Second leaked execution video shows bloody wound on Saddam's neck



A new video of Saddam Hussein's body, showing a neck wound, was posted on the Internet early today, the second leak of clandestine pictures from Saddam's hanging.

The video appeared to have been taken with a camera phone, as was the video of the hanging that showed guards taunting Saddam in the final moments of his life.

The footage pans up Saddam's shrouded body from the feet. It apparently was taken soon after Saddam was executed and placed on a gurney. He was hanged Dec. 30.

As the panning shot reaches the head region, the white shroud is pulled back to show Saddam's head and neck.

His head is unnaturally twisted at a 90 degree angle to his right. The video also shows a bloody, circular wound 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 newest video leak is likely to increase the angry reaction to the way that the execution was carried out. There has already been an outcry about the undignified manner in which the Shiite-dominated government hanged Saddam, a Sunni.

The 27-second video was posted on an Iraqi news Web site that is known to support Saddam's outlawed Baath Party.

"A new film of the late immortal martyr, President Saddam Hussein," the Web site said in a headline over a link to the video.

Voices could be heard on the video. 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."

It was the second clandestine video to have been leaked, the first showing Saddam being taunted in his final moments. It showed Saddam dropping through the gallows floor as he prayed. It ends with his body swinging at the end of the rope.

The clandestine hanging video was in sharp contrast with an official video that was broadcast not long after Saddam's execution which showed him standing silently on the gallows as the noose was put around his neck. The official video was silent.

On the leaked hanging video, however, voices could be heard taunting him.

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Japanese race queens confess to off-track shenanigans


Masuo Kamiyama

Young, long-haired, leggy and with dazzling smiles, Race Queens (abbreviated to RQs herein) are a familiar presence atop the winner's podium at the nation's racetracks. And not surprisingly, the chemical admixture of excitement, speed and danger on the track is a successful catalyst for erotic activity off the track.

The services of the RQs, Shukan Taishu informs readers, are procured either by the track operators or by the racing teams. If they're lucky, they are contracted to make appearances for an entire season.

Several gals who launched their careers in bathing suits at racetracks -- like Reiko Takashima and Naoko Iijima, and more recently Miho Yoshioka and Chisato Morishita -- have used their RQ popularity as a springboard to showbiz.

But all too often these days RQs are hired and paid on an ad hoc basis, which means they have to work extra hard at pleasing the clients who retain them. And Shukan Taishu was not the least bit surprised to discover that as part of their jobs, they are expected to do more than smile at the cameras. A lot more.

First, let's look at the experience of Yukie Shirakawa, age 22. (Her name, as are all the others in this article, has been changed to protect the not-so-innocent.)

"During the era of the bubble economy, RQs were often guaranteed as much as 100,000 yen a day for appearances. Now, in some cases it's down to one-tenth that amount," she tells Shukan Taishu. "It's become impossible for a gal to earn a living just by working as an RQ.

"You might be propositioned by a mechanic or engineer," she says. "But it's the drivers who really come on the strongest. They'll tell me, with a completely straight face, 'Danger is always at our side. Wanting sex is something that's instinctive for us.'"

Yukie claims to have declined these invitations, but as a penalty for not rolling over she is forced to work hard at several jobs to support herself, such as modeling.

"The shooting is done closer to where I live than the race track," she shrugs. "But the agency and studio all take their cut, so I only get about 10,000 yen a day."

Kyoko Satoyama, 24, is ready to confirm that what the drivers claim about getting it on after confronting danger on the track is indeed true. In fact, she insists there's nothing like having her, uh, accelerator floored by a passionate driver.

"Immediately after the race, their adrenalin levels are still high," she giggles. "They really get wild in bed."

Of course, not all the action is adjacent to the track or after a race.

"At the end of every race season, the staff, drivers and sponsors of the team I work for arrange a weekend stay at a rural hot spring," says Yuka Ando, 23. "But they've got anything on their minds except relaxation. They'll play raunchy drinking games like "baseball fist" and it's common for them to insist that I join them in the bath. If I refuse, they'll let the contract run out without renewing it.

"On the other hand," she continues, "if I spend a night in the sack with a sponsor or one of the team's bosses, renewal is almost a certainty. And I can tell you, very few gals in this business are in a position to say no."

As their bloom of youth begins to fade, and younger, cuter competition threatens to nudge them out of work, some RQs begin to search for a more stable relationship.

"They'll take jobs as models or 'companions' at motor shows and other events, hoping to meet well-paid account executives from ad agencies," says Yuka, who adds that they also pass out business cards that carry pinup photos of them in skimpy bathing suits, with their cell phone numbers printed beneath.

Should they make the acquaintance of a promising bachelor, they've been known to employ a variety of tried-and-true techniques by which to spring their trap. One familiar subterfuge is to surreptitiously prick a pinhole in a condom and then, several weeks later, present their partner with a "fait accompli" that will hopefully transform them from an eye-catching RQ to an expectant BB (blushing bride).

Behind the race queen's fetching smiles, Shukan Taishu warns, is a race for survival.

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