Video: New UN SecGen hints Saddam got what he deserved
posted at 9:15 am on January 3, 2007 by Allahpundit
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We know he can’t be worse than Kofi. Could he be much better?
I’m cautiously optimistic.
The guard who took the cellphone video of Saddam’s execution was arrested this morning. The Iraqi government is shocked, shocked by his behavior, including NSA Mowaffaq al-Rubaie, who called the ceremony “unprofessional” and “disgusting.” Funny thing — al-Rubaie witnessed the hanging, and when he called in to Fox and CNN afterwards to talk about it, he emphasized how proud he was of the professionalism with which everything was handled. I’ll check my DVR to see if I still have the vid. Meanwhile, Gen. Caldwell told the Baghdad press corps this morning that the U.S. military would have handled things “differently.”
Saddam’s brother swings tomorrow.
Update: The AP quotes a source as saying “an official who supervised the execution” was arrested. Does that mean a guard or does it mean someone higher up? The plot thickens:
On Wednesday, an Iraqi prosecutor who was also present at the execution denied a report that he had accused National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie of possible responsibility for the leaked video.
“I am not accusing Mowaffak al-Rubaie, and I did not see him taking pictures,” Munqith al-Faroon, a prosecutor in the case that sent Saddam to the gallows, told The Associated Press.
“But I saw two of the government officials who were … present during the execution taking all the video of the execution, using the lights that were there for the official taping of the execution. They used mobile phone cameras. I do not know their names, but I would remember their faces,” al-Faroon said in a telephone interview.
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Wow! I am impressed. He is the anti-annan!
liberrocky on January 3, 2007 at 9:18 AM
I’m initially encouraged, but I’m going to curb any further enthusiasm until I see what Ban does with Oil FOr Food.
Kid from Brooklyn on January 3, 2007 at 9:30 AM
Man, you gotta love the ROKs. There’s something about living next door to a psychopath bent on annihilating your country that breeds common sense. Little Known Fact about South Korea: All SUVs sold in South Korea come equipped with blackout lights so that they can be commandeered and used the military in an emergency.
BohicaTwentyTwo on January 3, 2007 at 9:32 AM
We can only hope he’s got his act together.
BTW, whatever happened to Bethany and RealVerse? Did she drop off the face of the earth or what?
Benaiah on January 3, 2007 at 9:35 AM
Encouraging.
Slublog on January 3, 2007 at 9:36 AM
Cautiously optimistic as well. But when you think of it, the situation could not have gotten any worse. Annan struck rock-bottom in ‘06. He’ll retire with unworldly benefits - paid for by you & I - when he should have been taken out and shot.
Griz on January 3, 2007 at 9:42 AM
Let’s face it. Kofi set the bar so low, we’d be willing to take a dour Pee-Wee Herman in that position now. The downside is that he’s harder to understand. Perhaps after a few years of kick-backs and oppression-enabling, his English will improve.
As far as Saddam’s snuffing. You gotta admit it seemed like it was carried out by soccer hooligans. I’m not saying he deserved anything better. I’m saying it wasn’t exactly a diginified event. If anything, it tells me that Mookie needs to be the next contestant.
SailorDave on January 3, 2007 at 9:43 AM
Encouraging news. But time will tell.
.
GT on January 3, 2007 at 9:51 AM
I can’t see how he could possible be worse than the useless thug Kofi, but we have plenty of time to find out.
JammieWearingFool on January 3, 2007 at 9:52 AM
Imagine what Saddam’s hanging would have been like if they had conducted it in public…
No, it isn’t how we would have done it. So it was ameteurish and emotional. BFD. The process they took to get there and the end result are the only things that will really matter to anyone a year from now.
Pablo on January 3, 2007 at 9:55 AM
I heard this on the radio on the drive in this morning; I too felt cautiously optimistic. I can’t imagine any UN SecGen ever rooting ‘for’ the U.S., but the simple fact that he didn’t speak out against the execution inspires a modicum of hope.
What I *really* liked however was that he felt the matter of capital punishment should be left to the member states… when’s the last time Kofi wanted anything left to the member states?
dalewalt on January 3, 2007 at 10:03 AM
Speaking of setting the bar low, yes the Iraqis could have done better with Saddam’s execution. Unauthorized video tapings, partisian political outbursts and cursing the condemned to Hell is not what I would call a dignified execution. However, it is stil better than executions under Saddam which included death by explosives and death by forcing the condemned to wear a Superman costume and pussing him off the roof of a four story building.
BohicaTwentyTwo on January 3, 2007 at 10:08 AM
I must beg to differ.
An (apparently) little known fact about South Korea: they grow the same delusional, suicidal leftists that we grow. My favorite line: “Outsiders’ attempt to change the North Korean system constitutes interference in the internal affairs of a sovereign country,” the groups said in a joint statement Friday.
Jaibones on January 3, 2007 at 10:19 AM
I’m not too optimistic about him. He’s possibly leaning towards retaining people from the previous grafter in chief.
ScottG on January 3, 2007 at 11:00 AM
So Saddam’s execution was undignified and partisan. So what? After the “unspeakable atrocities” he committed, it’s not like he deserved better than he got.
mikeomatic on January 3, 2007 at 12:04 PM
I’m not optimistic at all about someone who, on his first day in office, comes out with the statement that solving the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is key to all problems of the region.
One must have a pretty twisted mind, not to see that the conflict is the RESULT of Islam’s attitude towards the rest of the world, particularly the Jews.
That makes me very pessimistic about the new SG.
Kim Hartveld on January 3, 2007 at 12:28 PM
Last night I perused European on-line papers - they are distraught, to a T, about the new U.N. chief’s statement on the death penalty, yesterday.
Just by breathing, he’s better than Kofi Annan, who’s shame will never be materialized. He’s in denial because he’s allowed to be.
For those who claim that Saddam didn’t deserve better - that’s not the issue - some things are simply taboo:
- not making funerals into political rallies - two
goodbad examples: Minnesota and Loretta King- silence at executions
Entelechy on January 3, 2007 at 1:19 PM
Sometimes the reason is lost in the meaning.
Too often funerals are political. Consider the worst, Fred Phelps.
Kini on January 3, 2007 at 2:31 PM
I couldn’t care less about Saddam’s dignity; if the executioners had taunted Saddam on behalf of all Iraqis I wouldn’t complain.
But Saddam’s execution was turned into a show of force for Moqtada al-Sadr, which is absolutely unacceptable.
sandberg on January 3, 2007 at 3:12 PM
People need to get their minds around the fact that the Israeli-Palestinian conflict is the last problem that will be solved in the middle east, not the first.
sandberg on January 3, 2007 at 3:14 PM
When is Kofi getting what he deserved for allowing Muslims to kill thousands in Sudan and allowing the mess in Sierra Leone that was cleaned up by Mercs from Executive Outcomes only to be shut down by the UN lies and then allow the UN to allow the starting of the mass killings again?
Tim Burton on January 3, 2007 at 5:11 PM
It is basically the only problem. And the glue that holds all of these tyrants together.
right2bright on January 3, 2007 at 5:53 PM
He had to soft-pedal his support for the death penalty exactly as he did, since it is legal in his homeland, but anathema to the U.N.’s socialists. No harm no foul there, a well-couched statement.
I am mildly encouraged by the last words of the video, “the rule of law”. Never would have heard that phrase from Coffee. Won’t make me a fan of the U.N., but we can just hope Ban isn’t a corrupt money-grubber with no interest actually trying to help.
Freelancer on January 3, 2007 at 8:02 PM
Obviously, he couldn’t be any worse, but do keep in mind that he managed to rise to the position of Secretary General. I would imagine that there are systems in place to prevent good, decent, worthwhile human beings from pulling that off.
Wolfman on January 4, 2007 at 2:54 AM
It’s a good start…
RalphyBoy on January 4, 2007 at 11:27 AM