Hussein and Ford

Quite truly, I did not think this event would occur. I used my biased American standards of justice and simply assumed that Hussein would utilize his lawyers in such a way as to either draw the trial into a circus aspect (which it did resemble) or into such a confused circumlocution of gibberish as to make a finding impossible. Text from this photo:

This video image released by Iraqi state television shows Saddam Hussein's guards wearing ski masks and placing a noose around the deposed leader's neck moments before his execution Saturday Dec. 30. 2006. Clutching a Quran and refusing a hood, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows before sunrise Saturday, executed by vengeful countrymen after a quarter-century of remorseless brutality that killed countless thousands and led Iraq into disastrous wars against the United States and Iran. (AP Photo/IRAQI TV, HO)

ABC's Terry McCarthy wrote:

There are five men in black face masks who are visible on the gallows platform around Saddam, acting as guards. As they guide him towards the trap door and put the noose over his head, they start chanting religious slogans with the names of Moqtada al Sadr (the head of the Mahdi army, accused of organizing death squads against Sunnis) and Baqr al Sadr (the father-in-law of Moqtada). Saddam, a Sunni, is outraged at this last-minute provocation, and tells them to “go to hell.” This is generally where the two TV stations cut the video, but on at least one occasion that we saw, Arabiya allowed the video to keep rolling: The cell phone camera is jerked down to the ground, as if the person holding it had to conceal the camera, then it is slowly raised up to Saddam again, and suddenly his body shoots down through the trapdoor. At this, the Arabiya anchor came on and made a scissors symbol with two fingers with a mischievous grin on his face, as if to say that they really shouldn’t have shown that, but so be it. A cynical voyeuristic ploy, nudge nudge wink wink.

What will this mean for Iraq? What shall be the implications?

It is said that Hussein was a Sunni, but he was in truth mostly areligious. He ruled with a militaristic fist, not by the hand of Mohammad or the Koran -- which he hypocritically clutched at the final moments of his life.

Our military in Iraq is on edge; some Iraqis are dancing in the streets, some are planning their revengistic strategies.

Israel worries about the fallout re perceptions of "Palestinians" and Hussein. From The Jerusalem Post:

During the first Gulf War in 1991, the Palestinians cheered Saddam's missile attacks on Israel, chanting "Beloved Saddam, strike Tel Aviv," as the Scud missiles flew overhead. He further endeared himself to the Palestinians during the recent uprising with Israel by giving US$25,000 to the family of each suicide bomber and US$10,000 for each Palestinian killed in fighting. The stipends amounted to an estimated US$35 million. Saddam's support for the Palestinians, whose cause is deeply popular with Arabs throughout the Middle East, was at least partially aimed at gaining widespread support throughout the Arab world. "Saddam was a person who had the ability to say, 'No' in the face of a great country," said Hosni al Ejel, 46, from the al Amari refugee camp near Ramallah.

Hussein's death: I expected it not to come to fruition. But now that it has occurred, will it be another match lighted to the general Middle Eastern tinderbox?

My gut feelings: it won't be the "rallying point" that many believe or hope it to be. Had Saddam Hussein been more overtly Islamic, perhaps; as it rests, it was always more about him than about Islam.
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President Ford:

Allow me to be quick and blunt: Gerald Ford was America's 38th President. He passed away this past Tuesday, December 26th, at age 93 in Rancho Mirage, California. His family, including his wife, 88-year-old Betty Ford, was at his bedside.

Ford was the only American President to never have been elected.

He assumed the post in 1974 when Richard Nixon stepped down. He found himself facing Jimmy Carter in the 1976 election and was defeated predominantly because he granted Nixon a Presidential Pardon for his misdeeds.

He'll likely be remembered for three things: falling or slipping in public, and two assassination attempts within three weeks of each other, conducted by two females.

On September 5th, 1975, whilst in Sacramento, California (gosh, my home town!), Lynette "Squeeky" Fromme, dressed in her finest garishly-red garments, whipped out a Model 1911 Colt .45 caliber pistol and pointed it at Ford in the park surrounding our Capitol. Though loaded with four live .45 caliber rounds, she had clearly neglected to read up on the 1911's idiosyncrasies. Due to its single-action nature, one must first insert a loaded magazine into the well, pull back on the slide and release, in order to load a round into the chamber. Its hammer now back, one should thumb up the safety. This is known in the Colt Kingdom as Condition One. Cocked and Locked.

Squeeky, being a Blonde, thought inserting the magazine was sufficient. Sorry, old girl. That stupid move cost her Life In Prison. And oh, a wondrously alert Secret Service agent managed to insert the webbing of his hand between frame and hammer. Not that it made much difference -- he was, after all, dealing with not only a Blonde but a Manson Blonde.

Second attempt on Ford:

On September 22nd, 1975, Ford visited San Francisco much to his later chagrin. Here, Sara Jane Moore, outside the St. Francis Hotel, fired one .38 caliber round from her revolver at Ford from roughly 40' and missed. This was because a bystander named Oliver Sipple managed to grasp her arm and deflect the first round, then wrestled her to the ground and kept the revolver from firing a second time. The first round, going wild, struck the facia of the hotel and slightly injured a bystander.

Ford's largest influence, as far as I can determine, came in the Kennedy Assassination whilst he was a Republican Minority Leader:

In 1997 the Assassination Records Review Board (ARRB) released a document that revealed that Ford had altered the first draft of the report to read: "A bullet had entered the base of the back of his neck slightly to the right of the spine." Ford had elevated the location of the wound from its true location in the back to the neck to support the single bullet theory.[20] The original first draft of the Warren Commission Report stated that a bullet had entered Kennedy's "back at a point slightly above the shoulder and to the right of the spine." Despite its conclusions, the Commission's work continues to be debated in the public arena.

What did Ford know, when did he know it, and what has been buried with his death?

What shall we truly know about the Kennedy Assassination?

Ford was a President; he should be shown respect. A nation mourns to a degree. Judgmental: he deserves only a fraction of the respect shown to Reagan upon his passing. I'm sure that Gerald Ford was a nice man. He certainly was not Presidential Material.

Facts are what they are.

History is what it is.

BZ