- Video of the hanging of Saddam can be found here. Anyone who favors the death penalty, or the procedure applied in this case should watch this and share it with your children. If you can’t stand to watch it or you won’t show it to your children, you need to re-evaluate your position. US lawyers approved of the procedure and authorized the hand-over of Saddam. (Crafting it to avoid the jurisdiction of American courts, see here, and cooperating in the bending of Iraqi law. ) Hopefully, this will encourage the videotaping and dissemination of future executions in the US, so that they can be shown in schools so we can have an honest discussion about the merits of the death penalty. (The CNN video, with less graphic content is here.)
- And speaking of the death penalty, the Texas Attorney General’s letterhead (which came from a letter they sent in a death penalty case) includes the following notices: they are an equal opportunity employer, and their paper is recycled. Remember: 1) recycled paper; and 2) equal opportunity employer.
Update: For your convenience, below the fold, I selected two images from the Library of Congress repository of public domain photos depicting executions that were 1) not in combat; and 2) under the jurisdiction of the United States and undertaken pursuant to some form of judicial process. Therefore, there are no deaths in wars, lynchings, or criminal acts are included.
- Execution of a “criminal” in The Philippines by garroting. The executioner appears to be a juvenile.
- A more “formal” execution of Henry Wirz, whom President Johnson decided had committed “wanton cruelty” in the civil war. This one has the capitol in the background, giving new meaning to the term "capital" punishment. Wirz was educated man and did many diplomatic things for the Confederacy, and to the end denied the "cruelty" he was accused of.
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