Did children across the world really die after viewing Saddam's execution?

Is this another pathetic attempt to blame the US for more deaths? I just read an AP article saying that preteen and young teens hung themselves after watching Saddamâ€™s hanging. How many kids hang themselves on purpose or otherwise usually in a year? I had a friend who accidentally hung himself when we were kids.

What is even more suspect? I read this same headline link a week or so ago but when I followed it, it was just a story about Saddamâ€™s execution then they changed it.

I am generally not for the death penalty in the US because it is unfairly applied, but Iraq is a sovereign country and I support their legal decisions. But it is crazy to blame the US for his execution, let alone blaming the US for these kids hanging themselvesâ€¦ This is just another example of Leftist, Anti-American media controlled propaganda.

Did children really hang themselves after watching on TV? I saw a lot of stuff on TV I never did...

frosting

I never heard anything about it. Was the boy middle-eastern?

Pye

It sounds like absolute rubbish mate. Newspapers are known for writing absolute crap and then changing their minds next week. I never heard this from any reputable source which suggests it is just that.

As for blaming America for Saddam's death, I don't see your point. America wanted him dead just as much as anywhere else. It was the fact that he wasn't tried in the proper way that bothered me. He should have been tried in The Hague at an international war crimes tribunal like war criminals from the former Yugoslavia.

Televising the event, let alone the death penalty itself just brings us back to the dark ages. We should be moving on as humans, we give death as if we could give life to those who didn't deserve to lose it.

Vagabond58

N O!! Just a bunch of terrorist propaganda!!!

Qutubuddin S

Both sides will have to cry for a long time, Pathetic?

SusieeQ

Yes-there was a 10 or 12 y/o boy who hung himself-very sad

ArkyGirl

Yes, I read that there were three of them that did. One of them was from Texas. The other two were from other countries. Very sad. It also said that when kids see something tragic such as a hanging they either turn away or they are fascinated with it and try to emulate it.

Dr. Albert, DDS, (USA)

I READ THIS STORY, AND IT'S VERY UNFORTUNATE BUT TRUE.

Jamie R

It is a tragic accident, but when the boy was so enthralled with the execution, why didn't alarm bells go off and a discussion about it take place? Why were the parents letting him watch an execution in the first place?

I don't think the US is to blame, but the parents who let him watch it. I do feel sorry for them though.

jpgregory2001

Yes they did - pull up "saddam's hanging"

HOUSTON â€” Police and family members said a 10-year-old boy who died by hanging himself from a bunk bed was apparently mimicking the execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Sergio Pelico was found dead Sunday in his apartment bedroom in the Houston-area city of Webster, said Webster police Lt. Tom Claunch. Pelico's mother told police he had previously watched a news report on Saddam's death.

"It appears to be accidental," Claunch said. "Our gut reaction is that he was experimenting."

An autopsy of the fifth-grader's body was pending.

Julio Gustavo, Sergio's uncle, said the boy was a happy and curious child.

He said Sergio had watched TV news with another uncle on Saturday and asked the uncle about Saddam's death.

"His uncle told him it was because Saddam was real bad," Gustavo said. "He (Sergio) said, 'OK.' And that was it."

Sergio's mother, Sara Pelico DeLeon, was at work Sunday while Sergio and other children were under the care of an uncle, Gustavo said. One of the children found Sergio's body in his bedroom.

Police said the boy had tied a slipknot around his neck while on a bunk bed. Police investigators learned that Sergio had been upset about not getting a Christmas gift from his father, but they don't believe the boy intentionally killed himself.

Clinical psychologist Edward Bischof, of California, said children Sergio's age mimic risky behaviors they see on TV â€” such as wrestling or extreme sports â€” without realizing the dangers. He said TV appeared to be the stimulant in Sergio's case.

"I would think maybe this kid is trying something that he thinks fun to act out without having the emotional and psychological maturity to think the thing through before he acts on it," Bischof said.

Family members held a memorial for the boy Wednesday in the apartment complex activity center. Gustavo said the family is trying to put together enough money to send Sergio's body to Guatemala for burial.

"I don't think he thought it was real," Gustavo said of Saddam's hanging. "They showed them putting the noose around his neck and everything. Why show that on TV?"

___

Information from: Houston Chronicle, http://www.chron.com

___

January 4, 2007 - 2:38 a.m. CST

racingdiego@sbcglobal.net

Yes. In Texas. Go figure. Ud think parents would be more watchful of what their kids watch on tv. We cant blame tv watching on every thing thats bad in the world.

vj cruz

no, its just rumors ,childrten have better things to do. common there is more to life than saddam's death.

Rusty

i hate how everything is blamed on tv ...surival of the fittest if the kids are dumb enough to copy it. well i blame the parents

CincinnatiDon

I didn't hear anything about it.

Ã¢?Â£China Ã¢?Â¥ DollÃ¢?Â

I think it's ridiculous to blame things like that for what people do. I have seen lots of things on TV and I haven't emulated those acts. Where were the parents? Why weren't they attending to their child?

I personally think it's disgusting to showcase Saddam's death but whether it's displayed on the news or not, people will find a way to see it.

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