that I have engendered by my treatment of my fellow man. I’m not perfect, but I am as good as I can be in light of my weaknesses. Does this imply complacency and satisfaction with who and where I am. Not in the least. I want to be better and will continue working at it, without any guilt. Guilt makes you feel bad and I like feeling good.
As sure as you are of your faith and religion – I am equally sure of where I am in my faith in my self and my fellow man. I don’t have any doubt in my mind, what so ever. I am not an agnostic; I am an atheist. For some reason, Christians don’t feel as threatened by Jews, Hindus, Buddhists, Taoists, Sikhs, and other organized religions. I guess the Muslims would be an exception. I guess they think that even the wrong religion is better than no religion.
I am happy that you have found the key to your happiness. I do not detect an inkling of doubt in your mind or any sign of hypocritical behavior on your part. I’m sure that you are a great role model to your kids and I’m sincerely glad that I had the chance to meet you, if only in the blogosphere. Bye.
January 4, 2007 @ 1:57 pmRoger,
Are you Jewish by any chance? A couple of things you’ve said have made me wonder.
I have Jewish and Muslim friends whom I really respect and for whom I wish I could rewrite history. One of our Jewish friends asked my husband once, “Do you know what was happening in 1492 while Columbus was discovering America, to Jews in Spain?” I hate that the name of Christ is linked historically to all kinds of atrocities supposedly done “in the name of Christ.”
I read the Old Testament a lot; I agree that there are stories in there that are difficult to understand, for example the wiping out of “innocent” women and children. However God’s grace as displayed in the Old Testament is perhaps more difficult to understand. He disciplined Israel constantly, to bring her back, and forgave again and again.
I have a relative who had turned away from Christ in significant ways. She found out she had a devastating and potentially life-threatening disease. She sees that disease, which brought her to the end of herself, as God’s grace to her. She realizes she could have died in a car wreck instead, and never been given a chance to reflect on her life and ask forgiveness for the way she’s turned away from God. She had time to reflect on just what she had done with her life, and turned back to God. She told me once, “It’s like I was in some kind of fog doing some of the things I did.” She questioned whether she had turned away so much that God could not take her back. I told her to read the book of Hosea. In some ways her life fit that of Hosea’s prostitute wife. Especially the first few chapters of Hosea summarize “the God of the Old Testament;” it’s an amazing story of commitment, love, and forgiveness.
January 5, 2007 @ 7:46 amHi Roger,
Something you wrote struck me, and I woke up thinking about responding to you, so I am going to give it a try – although – I have not have any coffee yet, so it may not be very well thought through.
You said
When parents have children, there are all sorts of reasons we have them. I would not say, though, that I had them so that they could worship me. Yet, they look up to me for all the answers, they come to me for help and guidance. They receive unconditional love from me, even though I sometimes have to punish/discipline them. I even lose trust for them, but I always allow them to begin anew with me, and build that trust all over. Most of the time they find joy in being with me, they embrace me, confide in me, sing songs with me, and dance with me. All the wonderful fruits that come from a loving relationship are represented in our actions toward one another.
Roger, I honestly see the relationship with God the same. I believe that He created us so that we would know this type of love, feel these types of fruits, and then in turn, display that same sort of love for one another during the short time that we are here on Earth.
Again, I have had no coffee, so I hope this makes some sort of sense. It was on my heart when I woke up, so I figured I would share it.
January 5, 2007 @ 9:01 amHi Blondie,
January 5, 2007 @ 9:19 amYou explanation was beautiful. I don’t think it could have gotten any better, after coffee.
Hi Amy,
Thank you, and that’s good to hear… I just got my first cup, but I was afraid to go back and re-read what I wrote, as often I just have to cringe and my own ineptness when I do.
January 5, 2007 @ 9:30 amHello Amy and Blondie,
My Dad was German with a smattering of other nationalities. My mom was half English and half Irish. My father always acknowledged that back in Germany there was the possibilitythat the name Mann could have been a shortened version of a Jewish name. No one that I know of has ever practiced Judaism, though.
Blondie, that relationship you described with your children is beautiful. My mother and father always gave us kids pretty much free reign to come and go as we pleased. Punishment was very rare. I can truthfully say that my mother never spanked me, raised her voice or took away any privileges from me. That was not the case with the middle brother, who could never get his act together. He is also the only brother who didn’t go to college. His forte was pyramid schemes and other dubious ventures to try and make a buck. He became a preacher in the Church of the Nazarene. The rest of us all went to college on athletic scholarships. Because we were so involved in sports as kids it was pretty difficult to find time to get in trouble. We saw our parents in the stands as our number one fans. and supporters, not adversaries. I have to admit that I was much more strict and uptight about parenting than my own parents. My kids are much better parents than I was and they do it using the same techniques that you described. I love being a parent, but I enjoy being a grandfather even more. Life is good.
January 5, 2007 @ 9:36 amMy mother has said the same things about being a grandparent. She chose to give up many things so she could stay in close proximity to her grandchildren.
She however was much more strict with us kids than she is with them… something that annoys me at times, but I wholeheartedly understand. They are mine to discipline and raise, hers to adore and lavish with love.
I can clearly remember her saying (as she chased me around the perimeter of the ping pong table with a paddle in her hand) (I was probably 6 years old) “If you stop running away now, it is going to hurt less than if I have to keep chasing you!”. After hearing that, I thought, “Yea, right”, and out the door, and down the street I was!
Although she spanked me, and although I did get in trouble, I understood boundaries and made my choices accordingly. When I defied authority, there were consequences. Knowing the consequences almost always was enough of a deterrent, and when they weren’t I understood clearly that I brought on the punishment myself. Along with that though, I knew, and still know, that there is nothing that would stop my mother from loving me. She will always be there for me, and will love me unconditionally irregardless of how many mistakes I continue to make, or how slow I learn. She had/has only the best in mind for me. Just like my Heavenly Father.
January 5, 2007 @ 9:59 am