Craftsmanship


I see an old nickname for Shrub was "The Texecutioner,". I guess he can take a little pride in passing along his hangman's habits in the name of "freedom:"

The death penalty in Iraq, which applies to a range of crimes including terrorism and certain categories of murder, was suspended in 2003 by the American occupation authorities but reinstated in August 2004. Since then, 51 people — men and several women — have been hanged and about 170 are currently on death row awaiting execution or the outcome of their appeal, according to Hashim al-Shibli, Iraq’s justice minister.

Those are the official numbers. The high-ranking government official involved in the executions process said the actual number of hangings was far higher, though fewer than 100, because of three sets of hangings that took place between December 2005 and March 2006 and were never publicized.

Human rights groups have questioned the transparency of the criminal justice system in Iraq and the ability of defendants to get a fair trial.

NYT Link.

Oh, and the gallows itself is a gift from Shrub...and we taxpayers:

Hangings are conducted in secret, at a heavily fortified location in Baghdad built by an American contractor.

How much do you think they were able to overcharge for it?