michaelroston's Blog
Saddam and the cellphones
Dec 31, 2006 -- 02:33 AM EST
By now, millions of people have viewed the hanging of Saddam Hussein.
Not just Al Iraqiya's pornographic tease of America's old pit bull just
prior to his necktie party. No, I mean millions have watched Saddam
actually hang. Take a look at the video up at this website Live Leak, a
YouTube clone (Hat tip to No Quarter; you probably don't *really* want
to follow this link). How many views? When I clicked it was 134,205
times it had been watched. Meanwhile, the people at Boing Boing found 4
more of these clips at Google Video, guaranteeing that millions more
casual internet users will watch Iraq's dead president swing. And I'm
sure it will be no time at all before these videos are pressed to a
million VCD's sitting on the floor of marketplaces across the Middle
East to be viewed as short films prior to one's at home screening of a
pirated copy of Dreamgirls.
Clearly, the location of Saddam Hussein's execution was one of the most
secure settings for an execution ever constructed. So, why are we
finding on the move about this planet a bunch of viral, unrestricted and
uncensored videos of what is probably the most controversial execution
ever carried out?
Newsweek provided an interesting interview with Ali Al Massedy, the
"official videographer" tasked with producing the official record of the
execution. He usually does this job for Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki. Presumably, they brought him in to shoot the film so that
there would only be one version of the execution, and the government
would then be able to tightly control its distribution. Ali says as much:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16401644/site/newsweek/
Ali said the videotape lasts about 15 minutes. When NEWSWEEK asked to
see a copy, Ali said he had already handed the tape over to Maliki's
chief of staff. "It is top secret," he said. He would not give the names
of officials in attendance, though he estimates there were around 20
observers....He also said that government officials had not decided
whether or not to release the videotape.
Well, I guess they decided. It was so top secret that they let multiple
men out of that limited group of 20 bring in cellphones with video
functions, and then allowed them to record the execution. I bet you
couldn't smuggle a gun into that execution chamber. But apparently you
could smuggle a cell phone with a video camera into those gallows, and
stand out in plain sight 15 feet from the platform and shoot that video
of this "top secret event" to your heart's desire.
And just as our fair president raced to wake up Saturday morning and
issue a statement about what had been done in Iraq, several of those 20
attendees raced home or to their offices to upload videos of a hanged
Saddam Hussein so everyone in the world could see this secretive
execution carried out.
What a sham it has been. Pretending at the time of Saddam's capture that
now was the time for a trial, and pretending at the time of his sentence
that now was the time to order his execution, and pretending at the time
of his execution that now was the moment he had to hang, and then
pretending that it was a secret act carried out with discretion to avoid
antagonizing any of Iraq's population.
Here we are seeing 21st century psychological operations. It's hard to
know who is directing this internet traffic, but it can be concluded
there were elements within America's government and/or military, working
in concert with Iraq's current scarecrow power-holders, who wanted as
many people as possible in the world to see Saddam hang. And from that
rope hanged not just that bearded old man, but whatever was left of our
culture that hasn't been degraded by the 7 years of 'leadership" we've
been dragging around with us.
Saddam and the cellphones
Dec 31, 2006 -- 02:33 AM EST
By now, millions of people have viewed the hanging of Saddam Hussein.
Not just Al Iraqiya's pornographic tease of America's old pit bull just
prior to his necktie party. No, I mean millions have watched Saddam
actually hang. Take a look at the video up at this website Live Leak, a
YouTube clone (Hat tip to No Quarter; you probably don't *really* want
to follow this link). How many views? When I clicked it was 134,205
times it had been watched. Meanwhile, the people at Boing Boing found 4
more of these clips at Google Video, guaranteeing that millions more
casual internet users will watch Iraq's dead president swing. And I'm
sure it will be no time at all before these videos are pressed to a
million VCD's sitting on the floor of marketplaces across the Middle
East to be viewed as short films prior to one's at home screening of a
pirated copy of Dreamgirls.
Clearly, the location of Saddam Hussein's execution was one of the most
secure settings for an execution ever constructed. So, why are we
finding on the move about this planet a bunch of viral, unrestricted and
uncensored videos of what is probably the most controversial execution
ever carried out?
Newsweek provided an interesting interview with Ali Al Massedy, the
"official videographer" tasked with producing the official record of the
execution. He usually does this job for Iraq's Prime Minister Nuri
al-Maliki. Presumably, they brought him in to shoot the film so that
there would only be one version of the execution, and the government
would then be able to tightly control its distribution. Ali says as much:
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/16401644/site/newsweek/
Ali said the videotape lasts about 15 minutes. When NEWSWEEK asked to
see a copy, Ali said he had already handed the tape over to Maliki's
chief of staff. "It is top secret," he said. He would not give the names
of officials in attendance, though he estimates there were around 20
observers....He also said that government officials had not decided
whether or not to release the videotape.
Well, I guess they decided. It was so top secret that they let multiple
men out of that limited group of 20 bring in cellphones with video
functions, and then allowed them to record the execution. I bet you
couldn't smuggle a gun into that execution chamber. But apparently you
could smuggle a cell phone with a video camera into those gallows, and
stand out in plain sight 15 feet from the platform and shoot that video
of this "top secret event" to your heart's desire.
And just as our fair president raced to wake up Saturday morning and
issue a statement about what had been done in Iraq, several of those 20
attendees raced home or to their offices to upload videos of a hanged
Saddam Hussein so everyone in the world could see this secretive
execution carried out.
What a sham it has been. Pretending at the time of Saddam's capture that
now was the time for a trial, and pretending at the time of his sentence
that now was the time to order his execution, and pretending at the time
of his execution that now was the moment he had to hang, and then
pretending that it was a secret act carried out with discretion to avoid
antagonizing any of Iraq's population.
Here we are seeing 21st century psychological operations. It's hard to
know who is directing this internet traffic, but it can be concluded
there were elements within America's government and/or military, working
in concert with Iraq's current scarecrow power-holders, who wanted as
many people as possible in the world to see Saddam hang. And from that
rope hanged not just that bearded old man, but whatever was left of our
culture that hasn't been degraded by the 7 years of 'leadership" we've
been dragging around with us.
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