WJ this morning: Brian asks

[malaise]

Should they televise Saddam's hanging. WTF is wrong with these people.

[Skidmore]

1. He keeps saying that media outlets are trying to decide whether

or not to broadcast such a video. Wonder how many of them are tuned in to hear public opinion.

I don't really hear a lot of agreement with showing such a film.

[Roland99]

10. This trial just shows the hypocritical nature of US foreign policy (*cough* Sudan *cough*)

And what of Nuremberg? I will admit ignorance on if anyone was put to death after being tried for war crimes in WWII.

[KharmaTrain]

16. Several Were Executed At Nuremburg

First...there were several ex-Nazis who were hung due to the verdicts at Nuremburg. The most infamous was the one that got away...right before his sentence was to be carried out, Hermann Goering took poison rather than face the gallows.

Next, had TV in 1946 was still in its infancy, but there was plenty of coverage of the trial and executions. However, I'm certain, if we had satellites and instant video like we do now, a vast majority of American people would have favored watching the executions on TV.

The deal with Saddam that many miss here is what he symbolizes. It's like killing the king...and a despised one at that. His mystique on the society of Iraq can't be compared to anything in our own experience as he so dominated so many lives for so long. The televising of his execution or some definitive proof that he is gone is needed for any government or leader to move forward.

[Solly Mack]

2. Nothing like appealing to the worst in people

Sheesh

[earlybelle]

3. Nothing wrong with these people. They are who they are!

[Philosoraptor]

4. These people are your neighbors.

WTF is wrong with them is they are the average Americans.

[zanne]

5. What happened to "protecting the children"?

Conservatives are always going on about television programming and "protecting the children" against Janet Jackson's breast.
They don't seem to mind having their children exposed to acts of barbaric brutality like hangings and pictures of Hussein's dead sons. For the first time ever, I can't watch C-Span's Washington Journal. The cruelty and barbarity of some of these sweet grandma-sounding conservatives just repulses me. I don't really think there are that many repulsive people in the world, but they're all on WJ this morning.

[Philosoraptor]

6. "put it on pay per view & give the proceeds to the victim's familes

WE are the barbarians.

[derby378]

7. Ar least someone got in a plug for THE POWER OF NIGHTMARES

Seriously, the BBC should get off its duff and put this series on DVD.

[izzie]

8. I am sure some would just love it. Always fun to kill something

I am guessing that it is a world wide thing. Even growing up in a small town their were boys(girls) that loved to kill things. Sea Gulls were just very high on the list for a while. I guess with WW2 going on people would have been good also. Always scary to me.

[malaise]

9. Remember they loved those Southern lynchings

That was their entertainment.

[Clark2008]

12. Oh, public hangings were entertainment everywhere, my dear.

Not just in the South.

Let's not forget the Salem Witch Trials in Massachusetts.

[malaise]

13. Very true n/t

[izzie]

17. It seems to have been around for ever and every place.

I would guess it is some thing that a percent of the pop just likes.

[WinkyDink]

11. We know it will be on a continual loop in Bush's TV room.

And if there's bald guy near-by, Katie, bar the door!
IYCMDrift.

[PA Democrat]

14. Oh YES!

Let's turn it into a game show. "Who Wants to be an Executioner," and the winner gets to pull the lever. And for a fundraiser for the Republican Party, you can have your photo taken with Saddam's corpse for $10,000.

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

15. I'd guess the media would like to delay a month

The media would probably be a lot happier if the hanging could be delayed a month. February is a "sweeps" month, so the hanging would have a better payoff. A December or January hanging just wouldn't have the same benefit.