Gang Aft Agley

Headlines in The New York Times reported today that “Second Iraq Hanging Also Went Awry.” Of course, this refers to the execution this week of Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, Saddam Hussein’s half-brother. The first Iraq hanging that went awry was that of Saddam Hussein. In that absurdity, the former dictator experienced verbal abuse from members of the execution party and other witnesses as he waited with the noose around his neck. I saw the video. The room itself was taken from a bad set for a grade less-than-B horror film. The entire event was hideous. In the former, quoting the reporting of The Times’ John Burns, “the hangmen’s calculations of weight, gravity and the momentum needed to snap the neck of the victim — a grim science that has produced detailed “drop charts” used for decades in hangings around the world — appeared, in Mr. Ibrahim’s case, to have gone seriously awry.” Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was decapitated during the hanging. There was, thankfully, no cell phone videos capturing this travesty.

But what I am thinking is that these two horrific events epitomize for me the entire travesty not only of the Iraq War, but of the entire Bush administration. These consecutively mishandled state executions were undertaken with absolutely no skill, no respect for human dignity, with no use of knowledge available, and with total misuse of whatever information was, indeed, available. These executions were impelled by an animus and contempt for acceptable human dignity. These executions represent for me everything that is wrong with our government: it is inept; it is sloppy; it is insensitive, if not cruel. This administration would be a laughingstock, if it were not so deadly.