A man's execution, a click away?

Margeaux Corby / Columnist

The video is blurry and shaky with little light. Still Saddam Hussein is recognizable as the rifle-wielding madman who terrorized the Middle East. Four or five masked men put a black cloth around Hussein’s neck before tightening the thick rope.

That is where the officially released video ends. The bootlegged copy continues with shouts, jeers and a sudden collapse of the floorboard under the dictator’s feet. For a few seconds there is only blackness and then Saddam’s face is clearly focused on the screen. The Butcher of Baghdad is dead.

The video ends in a trembling state of complete darkness.

Despot Hussein was charged with the 1982 massacre of over 140 men and boys in Dujail, Iraq. He was executed on Dec. 30, and now you can watch it in the comfort of your own home.

YouTube and Google Video, just to name a couple, feature the underground copy of Hussein’s execution. On YouTube you merely have to sign up as a member, enter a birth date confirming you are 18 or older and the cell phone shot video is at your fingertips. You can watch a man die.

I will not question Hussein’s execution or the style. This man was served a justice that none under his regime were allowed.

Many lawmakers were upset and even outraged at the undignified manner in which Hussein was killed. In an article in The New York Times, Sen. Susan Collins expressed her disapproval by stating that the taunting of someone before their execution is entirely unacceptable.

Despite the spectator’s derisive remarks, does anyone really think that the man ultimately suffered? No, Hussein died with a mercy that his own victims were never afforded.

What is disturbing is the almost frenzied demand to watch the Iraqi dictator’s death. I searched for the video out of curiosity and was rewarded with several options.

If someone were to type in “Saddam Hussein Video” or any slight variation into Google, the search engine responds with a multitude of choices.

People are fascinated with the idea of seeing a man die and one could argue that it was just this particular man that the public wished to watch hang.

Hussein ruled with such terror that surrounding countries cowered, but does that mean we have the right to watch his neck break?

The last public execution in the United States was a 1936 hanging in Kentucky. The government has since imposed restrictions on witnesses of executions.

American terrorist Timothy McVeigh was executed in front of 300 people by closed circuit television. Despite the number of attendees this was not considered public.

Unless you were involved personally — related to the victim or to the offender — there is no sane reason to watch someone’s death. Life is scary enough without having the image of a corpse swing back and forth.

Hussein was a monster, but we should not be able to watch him die. Not as a favor to him but as a favor to ourselves.

Whether it is a dictator or not, one can abstain from seeing a person hang. For such a video to be totally available to anyone able to access the Internet is appalling.

Children today are more computer savvy than struggling parents. I think Hussein should have been executed, but I should not have the ability to watch it on my laptop. The Internet is a wild and free place but a little bit of humanity should exist.

Google Video and YouTube’s media can exhibit morality. I believe deeming an execution video inappropriate is not a severe type of censure. We must draw the line of video postings when it shows the death of an individual.

We should enforce a sense of decency on ourselves. In a society of instantaneous communication, sometimes saying no is best.