Do It Right

...If You're Gonna Hang Somebody

They hung the half-brother of Saddam Hussein, Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti today. By all accounts, the hanging wa botched and resembled more of a decapitation than a hanging.

The day which started with the pre-dawn executions of Saddam Hussein's half-brother and former intelligence chief Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti and former head of the Iraqi Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, has not ended well.

The official announcement of the executions made much of the lengths the authorities had gone to in order to prevent any abuse of the condemned men this time after unofficial video shot on a mobile phone at Saddam Hussein's hanging had shown him being taunted on the gallows.

All those present at the latest executions had signed a document saying they would behave according to the rules.

There were apparently fewer witnesses on this occasion. They were searched more thoroughly, particularly for cameras or other recording devices.

And, said officials, there were no abuses, no slogans, no insults, no violations.

But then came the bombshell of these executions - the admission that the head of Barzan al-Tikriti had been ripped from his body as he was being hanged.

It was described by officials as a rare incident, something that can sometimes happen at hangings, an act of God.

As acts of Gods go, that's one hell of a prank by Allah. You really wish these people would at least do the right thing.

...If You're Gonna Trade Somebody

In one of the weird twists of fate, David Beckam is going to LA to play his sport. Here's an interesting column on that notion. Beckham seems inaccessible to even thouse who want to write nice things about him, but the knives are flying thick and fast. It's not his fault that he has considerable value off the pitch, even in America.

In terms of how all this impacts on Real Madrid, the truth is that the issue of his exclusion (not the transfer) has split the country down the middle. I was in Santiago at the weekend, and everyone was talking about it. Back here in San Sebastian, and I've just come back from the bar after watching Madrid beat Zaragoza, people were still talking about it.

One chap with a scary moustache, who'd spent the game muttering darkly about Van Nistelrooy's inability to either control or pass the ball - Es un buitre, joder! Que se dedique a esto, y nada más! (He's a poacher, for God's sake. He should just stick to doing that!) then began to chat with the barman about Beckham (who'd just appeared on camera, sitting in the stands watching his mates play). 'I can't understand it!' he shouted. 'So Madrid need to clean out the old ones, and start from new. I can understand that. But to punish the guy like that is just nasty. It shows a lack of class. Beckham's alright. He's always worked his nuts off. The club's gone to the dogs. You can't treat people like that'.

Radomir Antic, writing in the tabloid 'AS' said something similar, qualifying the action as symbolic of a dying institution, one that no longer has the dignity to even know who its most loyal servants have been. And he has a point. Ronaldo's sullen and unpredictable behaviour over the past two seasons should have guaranteed his exit long before now, but now Beckham has been lumped in with the 'clean-up', which includes the troublesome Cassano - a most unholy trinity, since the Englishman's behaviour has been exemplary.

He even praised Capello as a manager last week and pledged that he would continue to fight for the cause, words that have been rewarded with a kick in the nether regions, further down than Ferguson's flying boot. It's true, of course, that Beckham has occasionally been required to ask permission to go and film some ad somewhere, or endorse a product, or whatever chaps like Beckham are required to do, but Real Madrid signed him precisely for that purpose, even grabbing 50% of his image rights - based on deals that Beckham had cut before he ever trod the Bernabéu.

All this goes for me towards arguments why I still hate soccer. One day when all is said and done, a lot of people are going to sit up and realise Becks was a pretty special player even without the hype; and just because he married a silly spice girl, or just because he has that silly accent does not mean he isn't actually, y'know, a very GOOD player.

Then there's stuff like this:

"He signed his contract before he spoke with Madrid and for me that doesn't seem right," Capello said after Madrid's 1-0 home victory over Real Zaragoza, a game Beckham watched from a spectator box along with his mother, Sandra.

"If a player has a contract (with another club) it isn't right that you continue to treat him as just another player."

In an interview with Spain's Onda Cero radio, Real Madrid president Ramon Calderon also took issue with Beckham's conduct.

"We have been given the run around for the past two months," Calderon said. "We were never told that he had signed for another club, that he had the house bought and had everything ready to go. That, to me, is not right."

Oliveira said Beckham had made his intentions clear to club officials in a meeting before signing with the MLS club.

"We've done everything above board," Oliveira said. "We made our intentions clear to Real Madrid that David wasn't staying at the club before meeting with the Galaxy."

Beckham joined Madrid from Manchester United in 2003. The team hasn't won a single major trophy since, and the former England captain was mainly a substitute this season..

It hardly seemed likely that Real Madrid needed Beckham if they sat him so bloody often. He took the hint and left. What idiots.