Goodbye Saddam

[LeslieAGD]

Good, take the bastard down!

[Dionysus]

Saddam will turn into another Osama and Hitler, with his death never being certain.
We don't have any record of his DNA, right? Even with the evidence found, there will be some belief that he is still alive and definitely remaining support for him. You know, kinda like Hitler and the Neo Nazis...or maybe I'm just being pessimistic.

[lionlove]

I'm pretty sure Hitler is dead. Wasn't he found dead in his bunker where he commited suicide after marrying his longtime misstress?

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
Well... not quite exactly I think you got Mussolini's fate mixed up with Stalin's.

Mussolini and his mistress were captured by Italian partisans while trying to escape to Switzerland. Both were shot on the spot by firing squad; the following morning the bodies were taken to the main square in Milan and hung by the heels -- allowing a little modesty for Clara Petacci; someone tied a belt around the bottom of her skirt so it wouldn't ride up (down?) when she was hung up. After a brief period of public display, they were cut down and hacked to pieces by the crowd.

Stalin, on the other hand, died a natural death and buried next to Lenin in Red Square. Within the year, Nikita Khrushchev was well in the process of de-Stalinizing the Soviet Union, and ol' 'Joe Steel' (the literal translation of his name; his real name was Josef Vissarionovich Dzugashvili) got evicted from Lenin's tomb.

On the other hand, when Communism ended in the former Soviet Union, the people knocked down as many statues and pictures of Lenin and other Commie cronies as they could find; one particular one stands out in my mind: the toppling of Cheka founder Feliks Dzerzhinsky at the square named after him in front of KGB headquarters. (The Cheka later became the KGB; in Russian slang a 'chekist' refers to a member of the secret police or their network of stool-pigeons -- current Russian president Vladimir Putin got his start in the KGB). And what was across KGB HQ? A toy store, Detsky Mir (Children's World)!)

I know about Mussolini. I have neighbors who are proud to say that they spit on his body.

I thought that Stalin's (maybe Lenin's) statue was torn down in a similar way to Saddam's statue after the Soviet Union fell. That was my reference.

[deltaphi94]

Originally posted by lionlove
I'm pretty sure Hitler is dead. Wasn't he found dead in his bunker where he commited suicide after marrying his longtime misstress?

I just watched something about Hitler on the History Channel, and that was the story.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

Originally posted by lionlove
I'm pretty sure Hitler is dead. Wasn't he found dead in his bunker where he commited suicide after marrying his longtime misstress?

There are many people who believe that was Hitler died in the bunker, but I think that his body was never found. Some people believe that he went to South America with many other Nazis.

I am pretty sure that he's dead now.

[AlphaSigOU]

There were several witnesses to Hitler's suicide in the Fuehrerbunker, while they did not see the actual act, they did hear the gunshot. Entering Hitler's private quarters, they found Hitler dead from a bullet through his temple and a crushed cyanide capsule in his mouth as a backup. Eva Braun took only cyanide.

The bodies were carried up from the bunker and dumped in a shell crater, where they were hastily cremated. along with propaganda chief Goebbels and his entire family. The Russians overran the Reich Chancellery and the bunker a day later.

It was not until over 50 years later that the mystery was solved. The Russians did manage to get a hold of a few vital pieces of Hitler's remains for identification purposes, and later shipped them to Moscow, where they were buried in the secret state archives until the fall of communism. The rest of the bodies were buried in a far corner of a Soviet Army base in East Germany, to prevent anyone from finding the remains and attempting to make them into some kind of neo-Nazi shrine.

The area where the former Reich Chancellery was located was bulldozed as part of the no-man's land surrounding the Berlin Wall. After the wall came down and the no-man's land demined, the remains of the Fuehrerbunker were visited one last time for historical purposes before being sealed forever with explosive charges; it now forms the foundation of a parking garage in Berlin near the Brandenburg gate. Parking patrons today wouldn't even know about it.

Highly unlikely Hitler would be alive by now; April 20 would have marked his 114th birthday (and coincidentally, it's also the anniversary of my initiation into Alpha Sigma Phi). Medical documents revealed he was already suffering from the effects of Parkinson's disease, and his personal physician, Dr. Morell, was a quack, slowly poisoning Hitler with his concoctions of useless medicines.

[Munchkin03]

Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
Stalin, on the other hand, died a natural death and buried next to Lenin in Red Square. Within the year, Nikita Khrushchev was well in the process of de-Stalinizing the Soviet Union, and ol' 'Joe Steel' (the literal translation of his name; his real name was Josef Vissarionovich Dzugashvili) got evicted from Lenin's tomb.

Actually, it's never been proven that Stalin died a natural death. In fact, it's believed now that he was slowly poisoned, the kicker being during a long dinner with lots of high Soviets (Khruschev being one). So, if Stalin died a natural death, then Elvis did too.

On a (completely un)related note, Khruschev's son is a professor at my school--International Relations. I see him around from time to time. A thinner version of his father, with hair.

Who doesn't know that Stalin means "steel" in Russian?

One caveat:

I'm happy that Saddam is no longer in power; I am concerned, however, that liberation of the Iraqi people was secondary to getting him out of power. Keep in mind, this is not, and never was, a humanitarian mission.

[OUlioness01]

Munchkin- Unfortunately that's true, but it still made me almost cry just to see how happy all the Iraqi citizens seemed to be. I just wish our government had found the WMDs. It would be really nice to be able to justify this war with something tangible, since the Iraqis didn't really invite us to invade their country. Oh well, at least it seems to be coming to a happy conclusion although we're not quite there yet.

oh, and whoever posted about the hitting his statue with the shoe thing, thanks! I've been trying to figure out why they've been doing that for about 2 weeks now.

[AlphaSigOU]

Originally posted by OUlioness01
oh, and whoever posted about the hitting his statue with the shoe thing, thanks! I've been trying to figure out why they've been doing that for about 2 weeks now.

In many Middle East countries, one never exposes the sole of his or her shoe to anyone; it's considered extremely rude. Slapping a shoe against Saddam's effigy means 'you are absolutely the lowest of the low'.

[Peaches-n-Cream]

AlphaSigOU, are you a history major? I was a political science major, but I have forgotten so much over the years. It's all a blur.

[AlphaSigOU]

Started off as an education major back in the days when OU's aviation program was under the College of Education... later switched to Poli Sci but never completed my degree.

[OUlioness01]

AlphaSigOU~ Thanks! I only got about a weeks worth of nonwestern history in the Middle East, and i don't think i really paid attention 'cause i was studying foriegn policy over there at the same time

Ok: adding a poll to this. How much longer do you htink this war will last? I'm going to say at least 2 weeks.

[AlphaSigOU]

The heavy duty fighting will probably last about another two weeks... rooting out the Fedayeen Saddam, Ba'athists, and other vermin that are hiding out may take longer, and that's if they're not outed by angry townspeople.

[LeslieAGD]

Originally posted by AlphaSigOU
The heavy duty fighting will probably last about another two weeks... rooting out the Fedayeen Saddam, Ba'athists, and other vermin that are hiding out may take longer, and that's if they're not outed by angry townspeople.

Yep, better to play it safe for the next few weeks.