An adviser to Iraq’s prime minister said “an official who supervised the execution” is believed to have recorded Saddam Hussein’s execution on a cell phone camera and has been arrested. Two guards who were recorded on the unofficial video taunting Mr. Hussein were also arrested.
What is noteworthy is that the one person who brings the truth to the world, gets punished. Here is his video. Iraqi state television aired an official video of the hanging, which had no audio. Here is that one. What a difference.
In the end, do we want a world, muzzled and censored, or free access to what really happened? I know what I want. But of course, the people in power never want the truth to get out.
The unauthorized video embarrassed the government of Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, so now they are retaliating, trying to cover up their own ineptitude. Because botching the execution of this century, is pretty inept.
Britain’s Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott yesterday described the manner of Saddam’s hanging as “deplorable” and the leaking of the cell phone footage as “totally unacceptable”. And that is also true. After all, the leaking demonstrates the complete lack of control by the government. At the same time that also gave us the truth.
And the truth is that the whole hanging was botched. And now the people responsible for the mess are arresting the people who exposed the mess.
Peter Rost, M.D., is a former Vice President of Pfizer. He became well known in 2004 when he emerged as the first drug company executive to speak out in favor of reimportation of drugs. He is the author of “The Whistleblower, Confessions of a Healthcare Hitman.” See: http://the-whistleblower-by-peter-rost.blogspot.com/