More Hangings and a decapitation

[malaise]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/6261965.stm

Two of Saddam Hussein's key aides have been hanged in Baghdad, two weeks after the chaotic execution of the former Iraqi president.

Officials stressed this time there had been "no violations", but Saddam Hussein's half-brother, Barzan al-Tikriti, was decapitated as he hung.

A spokesman said the decapitation of Barzan was not abnormal, although it was rare, and described it as "an act of God".
---------
No all hangings are acts of men -there are no gods.

[RoyGBiv]

1. "not abormal, but rare"

:wtf:

I suppose I should blame the translator for this idiocy.

[orleans]

2. (sick.) n/t

[Wilms]

3. From the beginning they said they wanted to decapitate the regime. n/t

[Kutjara]

4. Decapitation during hanging is due to incompetence.

The physics of hanging humans was worked out in detail in the late 19th Century. The precise length of rope and drop distance for any given body weight is well known, had the Iraqi executioner or his paymasters cared to look up the information. English executioners throughtout the 20th Century (until the late 1950s, when capital punishment was abolished in practice in the UK), spared themselves a lot of messy cleanup work by adhering to the tables calculated by their predecessors.

I guess that the statement there were "no violations" during these executions means that nobody was able to smuggle phonecam footage out.

[Thothmes]

6. incompetence

Several of the Nazi war criminals executed at Nuremberg were decapitated. Our Army seemed unable to locate any experienced hang men at the time.

[lligrd]

5. Bush Legacy - Bringing Back Botched Hangings

And to think our money was spent for this. Disgusting!