Second camera phone video appears showing Saddam Hussein's condition after the hanging

A second camera phone video showing Saddam's condition after he was hanged -- including showing a close-up of a bloody neck wound (see left) -- has appeared on the Internet, according an Associated Press (AP) report on CBS News. 

I have watched the video and it's posted on LiveLeak.com. 

Compared to the first camera phone video that shows Saddam's execution, this one, I think, is much more gruesome.  I purposely clipped a still frame for this weblog article that is blurry. 

As I mentioned, the video has a close-up of that neck wound.  If you didn't want to watch the first camera video you definitely will not want to see this second video.

Utilize caution

If you try to see the video by going to LiveLeak.com's home page, when you click on the link to the video you should see a warning about the graphic content and you are asked to click again to view the video.  However, the first link I posted goes directly to the video.

My business is U.S. and overseas wireless data consulting, with an emphasis on camera phones (among other wireless multimedia applications) and it's important for me to understand the dynamics and social ramifications of camera phone videos.  We have all seen grisly special effects in the movies, but this is reality (at least I assume this camera phone video is genuine, but that will be determined).

So, please be very sure you want to see this before you click on the link.

Describing the video

The 27-second video was first posted on an Iraqi news site that supports the former dictator's outlawed Baath Party, the article says.  The video seems to have been taken soon after Saddam was executed and then placed in a white shroud and on a gurney, AP reports.

The video begins panning the body of Saddam that's covered with the shroud.  When the video reaches his head area, the shroud is pulled back to show his head and neck, AP says.

"His head is unnaturally twisted at a 90 degree angle to his right.  It shows a gaping bloody wound, circular in shape, about an inch below his jaw line on the left side of his neck.

"His left cheek is marked with red blotches, and there is blood on the shroud where it covered his head," the article says.

The AP description is accurate.  Think before you decide to see the video.

Video's audio

According to AP, voices are heard on the video and AP translates them into English from the Arabic.

The article says, "As the shroud is pulled back, one voice says, 'Hurry up, hurry up.  I'm going to count from one to four.  One, two....

"'Hurry up you're going to get us into a catastrophe.'

"Then another voice, apparently the man taking the pictures, says, 'Just one second, just one second, Abu Ali.  I'm about finished.'

"Then a third voice says, 'Abu Ali, you take care of this.'"