From a New York Times story on Iraqi execution methods, set to be used on Saddam:
The victims are led up a set of steel stairs to a platform, about 15 feet above the ground, and nooses fashioned from one-and-a-quarter-inch-thick hemp ropes are slipped over their necks. The executioners are different each time, drawn from among employees of the Justice Ministry who volunteer for the job. Many have lost relatives or friends in insurgent attacks, officials said.
With a tug of two large levers, the steel trapdoors drop open and the victims fall through. The doors make a loud clanging sound as they slam against the apparatus, according to people who have witnessed hangings. The jarring noise echoes off the cold, unadorned concrete walls.
Death is supposed to come instantly--a doctor is on hand to certify it--and the bodies are removed to a cooler where they are held before being handed over to the victims' families. The entire process is recorded by a photographer and a video cameraman and the images are stored in a government archive.
You know, even if you oppose the death penalty, there's just something wrong about referring to the convicted mass murderer as a victim, the same term used to define the ones he killed.
