When You’re Caught, You’re Caught

    Both of Saddam and Tookie's crimes are very different. But their excuses or apologies for the crimes they were given to by society vary. For instance Tookie was convicted of the murders of four people on two different occasions meanwhile Saddam was convicted for crimes against humanity. Both pleaded innocent to their offense but they were found guilty. Each didn't believe they shouldn't have been locked up for the crimes they committed.

Chief Judge: The court has decided to sentence defendant Saddam Hussein al-Majid to death by hanging until he is dead...

Saddam Hussein, shouting over the judge: Long live the people. Long live the nation. Down with the traitors...

Chief Judge, hammering his gavel and raising his voice: ...crimes against humanity, and found guilty in accordance with articles... Iraq's High Tribunal...

Saddam Hussein, shouting over the judge's words: Down with the invaders. God is great. God is Great. God is great... To hell with your articles and clauses...

This is a transcript of what happened in the courtroom when Saddam was given his verdict on November 5, 2006. He was angry he believed he had the right to have all those people murdered. During his first court appearance on October 19, 2005 the transcripts describes Saddam verbal exchange of the judge as follows:

Judge Mr Saddam, we want your identity. Full name, please...

Saddam Hussein: First of all, who are you? What are you? I want to know who you are. Are you judges?.. I have been here in this building... from eight in the morning.

Judge: Please sit down, Mr Saddam. Later. We'll get down the identities of the others, and later we'll start with you.

Saddam Hussein: And from nine AM I've been dressed.

Judge: Well, now so you can sit down and relax, give your identity and make yourself comfortable.

Saddam Hussein: You know me... I do not tire.

Judge: These are official matters, we have to hear from you your identity. These are formalities, so please.

Saddam Hussein: I don't have anything against any of you. But adhering to the truth and respecting the will of the great Iraqi people in choosing me, I say: I do not respond to this so-called court, with all due respect to its people, and I retain my constitutional right as the president of Iraq.

Judge:These matters can be put off until later. This is not the place.

Saddam Hussein: Neither do I recognise the body that has designated and authorised you, nor the aggression. All that is built on a false basis is false.

[Saddam Hussein finally sits down and the judge reads out his name, calling him the "former president of Iraq"]

Saddam Hussein: I said I'm the president of Iraq... I did not say "deposed"...

Saddam refusal to distinguish the court and his disregard for the judges respect shows how much he believes that he thinks he did nothing wrong, rather he should be free because of what he did for his country. The last words Saddam before he was tied up to be hung was a "God damn you " to a guard one source replies. He didn't seem sorry it pretty much seem that his time locked up nor his punishment for his crimes didn't even seem to change at all.

Meanwhile when Tookie was first convicted he made this statement: "\\"not a shred of tangible evidence, no fingerprints, no crime scenes of bloody boot prints. They didn\'t match my boots, nor eyewitnesses. Even the shotgun shells found conveniently at each crime scene didn\'t match the shotgun shells that I owned.\\" However, the prosecution\'s firearms expert, a sheriff\'s deputy, testified during trial that the shotgun shell recovered from the Yang murder crime scene matched test shells from the shotgun owned by Stanley Williams. No second examiner verified his findings. The Defense claims this expert\'s methodology was \\"junk science at best.\\

This quote shows that Tookie seems to think that he was wrongly charged. Calling the CSI team's work '"junk science" shows his disrespect to the finding. Yet unlike Saddam while locked up Tookie was quite violent. Tookie was sent to six and a half years of confinement for assaulting both guards and inmates. Much like Saddam Tookie had little respect for guards he is reported to doing the following:

On June 8, 1984, Williams was observed participating in inappropriate behavior with a female visitor. When the guard advised the female of the prison policies, Williams became verbally hostile and stated, \\"you are looking around too much and that\'s not your job. I have dusted many officers on the street, one more would not make any difference.\\" (P. Exh. 11).

Not only does this show Tookie's disrespect for guards but it can also be viable evidence that Tookie did kill others. For Tookie cried innocent whenever he was asked about killing others. He may deny the ones he was charged for but he does admit to murder.

Strangely enough prison changed Tookie. On April 13, 1997 Tookie released the following letter on his website.

Twenty-five years ago when I created the Crips youth gang with Raymond Lee Washington in South Central Los Angeles, I never imagined Crips membership would one day spread throughout California, would spread to much of the rest of the nation and to cities in South Africa, where Crips copycat gangs have formed. I also didn't expect the Crips to end up ruining the lives of so many young people, especially young black men who have hurt other young black men.

…

So today I apologize to you all -- the children of America and South Africa -- who must cope every day with dangerous street gangs. I no longer participate in the so-called gangster lifestyle, and I deeply regret that I ever

…

As a contribution to the struggle to end child-on-child brutality and black-on-black brutality, I have written the Tookie Speaks Out Against Gang Violence children's book series. My goal is to reach as many young minds as possible to warn you about the perils of a gang lifestyle.

I am no longer "dys-educated" (disease educated). I am no longer part of the problem. Thanks to the Almighty, I am no longer sleepwalking through life.

I pray that one day my apology will be accepted. I also pray that your suffering, caused by gang violence, will soon come to an end as more gang members wake up and stop hurting themselves and others.

I vow to spend the rest of my life working toward solutions.

This apology shows how much Tookie feels for his creation of the Crips. Jail has made him see the wrong doings of starting the Crips, yet he still won't admit to the murders he apologizes for starting the Crips, realizing how much of a problem he created.

Looking at the final moments of both their lives again it's easy to see that they're both stubborn and proud. But it seems that incarceration humbled Tookie, while it just flustered Saddam. From Saddam's treatment of the judge and his disregard of his lost of title it seemed that Saddam was delusional. Taking a look at Tookie's time in jail from Saddam's we can see that at the start Tookie may have been tough in prison at the beginning, time softened him. His apology shows society that he regrets the decisions he made.

http://www.tookie.com/apology.html

http://www.hip-hop-music-classic.com/StanleyTookieWilliams.html

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/6103428.stm

Reflection Piece

    The first attempts of this project were to compare and contrast different inmates of US prisons of those who were given life sentences and those who given death sentences. My search did not give me the results I needed to write the original project. I came across a "Tookie" Williams article and the idea to write a paper on him came to mind. But to do that would be boring so after thinking Saddam Hussein came to mind. Both were executed for their crimes and the contrasts in just as many ways as the compared.

    While doing this assignment I decided to do untraditional topics to compare and contrast because the format of blog requires different topics to keep readers interested. I tried to find little known facts about both subjects to have this assignment not just be thought provoking but to provide knowledge as well.

How to One Lives the Last Moments of Life

    One of the most different ways the Saddam and Tookie contrast is that they both had drastically different personalities while looked up. While both spread fear and hatred around their reigns of terror, their tones of attitude changed drastically while looked up.

    While looked up Saddam still seemed confident but he had very strange behaviors. Instead of appreciating the treadmill the guards gave him, he requested for a ping pong table. He enjoyed Cheetos and devoured a bag Doritos once he preferred Raisin Bran Crunch to Fruit Loops. His guardsman Sean O'Shea says that Saddam was obsessed with cleanliness and developed a love of plants. (http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4112164.stm) Very strange for a man who wanted hundreds upon thousands dead, right? Well in mind I think so. Or maybe be locked up really made Saddam insane.

    Meanwhile in jail Stanley "Tookie" Williams started to feel bad for all the things he did to not just his community but the whole state of California. The Crips gang grew to many surrounding cities around sunny L.A. Thus came an editors idea for Tookie to write his story to prevent urban youths from joining gangs. I personally think his attempts failed. Gang related crimes in recent years haven't gone down.

    Before Saddam was executed this is the statement he makes but is interrupted by his death:"I bear witness that there is no god but God and I testify that Mohammed is the Messenger of God. I bear witness that there is no god but God and I testify that Mohammed..." Needless to say it seems that he stands righteously on all the actions that lead him to his death.

    Yet Tookie's last words are quite different. One of his many last words included "I often tell people that I didn't have a 360-degree turnaround; I had a 720-degree turnaround." Talk about an overstatement. It seems that he believed that his life was completely changed while in prison, unlike Saddam.

Ghostwriters, cause we’re all too lazy to really to write our own stories (No, this isn’t about the TV show!)

    So an interesting thing I came across while researching about Saddam Hussien is that he wrote books! Well not really hence the title of this post. Tookie's books range from his biography and the uprising of the "Crips" to inspirational stories to prevent youth from joining gains. On the other hand Saddam wrote novels, some even romance with the help of ghostwriters. Neither wrote their books on their own, Tookie admits to having a co-writer for his but Saddam claims that his works are his own. The public's reaction to both their works are different yet at the same I think people get the wrong message from the books. But nonetheless the public reacted to these books and that's why author right books to

    All of Tookie's works have the same subject of gangs and prison, how interesting. So I can't really just go and talk about how each book is so exciting to read, not just because I haven't even lifted a finger on trying to get copies of Tookie's book, but that what's Amazon is for. His bestselling book was "Life in Prison" this book dispelled all the myths of prison life. Tookie wrote this book for teenagers who idolize the prison lifestyle. The reviews found on Amazon.com are all pretty much positive. One user Brandon states:

"Life in Prison was an excellent book because Stanley lets you know how it is in prison. I recommend students and juveniles all over the world to read it. It lets you know what you have to go through in prison if you get beat up or sick. I think if people read this book and go by what it says, it might stop people that are in gangs and are on the street selling drugs or doing wrong. I also think that if people read it they won't commit crimes that lead to life in prison. So if you read this book it might just save your life."

Which is all fine and dandy but I think it's a little bit too much saying this book will save your life. But meanwhile I found another review from someone who claims to be a parent the person gave the book one star and pretty much trashes the book.

"I guess I should have read the reviews before purchasing this book. 
This book is nothing more then a child's "stay out of jail" pamphlet. It took less then a few hours to read and only that long on account of how boring and vauge it was. 
In short, it was a huge waste of money for an adult. If you want to share some "truth" with your wayward son or daughter, perhaps this book would be good. However, everything is generalized and if your children have passed elementary school, they will also lose focus in regards to this book. 
In short, I wonder if I can get my money back...." Donald Alexius "Allibi

Now I understand how the people try to use different types of resources to help influence their children when it comes to disciplinary actions but using this book, isn't really a good idea, so "Allibi" is the true loser. Use your own experiences to help your children not some guy who died on death row. Parents these days.

 

    Now I want to share something hilarious I found about Saddam's first published book "Zabibah and the King". A unknown artist's painting "The Awakening" was used as the cover art for the book. The artist Jonathon Earl Bowser isn't too happy about it. On his website he states:

"The painting is not meant to "represent the Iraqi people...[before]...the arches of ancient Babylon" (as the New York Times article claims the book's author believes), and I certainly did not authorize the Iraqi President - or anyone else - to publish my work in this way. To state the matter simply, this printing of Zabibah and the King (with The Awakening on the cover) is a blatant infringement of copyright, and a despicable theft of my property."

It's quite obvious he's pissed he even states:

"1) I have never had any contact whatsoever with any agent of the Iraqi Government; nor will I pursue any such contact at any time in the future.

2) I did not, in any way, authorize the publisher of Zabibah and the King to reproduce my painting, The Awakening, on the cover of this book; nor would I have authorized such usage had they bothered to inquire beforehand.

3) I have received no payment whatsoever for this unauthorized publication my work."

It's kind of funny Saddam pissed this guy off so much and how messed up the situation is. Another sucky thing about the whole situation is the fact that there's no way Bowser can sue because the book hasn't been printed in the US he can't sue. If he was able to sue he would receive $500 per infraction and the book was one of the best selling books of Iraq and has sold over 1,000,000 copies. That's a lot of due for Bowser. But too bad the book wasn't printed in the US.

    But on to what people thought about Saddam's book. Since this book isn't printed in the US or sold on Amazon.com. So the next big thing to do is look on the ever trusty Wikipedia (not really). Which lead me to mefourm.com which gave me a good detailed summary of the book. One thing they strongly point out that book is allegory to America and Iraq which the main character Zabibah represents the American people and her King is Saddam himself and her ex husband is America. It is said that even though this is a novel for entertainment it is meant to be a symbol of current times for the Iraqi people.

    So both Saddam and Tookie end up pissing off readers. You can't always have happy people when it comes to entertainment in the written word. But they pissed people off for different reasons. Saddam for stealing an artist's painting and Tookie for not being "real" enough in his writing. But, at the end of the day I don't think they wrote the books, so these people should be pissed at the Ghostwriters, right?

 

 

 

 

The Pains of Childhood; Joining a Club!

    One of the most common places to examine someone's life is their childhood. The lives of both Saddam and Tookie both aren't the type of childhood one dreams of having. Both were unfortunate in that their fathers weren't a part of their lives.

L.A. is home to Hollywood one of the most glamorous cities in the world. But it also where young Stanley "Tookie" Williams started is reign of fear and violence.

Tookie's father was never in his life and he was raised by his young single mother. He was born on December 29, 1953 to a 17 year old mother in the slums of New Orleans. Three years after his birth the two moved to South Los Angeles. Keep in mind this is right during the heat of the Civil Rights movement and Los Angeles is an ugly place to be no matter what color you are. Tookie grew up during the time of fighting for equal rights and was brought up around the violence of groups such as the Black Panthers. When Tookie was 16 he befriended Raymond "Truck" Washington. The two started the group the "Cribs" which later becomes the "East Side Crips" near Fremont High School. To support her family his mother worked long hours and Tookie took to the streets for both entertainment and comfort.

    Tookie's gang first started out as younger imitation group like the Black Panthers but due to lack of leadership within the group it ended up turning into a gang. Initial purposes for this group including getting rid of "bad gangs" and protecting their neighborhood. The members of this group defended each other against other young gangs. As they grew older the power and size of their gang increased. Soon enough they ran one most powerful and influential groups in US history. The gangs soon simply changed its name to the "Crips". This gang was notorious for hurting anyone who they thought were going to trying and stop them. Many innocent civilians the ones who were suppose to be protected ended up being the dead corpses that lay lifeless within the streets of the original purpose of the "Cribs". The "Crips" grew violent they were feared throughout the streets because of their ruthlessness of stealing, drug sells, and many convenient store hold ups. Tookie even confessed:

...we started out — at least my intent was to, in a sense — address all of the so-called neighboring gangs in the area and to put, in a sense — I thought I can cleanse the neighborhood of all these, you know, marauding gangs. But I was totally wrong. And eventually, we morphed into the monster we were addressing...

(http://www.streetgangs.com/crips/)

    Saddam's earlier starts aren't too much different than Tookie. Saddam was born on April 28, 1937. Much like Tookie his father was absent in his life. Yet there are reports that his father abandoned the family. The truth remains concealed. The town of Saddam childhood was called al-Auja, near Takrit. He grew up in a mud hut. Not too much different from the slums of New Orleans, right? One major factor that his single mother "Subha" had the support of her family. Saddam grew up surrounded by his cousins, aunts, uncles, and grandparents. She also remarried a man named Ibrahim Hassan. Hassan was known to be a thief and it is reported that he forced young Saddam to steal. When Saddam was 10 he was sent to live with his mother's brother, uncle Khayrallah Tulfah. His uncle lived in Baghdad one of the most heavily populated cities in the Middle East. Saddam learned much from his time in Baghdad, he excelled in school. One of Saddam's teachers was a "Pro-Nazi" who influence Saddam's hatred of both imperialism and the British.

    By the age of 16 Saddam entered the renowned Baghdad Military Academy. Saddam didn't excel academically bet gained a interest in politics. He joined a coup against the Monarcy against the king at the time in 1956 and in 1957 he joined the Baath party known for it's radical nationalist movement. The Baath party in 1958 the group successfully assassinated Gen. Qasssim (the current leader of Iraq at the time) with Saddam leading group. Saddam convinced the party to lead a risky full assault day light machine-gun attack against the general. With their success with Saddam's leadership he was promoted to having a leadership position within the party.

(http://www.emergency.com/hussein1.htm)

 

    So as stated earlier they both grew up without their fathers. Meanwhile Saddam spent part of his childhood in one of the influential Muslim cities in the world, meanwhile Tookie was subjected the rough streets of L.A. as a child. Tookie helped found the group that still leads violence throughout the US today meanwhile Saddam started out as member of a political middle eastern party. While being both fatherless, Saddam was constantly surrounded by family yet Tookie's mother moved young Tookie and herself away from their family before Tookie started school. The two both grew up in poverty. Saddam lived in the mud while as a toddler and Tookie was born in the slums of New Orleans and grew up in the rough streets of LA.

    In the end it can be said that maybe Saddam was more doomed from the start. The Baath Party was created to repress and infiltrate the government, and he joined it. Yet Sookie's "Cribs" started to help the community and ended up getting out of control. So would these two still be considered as dangerous if they were loners instead of leaders? Or maybe they would have never been in history books if it weren't the groups they joined.

Who Really Mourns the Wicked? (contd)

While reading the comments on the video of the reactions of Tookie's death the youtube users seem to be the exact opposite for him than Saddam. While reading on it's quite obvious many were in support of Tookie.

diyajones
God forgives u, Tookie. RIP

bongofchutllu

motherfucker achieved a nobel peace prize and they can even pardon him. its bs...

licialuvmusic

in my opinion, anyone who can accept death as revenge is just as evil as the
person their judging. I forgive everyone who deserves to be forgiven. He made a
effort to share his experience and reach out to the ones my age, growning up
through all he grew up to. In the ghetto, alot of kids (under 18) are doing what
he was doing when he was over 18, and I respect anyone who makes and effort for
them for them. Just as he did.

These users both show that they are very much for thel life of Tookie. Comments like those are a dime a dozen in Tookie's video while in Saddam, those are very far in few between. Yet something I noticed within many of the comment of Tookie's videos there were many youtube users who joke very much about the situation;

mansteroo

I got a call from Tookie, he said he wants some ice water because it's real hot down there!

eric153

I remember the day before tookie died when I was working business deals out and when I needed to get somewhere quick I kept telling everyone that we are not on regular time anymore were on TOOKIE TIME!!!!!!!!

Comments like the ones above are frequently found within Tookie's thread. Maybe it's to say that more people take Tookie's death as a joke rather than the offense many take to the killing of Saddam. The two seem to have soceity revoke different reactions to their executions. In Saddam's case many were happy to see him dead, yet others were offended to see the way he was executed. While Tookie's response to being killed was both those who were sympathetic and those who took it as a joke.

In their deaths they are both mocked and sympathized. But in retrospect don't they both deserve it? Who doesn't become the butt of all jokes when they're dead?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pIvdHzD-G3w

Here is the link to Tookie's Execution.

Who Really Mourns the Wicked? (Graphic Content)

The most interesting place to begin about learning about someone is others' reactions to their deaths. Both Tookie and Saddam had huge followings. Rather those who followed them were for against them their influences on others leave a huge impact on how they are perceived by society. A lot can be learned about one from other's feeling about them whether it's positive and negative. When people die mourning takes place where others reflect on how they feel about one's death usually this is a sad time. But with the death of our leads of the subject of this blogs are totally different. Though the deaths weren't meant to be shown t the public Saddam's execution can be found on youtube while a crowd's reaction to Tookie's death is shown.




The execution of Saddam is is not dramatic but rather harsh. He knows it coming and on his face he wears no remorse and those around him wear no faces of sympathy either. Going through the different comments placed on youtube it's easy to see that Saddam was well hated throughout the world. Many youtube users expressed their feelings on the situation with many different ways. One user SoldierofMahdy writes:

They should have killed him like he killed iraqis: Dropped from a tall building or have him quartered by having his legs/arms tied to trucks/tanks.

manslyie

He got away far too easy for the crimes he committed. For those sunnis and arabists who come on and shower him with praise, don't worry; you will see him one day.

From his statement it is easy to tell that he was very much for the execution and believed that Saddam was a killer who deserved what he got. Throughout the rest of the youtube comment section on there were none in support of Saddam many of the comments were based on hate, much like the following:

vaveon:

Rest in peace? Yeah, he'll be right at home with maggots squirming in his rotting, stinking flesh. Bury him with a hog, like the swine that he WAS. Piece of shit!

pelegmayer:

I'm so happy that he died!I hate this motherf*cker, he was the leader of all the people who died in my country!I wish you go to hell

Yet there are few comments among the thousands that show a little bit of remorse for Saddam's way of death not neccesarily for his fate. moeufsnace887 writes:

Death sentence is awful. Imagine what sadam felt when he was executed. No matter what he did.

This youtube user shows that they are against the death penalty itself but still shows no support of Saddam.

or

banksnotelover:

Saddam didnt get a fair trial and it was conducted by US government. Fuck US dogs. Long live Iraki people!

This user above may be showing his support of Saddam with stating his belief that Saddam may have not gotten a fair trail.

All the comments I posted are from this year. A one is even a month old. This shows that Saddam and his execution is still a popular topic even though he has been dead for over two years. It is hard to find comments where it is easy stated that they are in support of Saddam rather than the ones of the obvious dislike of Hussein. From that is easy to conclude that Saddam wasn’t well like by society but he did and still has a few people who are willing to speak well of him.