Mobile Execution!

An Iraqi watches video footage of the execution ousted leader Saddam Hussein on a mobile phone (AFP)

The availability of a new video of Saddam Hussein's execution taken from a mobile camera has shocked the world even more than yesterday's hanging. The new video with audio has clearly revealed of how it was a hostile and sectarian motivated execution.

The carefully choreographed silent television footage released by Iraqi TV was meant to show the world a well managed and calm execution process.

There was also official photographers and videographers appointed by the Iraqi Officials to capture and document the execution for future purposes. The Iraqi officials who thought they could negotiate a hefty sum for exclusive video rights probably from western TV networks or Al Jazeera did not reckon a leak. They were beaten to the game by a new emerging form of journalism - "mobile journalism." Mobile Journalism is where normal people capture images and videos of breaking news stories and events using ordinary camera mobile phones and sharing it on the internet. Newsrooms around the world had to rely on the limited footage of the Iraqi Channel showing Saddam with a noose around his neck and Al Biladi Channel showing a dead Saddam covered in a white shroud. While in the west American networks were still deciding whether to show more than a picture of Saddam, the Internet showed all.

The video which was shot by the unknown person was quickly uploaded and is spreading like wildfire across the Internet and mobile phones. It shows how secure a location can be and how ever controlled a event can be planned it can be all upset by a witness carrying a mobile phone into a high level security zone. Yesterday's security measures would have been so tight that even a fly would not have been able to get in. It is also notable from the video, how no one noticed a person shooting away on a mobile phone just a few feet away from the actual hanging.

This release of the video, redefines the way journalism will be reported in the future. However, the video is an embarrassment and a total blow up on the faces of the people responsible for it. The effects and impact of this video will have more impact on the future of the Iraqi people and all involved in Iraq than the hanging itself.

The mood is sombre and the New Year celebrations are all about Saddam's hanging and now his new video. So much for trying to make him obscure, had they tried him and locked him away in some forgotten cell. But now with a showdown, he will be forever remembered like Billy the Kid or General Custard's, both of whom rode to their deaths with a smile!

Saddam Hanged! The day International Justice made itself irrelevant !

After a controversial invasion, spiced up capture, a botched trail, unknown witnesses behind curtains, edited court room videos, replacement of the main Judge thrice and no proper legal system in place, the end for the President of the Iraq was quick and swift.

Today morning, his death by hanging by a vengeful Shia controlled Government, brought the world to a standstill and a great silence over the Arab World. On the first day of Eid, when the Arab world awoke for Eid Prayers, the news of Saddam's end hung over the joyous occasion with no one knowing how to react or comprehend what the aftermath could hold in store for them.

The world must not forget Saddam was indeed a dictator, but he reached his height with the blessings and support of the very superpowers who were instrumental in condemning him as the fall guy and trying him for their follies and devious schemes.

Saddam would have been found guilty of his brutal excesses in any case had it been a fair and free trial in probably in a neutral country or in the International Court of Justice. Today, however the International Community and the International Justice Court must hang its head in shame for they allowed an accused to become a victim of mob justice! Had there been a proper trial, and proper execution then history would have noted it well as an example of world justice.

However, the International Community's opinion was made mockery off. World leaders must have shuddered in their shoes today, in the thought, one day this could happen to them too.

Saddam may have been silenced forever but unwittingly his enemies have made him the proverbial sacrifice to be remembered on future Eid Al Adha's for decades to come and a major figure of 20th century world history. The execution of Saddam has unleashed a can of sectarianism among the Iraqi people and the faith worldwide.

Only time will tell, what the implications of this fiasco will be. “An eye for an eye and the whole world goes blind” ~ Mahatma Gandhi.

Let it also not be forgotten, that people who advocated the use of the guillotine in the French Revolution met their own end under the blade of the guillotine.

There is an Aesop's fable written in mid-sixth century BC, which sums up best, all that is happened and happening in Iraq!

The Wolf and the Lamb

Wolf, meeting with a Lamb astray from the fold, resolved not to lay violent hands on him, but to find some plea to justify to the Lamb the Wolf's right to eat him. He thus addressed him: "Sirrah, last year you grossly insulted me." "Indeed," bleated the Lamb in a mournful tone of voice, "I was not then born." Then said the Wolf, "You feed in my pasture." "No, good sir," replied the Lamb, "I have not yet tasted grass." Again said the Wolf, "You drink of my well." "No," exclaimed the Lamb, "I never yet drank water, for as yet my mother's milk is both food and drink to me." Upon which the Wolf seized him and ate him up, saying, "Well! I won't remain supperless, even though you refute every one of my imputations." The tyrant will always find a pretext for his tyranny.

The wheel of change moves on, and those who were down go up and those who were up go down. ~ Jawaharlal Nehru, India's First Prime Minster

Al Iraqiya TV

Biladi TV

Biladi TV

"The test of a government's commitment to human rights is measured by the way it treats its worst offenders ... History will judge the deeply flawed Dujail trial and this execution harshly."

~ Richard Dicker, Director of Human Rights Watch

"The rushed execution of Saddam Hussain is simply wrong. It signifies justice denied for countless victims who endured unspeakable suffering during his regime, and now have been denied their right to see justice served."

~ Larry Cox, Executive Director, Amnesty International, USA

Adieu Cartoon King!

The Cartoon Kings Joseph Barbera (1911-2006) with William Hanna (1910-2001) on the right with several of their cartoon creations.
(AP Photo)

On Wednesday, 19 December 2006, the Joseph Barbera the surviving half of the world famous Hanna-Barbera team passed away at the grand age of 95, bringing to end, the era of the cartoon kings. Their legacy of being the pioneers of animation series for television will always be remembered as long as cartoons are watched.


The Hannah-Barbera duo was known for their 17-year partnership on the Tom & Jerry series which resulted in 7 Academy Awards for Best (Cartoon) Short Subject, and 14 total nominations, more than any other character-based theatrical animated series.

Growing up in Dubai, cartoons were the only source of entertainment, long before the advent of tv-console games or computer games. Local Middle East channels ruled the roost and brought to life the likes of Tom and Jerry, Huckleberry Hound, Flintstones, the Jetsons, Yogi Bear and thousands of other cartoon characters. Their simple English or “no language” enabled the cartoons to cross barriers of region, age, nationality and reasoning. Dubai Channel 33, Ajman Tv, Abu Dhabi Tv 2, Saudi Channel 2 (English), Kuwait Channel 2 were some of the channels that aired these cartoons in the pre-satellite tv age.

These cartoons were my life blood in my drab school existence. In the days when cartoon merchandising was still young – an occasional sticker or poster in Young Times was the only souvenirs unless a relative dropped in from the United States with some cartoon imprinted pencil erasers or school tiffin boxes which became prized and envied treasures. I lost myself in the chuckles of Fred Flintstone or always wondered why Tom never caught Jerry, or "Hey there Booboo!" in the peculiar but catchy voice of Yogi Bear or the "Oh My Darling" southern drawling tune of Huckleberry Hound.

Life would have been a bore without their creations! A moment of silence from Freemind in remembrance and thanks to Hanna & Barbera who shared their wit and talent and for keeping alive a little child in me which comes to life when ever I see these timeless cartoons.

Rest in peace, creators and kings of the cartoon world! May your characters live on in the hearts of children and adults every where. Hope you are in a place where you and your buddy can have a “yabba doo time, A dabba doo time.”

My biggest kick comes from the individual fans I run into. Middle-aged men ask me when we're going to do more Johnny Quest cartoons. ~Joseph Barbera

Parents look at me like I'm somebody pretty important, and say, We were raised on your characters, and now we're enjoying them all over again with our children. ~Joseph Barbera

RIP Joseph Barbera

Some of the Early characters from Hanna-Barbera (from left to right):

(top row) Tom, Jerry
(2nd row) Hong Kong Phooey, Peter Potamus, Squiddly Diddly
(3rd row) Dino Flintstone, Blabber Mouse, Ranger John Francis Smith, Foofur, Captain Caveman, Dick Dastardly, Wally Gator
(4th row) Super Snooper, Shaggy, Mr. Jinks, Elroy Jetson, Papa Smurf, Pebbles Flintstone, Bamm-Bamm Rubble, Augie Doggie, Jabberjaw
(5th row) Jane Jetson, Magilla Gorilla, Betty Rubble, Gargamel, Pixie, Dixie
(6th row) Space Ghost, Muttley, Wilma Flintstone, Astro Jetson, Allstar Seaworthy Snork, Doggie Daddy
(7th row) Snagglepuss, Penelope Pitstop, Quick Draw McGraw, George Jetson, Barney Rubble, Johnny Quest, Boo-Boo Bear, Scrappy-Doo
(8th row) Top Cat, Smurfette, Scooby-doo, Fred Flintstone, William Hanna, Joseph Barbera, Yogi Bear, Judy Jetson, Huckleberry Hound

Link: List of works produced by Hanna-Barbera

Killer Roads!

Tracy Brand/Gulf News ©

Tracy Brand/Gulf News ©

Two days back on Thursday, Dubai witnessed one of it's worst road accidents! A bus full of construction workers hit another bus, fell to it's side and smashed through the road divider and into oncoming traffic where another speeding mini bus rammed into it. With only the thin metal roof of the bus between the trapped workers and the oncoming minibus - it was a carnage.


Read the coverage by Gulf News in their story "Highway Horror."

Thursday's count

* Dead: 9 (one died in ICU)
* Injured: 56
* Serious: 8
* Medium: 19
* Light: 29
* No treatment needed: 12
* Total cases received at Rashid Hospital: 69 ~Source: Gulf News

Then on Friday in a near repetition, 11 people were injured when a bus carrying construction workers hit another vehicle. And in another incident on the same day a man was run over on Shaikh Zayed Road.


Shaikh Zayed Road already has the dubious distinction as Dubai's "Deadliest Road." According to the Gulf News reports based on interviews with RTA (Road and Transport Authority) officials, it was stated "the death toll of the first 10 months of this year, which on an average were one every 30 hours and one injury every two hours."

The Dubai Police has undertaken a crackdown on traffic offenders in Dubai and it is having positive results but the need of the hour is a self commitment from the drivers on these roads to drive safe.

As the year ends, the victims will be forgotten except in the hearts of silent grieving families. They will be mere numbers in statistics quoted to describe an ever increasing death toll. Will their blood be enough for Dubai's drivers to drive a little more safe or will they add their lives to this spiraling number of unknown victims?

Death on the roads have no valour, but preventable tragedy written all over it. ~Freemind

Ripping the Sky!

Freemind Pictures ©

The new towers rising high on Shaikh Zayed Road give an impression they are ripping the fine cloud fabric covering the sky! That might explain the unending rains!

“Clouds come floating into my life, no longer to carry rain or usher storm, but to add color to my sunset sky.”

~Rabindranath Tagore
(Indian Poet, won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1913)

Freemind Pictures ©

The Rain Man!

The rain maker!
Freemind Pictures ©

The rain maker up close!

Freemind Pictures ©

As young school children, there were tales which spoke of a person who sprinkled water from the sky which we call rain. For the more religious oriented ones it was God for the others it was an angel. It was fun to think that there was someone in the sky with a hose sprinkling the water down in varying strengths on the public below.


Today this man in the sky caught my eye and reminded me of the men working closer to the clouds and heavens in Dubai.

It looked like the man was working on the clouds. Then after a short while in the evening it poured in Dubai - forcing me to smile and remember the man in the sky and wonder if he had anything to do with it.

“May the raindrops fall lightly on your brow. May the soft winds freshen your spirit. May the sunshine brighten your heart. May the burdens of the day rest lightly upon you, and may God enfold you in the mantle of His love.” ~ Irish Blessing

Jumeriah Beach Road, Dubai in the rains.
Freemind Pictures ©

Office rules over roamantic dreams in Dubai!

Hmm, Gulf News does come up with interesting polls. Yesterday's polls came up with some intriguing results. Dubai has always been known as a city which eats, breathes and drinks business.

People are forever cribbing they are in the office from morning to night and vice versa. Now this poll suggests that they are thinking about work in their sleep too. Much ahead of romance. Don't know if that is a new trend or if it just happens.

Can people ask for a hike for spending their dream time on work related matters? After all there are some people who can't get enough of overtime and pray for more than 24 hours in a day to earn an extra buck. Wonder what aspect of office they are thinking about? Then again it is best left unsaid!

There is a saying:Dreams are only thoughts you didn't have time to think about during the day ~Author Unknown. So I guess either people are working too hard or hardly working.

Luckily or unlucky for me, I come in the "Do not remember anything" category.

The best reason for having dreams is that in dreams no reasons are necessary.
~Ashleigh Brilliant


Good Night and _______ dreams to you!
(Fill in the blank with an answer most applicable to you)

Death comes calling alone!

A man goes camping into the wild with his family for some quiet time. A drive away from the madness of city life, they ventured deeper into the wilderness, where GPS and cell phones were rendered useless without signals. A mixture of extreme weather got the family trapped in the heavy snow. The community begins a search involving helicopters, snow mobiles, four wheel drives, river rafts and searchers on foot but to no avail. The man's family is found alive in the car after 7 incredible days of being trapped in it. After an even more extensive search and they find the man's body. He had tried to walk back to civilization against all odds to find help for his family.

This is a not a movie plot rather the true story of James Kim, Senior Editor for CNET.com

He was one man who was connected to the wired world at every step of the way. James Kim was a respected expert on cutting-edge digital devices, an owner of a trendy clothing store and a lover of the futuristic-sounding music known as electronica. No number of bloggers in the cyber world or co-ordinated searches in the real world using all the means possible could help him. Death came calling alone. Read the memoriam for James Kim.


This brings into mind another incident which happened some time back, where a doctor travelling between Dubai and Sharjah, had a heart attack in the middle of the traffic and there was no way the ambulance could reach him. His family frantically tried all possible means in the unending river of traffic. The emergency yellow lanes were also clogged with vehicles trying to get ahead! It was a death trap. The doctor's life ebbed away in the midst of thousands of people but there was nothing which could help him there.


Several questions can be raised as to why the families or the individuals did not do this or that, several alternatives can be discussed from the warmth of our homes - however the two lives cannot be replaced.


For moment, we should reflect the aura of invincibility which we all have with the mobiles, pda's, laptops, GPS systems and whatever we carry to be connected. These are mere gadgets and there is a saying - "Death never takes the wise man by surprise; He is always ready to go" ~Jean de La Fontaine. In the end death comes calling alone!

Because I could not stop for Death,
He kindly stopped for me.
The Carriage held but just ourselves
And Immortality
~Emily Dickinson

RIP James Kim

How it pours, pours, pours,

Freemind Pictures ©

"It never rains it pours"

This quote is apt for the moment. After days and days of false hope. The heavens finally opened and it poured! The cloud art in my previous posts were maybe the warm up for the deluge which finally hit the UAE last night.

It rained and continues to rain even now. The morning was cold and the drops came not in their usual "sprinkle and disappear style," but rather this time in a downpour. I decided to go for a long drive which ended up all the way to the Northern Emirates. Here are some scenes on the roads.

Freemind Pictures ©

Freemind Pictures ©

Freemind Pictures ©


How it pours, pours, pours,
In a never-ending sheet!
How it drives beneath the doors!
How it soaks the passer's feet!
How it rattles on the shutter!
How it rumples up the lawn!
How 'twill sigh, and moan, and mutter,
From darkness until dawn.

~ Rossiter Johnson, Rhyme of the Rain

Cribbing in Luxury!

Freemind Pictures ©

“People who complain about the way the ball bounces are usually the ones who dropped it”

Taxis were in short supply on Thursday morning as hundreds of taxi drivers were off the roads because of a police lecture. The lecture was on etiquette and how to deal politely with passengers, taxi drivers said. ~ Gulf News


Talk about the height of cribbing! People in Dubai have cribbed long about how the taxi-drivers are mean, how some of them don't have basic manners or etiquette. And when the Dubai Police did something about it, they crib again.

In no other country is the police held responsible if taxi drivers are polite or rude. The Dubai Police, however must be praised for taking initiative in organizing a lecture for the cab drivers. This was done surely in the interest of the public.

Then maybe just for the sake of cribbing, people say the weirdest of reasons, or maybe this guy was all excited talking to the press and wanted to crib about the first thing that came to his mind.

I went to a nearby hotel and they offered me a limousine as an alternative. It cost me an extra five dirhams. I was getting late for work, and I had no other option but to take it," said one commuter, Altaf, who took a limousine to work. ~ Gulf News

Oh the pity! This guy is so full of himself, he does not realize that the hotel was kind to give him a limo for five dirhams more than a cab fare. And trust me, even if the hotel had offered this guy from the street a Rolls Royce or Helicopter ride to his office for just five dirhams more than a cab fare, he still would have cribbed.

“The people who live in a golden age usually go around complaining how yellow everything looks”

~ Randall Jarrell (American poet)

A Crown in the Sky!

Cloud watching - is just one of the few simple pleasures in life which saves you from unwanted attention. This silent yet tangible pleasure may be pointless to some but it makes you human, to understand your place in Nature.

Freemind Pictures ©

“A crown, golden in show is but a wreath of thorns.”
~ John Milton

Freemind Pictures ©