Saudi Arabia Mulls Replacing Public Beheadings With Shooting

[Steely Dan]

I remember walking round a museum in Winchester where I saw one of the exhibits - a set of gibbeting irons. The bodies of those hanged were strung up in the irons from the top of the city gates where all could see the corpse decompose as crows pecked out the eyes etc. Yes, that is the medieval world we emerged from, I dare say there were cheers then when public executions took place. I'm not against the death penalty but certainly am against executions being made public - this desensitizes everyone who witnesses it and has no place in any society that calls itself civilized. I suppose shooting someone is less of a 'spectacle' than severing their head, but I would hope the Saudis do away with public executions all together. Stonings and cruxifiction too for that matter. For example a 23 year old Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery just last July.

[transam]

I remember walking round a museum in Winchester where I saw one of the exhibits - a set of gibbeting irons. The bodies of those hanged were strung up in the irons from the top of the city gates where all could see the corpse decompose as crows pecked out the eyes etc. Yes, that is the medieval world we emerged from, I dare say there were cheers then when public executions took place. I'm not against the death penalty but certainly am against executions being made public - this desensitizes everyone who witnesses it and has no place in any society that calls itself civilized. I suppose shooting someone is less of a 'spectacle' than severing their head, but I would hope the Saudis do away with public executions all together. Stonings and cruxifiction too for that matter. For example a 23 year old Sudanese woman who was sentenced to death by stoning for adultery just last July.

Agree 100%, but we are a couple of centuries away from stuff and by then these folks oil will be gone and l think they will go backwards in time.

[metisdead]

Comments on moderation have been removed. If a post was deleted, it was probably because it was off topic.

[jamhar]

They must be running low on stones,

or have an excess of bullets

Certainly no shortage of bullets. Or guns, leg irons etc, right through to the most high tech state of the art killing devices known to man, this barbaric, fundamentalist, non democratic regime has the lot. And guess who supplies them? That's right, the 'Freedom' loving West.

I guess things would be much better if Saudis had bought them from the "nonfreedom" loving Russian, or the Chinese?

No of course things would not be better if the Saudis bought them from Russia or China, where did i say they would? But they are not are they? Saudi Arabia, despite their apologists on here, are a non democratic, Islamic fundamentalist regime, who are undoubtedly responsible for much of the funding, and probably supplying many of the participants, of terrorist atrocities against The US and UK. They also have a record of medieval barbarism at home. Yet the US and UK, the victims of this terrorism continue to supply them with the means to continue with this behaviour! All the while lecturing the rest of the world about 'Freedoms'. To a rational person this makes no sense. Your justification for supplying them with these weapons appears to be, if we don't, someone else will. Which of course is the justification used by the heroin dealer or child pornographer..

Using your criteria, I don't know if the US could sell arms to the US

Thats a totally different topic

I'm not apologizing for Saud family. its not a great situation. But sovereignty is respected. And among the countries in middle east, i don't know that the Saudi's are doing much worse Or better than their neighbors. Or other countries in the African Continent. And we realize that the Saudi family only likes us for our wallet, nothing more.

You intervene, you're criticized. you don't intervene and you're criticized. you stay of it, and you're criticized for not helping (al la Syria). So its best to do what you think you should, and when you cant, do what you can, regardless of the criticism. When all else fails, do what you must and suffer the consequences.

But I will say that the Islamic fundamentalist states seem to be judicially harsh, regardless of where they get their bullets or beheading knives from.

[Chicog]

And we realize that the Saudi family only likes us for our wallet, nothing more.

I think you'll find they are quite partial to Johnnie Walker in all its forms as well.