SADDAM HUSSEIN, December 30, 2006

Seven coils and pre-boiled to take out any stretch. One thing the U.S. and Iraq do have in common is their style of hangman’s noose.
Saddam Hussein, deposed dictator of Iraq, would have had little time to dwell on such

Like Muammar Gaddafi, he too had been found cowering in a grubby bolt-hole, in December 2003.
As one U.S. military commander said, he was ‘caught like a rat’.
Holed up in an underground chamber little bigger than a coffin, he surrendered without a fight when allied troops cornered him in a farm near Tikrit, his birthplace.
Bearded, thin and exhausted, he had been on the run for 250 days.

On November 5, 2006, he was finally found guilty of crimes against humanity by the Iraqi Special Tribunal. He was then sentenced to be hanged until dead.

A month later in Baghdad - at 6am on December 30 – he was led to a platform in a concrete chamber by masked men.
Wearing a white shirt and dark overcoat, he refused a hood and shouted ‘God is great’.

Soldiers taunted him with insults until a judge demanded silence.

As he clutched a copy of the Koran, a noose was placed around his neck – waxed to guarantee a clean slide of the knots. The trapdoor was released and a loud crack was heard when his neck broke.

Left to swing for several minutes, a doctor was called to listen for a heartbeat. Saddam was dead.


Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2051552/Gaddafi-dead-Videos-worlds-infamous-dictators-violent-deaths.html#ixzz1bPuqhStP

ADOLF HITLER, April 30, 1945
Blood dripped onto the carpet and the smell of burnt almonds filled the air.
Hitler’s valet was the first on the scene after the sound of a single gunshot was heard coming from the Fuhrer’s study.
Holed up in a Berlin bunker, the date was April 30, 1945.
One of the leader’s most trusted commanders, Field Keitel, had just told him the soldiers protecting the city would run out of ammunition that night.

Two days earlier, Hitler had married Eva Braun – and she too would take her life as the Russians edged ever closer.
Knowing the end was near, he had meticulously prepared for death, even testing cyanide pills on a dog and her puppies to make sure they worked.
Before retiring to his study, he said farewell to his inner circle.
Then, at around 3.30 that afternoon, the man who had survived numerous assassination attempts took out his Walther PPK pistol and shot himself in the head.

He is said to have sat, sunken on a sofa, with blood oozing from his right temple. According to other accounts, his head was slumped on a table.
Braun chose cyanide (which produces a burned almond smell) and was discovered dead in the same room with her legs drawn up.
In accordance with Hitler’s instructions, SS officers took the corpses outside, poured petrol over them and set them alight.

Eyewitness claim it took two hours for the blaze to consume them.
Their remains were hidden under the soil in a bomb crater.
(Mystery shrouds the exact circumstances of Hitler’s death, with some claiming he in fact survived the battle for Berlin.)

NICOLAE CEAUSESCU, December 25, 1989
So many soldiers volunteered to shoot Romanian dictator Nicolae Ceausescu and his wife Elena that a lottery was held to allocate places.

And on Christmas Day, 1989, after a brief show trial in Bucharest, the couple faced the firing squad of elite paratroopers.

With Communism crumbling around him, the self-proclaimed ‘Genius of the Carpathians’ realised that his days as ruler of a brutally oppressive regime were over.


He had attempted to flee the country with his wife but they were soon captured by rebel soldiers.

Their trial was held in a bare room, where they were treated with cold contempt.

Accused of crimes ranging from illegal gathering of wealth to genocide, he stood frightened in the dock.

Within 90 minutes, he and Elena were sentenced to death.

At first, they were told they would be shot separately, but they begged to die together – and their final wish was granted.

After the trial they had their hands tied behind their backs with rope, with such force that Elena complained that her arms were breaking.

The soldiers took no pity on them. ‘Nobody will help you now,’ one said.

They were led outside, shouting ‘shame, shame’.

The firing squad were ordered to set their guns to automatic fire.

One paratrooper describes how the first bullets hit Nicolae in the knees, then in his chest, with the next thumping into Elena.

Within seconds they lay dead on the floor, blood flowing along the ground from Elena’s head.

BENITO MUSSOLINI, April 28, 1945
Mussolini made a desperate bid to escape to Switzerland with his mistress Clara Petacci and his fascist entourage, numbering about 15, on April 27, 1945.

But he was stopped by Communist officials and soldiers, despite trying to disguise himself in a German military uniform.
He was shot the following day in the village of Giulino di Mezzegra, along with those travelling with him.

Defiant to the last, the deluded leader screamed at the soldier sent to execute him: ‘Shoot me in the chest!’
The soldier wasted no time in firing.

It's believed Mussolini slumped to the floor in agony, still breathing, so the soldier strode up to him and shot him in the chest again.
His body, along with that of his wife and other executed fascists, was taken to Milan and dumped unceremoniously on the ground outside a petrol station in the middle of the night.

There Italians, reviled by the former leader’s regime, took the opportunity to vent their anger on him.
Even in death, they had no respect for him at all.
For hours they spat on him, kicked him, stoned him and battered his body with whatever they could lay their hands on.
The attack was so violent that the dictator’s head was left misshapen.

Bloodied, dishevelled, and bearing agonised grimaces, Mussolini, Clara and other executed fascist were then hung upside down with meat hooks.
Had they been innocents, Italians would have been horrified by what they saw – but this sight was met with jubilation.
They’d lived a life of luxury and wielded enormous power – now their honour was mercilessly torn away from them.

ION ANTONESCU, June 1, 1946
It’s often said that dictators are deluded, tinged with madness – Ion Antonescu then, was perhaps no different, because even while staring down the barrel of a gun, he held his hat aloft.
He had been Romania’s war-time leader and was said to be responsible for the deaths of 400,000 people.
But justice was eventually served in 1946 when he was prosecuted for war crimes, crimes against the peace, and treason.


The sentence was death, and he was dispatched ruthlessly in a field along with three members of his hated regime.
They were dressed in suits and hats but there was nothing respectful about their deaths.
The firing squad unleashed their shots and the four men crumpled in a split second.
To make sure they were dead an officer steps up to each corpse and shoots it several times.
Cold and brutal, just like Antonescu himself.

RAFAEL TRUJILLO, May 30, 1961
Like a scene from a Chicago gangster film, Dominican Republic dictator Rafael Trujillo was gunned down as his chauffeur drove him along a dark road.
The first shot didn’t kill him though - he fought back. But the seven men, assigned to take him out on the orders of the nation’s wealthy elite, were determined and quickly overwhelmed him.
Trujillo, also known as El Jefe (The Boss), had presided over a murderous regime for 30 years between 1930 and 1961.

His political weapons were torture and murder.
Several thousand Haitians, for instance, were massacred in 1937 on his say so.
But as history shows, there is only so much the people will take.
His killers blocked his car with theirs and a fierce gun battle ensued.

The armed chauffeur let loose with a volley of shots and Trujillo, despite being hit, carried on firing back.
They were eventually overpowered - the car was left with 60 bullet holes in it - and left lying dead on the road.

VALERIAN, 193 - 260 ADValerian was a Roman emperor who was taken captive and tortured by Persian king Shapur I after the Battle of Edessa.

After being roundly defeated in the battle at the beginning of 260, Valerian arranged a meeting with Shapur to negotiate a peace settlement, hoping to retreat to his kingdom and rebuild his power-base.

But the truce was betrayed by Shapur who seized Valerian and held him prisoner until his death.
Valerian was the only Roman emperor ever taken as a prisoner of war.
According to the early Christian scholar Lactantius, Valerian was subjected to torture and humiliation by his captors.
It is claimed that he was used as a footstool and also a mounting block for Shapur.

According to Lactantius, Valerian offered Shapur a huge ransom for his release. But in reply Shapur was said to have forced Valerian to swallow molten gold and then had him skinned and his skin stuffed with straw and preserved as a trophy in the main Persian temple.
Lactantius also says that it was only after a later Persian defeat against Rome that Valerian's remains were given a cremation and burial.

Francisco Marcias Nguema
Born on January 1, 1924, Nguema emerged the first President of Equatorial Guinea following independence in 1968. His 11-year rule was noted for the persecution and execution of political opponents. Two prominent names among those who had to give way for Nguema to establish his hold on power were the pre-independence Prime Minister, Bonifacio Ondo Edu. As soon as Nguema seized power, he detained the former PM and conveniently, later died in detention.

Execution of the two opened the floodgate to political killings. He declared himself Life President on July 14, 1972 and, on Christmas day 1975, he handed bitter gifts to 150 opponents who were killed at the Malabo football stadium.
A former Vice President was also said to have committed suicide in prison. As in the case of many of the other dictators, he not only changed his name to Masie Nguema Biyogo Negue Ndong, he awarded himself the incredible titles: Unique Miracle and Grand Master of Education, Science and Culture.

His tyrannical rule was brought to an end on August 3, 1979 through a coup masterminded and led by Theodore Obiang Nguema Mbasogo. He fled his comfort zone but was tracked down and captured in a forest 15 days later. He was consequently sentenced to death 101 times by a Special Military Tribunal and executed.

http://www.thenationonlineng.net/2011/index.php/news-update/23646-other-african-dictators-who-bit-the-dust.html

Jean Bedel Bokassa
Bokassa ruled Central African Republic as a mindless tyrant between 1966 and 1979. He took over power on January 1, 1965 and immediately proclaimed himself President, Prime Minister and Leader of the Republic’s only political party.

As soon as he became confident that the reins of power were in his hands, he made himself an Emperor and, for the coronation ceremony, he lavished 20 million dollars, a third of the country’s budget for the year.

It took the intervention of French forces in 1979 to dislodge him. He died in exile in 1996.

Samuel Kanyon Doe
The civil war, devastation and destruction of Liberia in the early 80s are all due to the despotic rule of Doe who sacked William Tolbert from power in 1980. Prior to the coup led by Doe, then a Master Sergeant in 1980, the Americo-Liberians who were a minority controlled life in the country. Doe who was only about 30 year old when he led other non-commissioned officers to stage the coup was extremely popular for his action as he emerged the first indigenous President.

He proceeded immediately to kill members of the power elite in the country, including Tolbert and his cabinet members. Gradually, he lost his popularity. He stage-managed a return to pseudo civil rule in 1985 as he formed a political party and maneuvered it to victory. Thereafter, he became more repressive and got most of those who had assisted in staging the 1980 coup, including strongman Thomas Quiwonkpa, killed.
His maltreatment of the Manos and the Gios eventually led to a civil war as a resistance movement led by Charles Taylor and several other rebel groups sprang up. One of the groups led by Yormie Johnson captured Doe in September 1990.

Idi Amin Dada

The self-proclaimed Ugandan President-for-Life ruled the country for far less time than he had hoped, but the eight years of his tenure were filled with gross human-rights violations, ethnic persecution — tens of thousands of Ugandans of Indian origin were forced out — killings and unbridled corruption. After alienating many of his supporters during a period of increasingly erratic behavior in the late 1970s, Amin found himself nearly alone at the top. A group of his own troops turned against him and soon — bolstered by a Tanzanian military force and Ugandan exiles — they brought Amin down. He fled to Libya, where his supporter Muammar Gaddafi awaited him. There Amin remained for several years before relocating to Saudi Arabia, where he died in 2003, remorseless and angry at his country's betrayal.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097426_2097427_2097418,00.html

Siad Barre
In Somalia, there was Siad Barre who started as an extremely popular leader but fell with ignominy. He ruled from 1969 to 1991. His reign was characterised by mindless killing of civilians. He was once accused of poisoning water supplied to some communities. He fled into exile in Nigeria where he eventually died in 1995.

Sani Abacha

Nigeria also features on the list. Sani Abacha was a military General. He was ruthless and played prominent roles in military rule in the country. He was an active participant in the 1983, 1985 and 1993 change of governments. He served as Chief of Army Staff, Chief of Defence Staff and Defence Minister at different times. But, in November 1993, he sacked the lackluster Chief Ernest Shonekan government.

He immediately started his political maneuvers, starting with a Constitutional Conference through which he sought to lull the people into supporting his regime. He followed it up by allowing the formation of political parties, five of which he recognised. In a move previously unknown to Nigeria, he got the five parties to adopt him separately as their presidential candidate. But he did not live up to witness the actualisation of that dream. He died on June 8, 1998 and was replaced by General Abdulsalami Abubakar who handed over to a civilian government on May 29, 1999.

What of our own Abacha that died on top of a prostituute ?

Who's next?

This picture may give a clue.

The wise ones are still living and enjoying their loots eg Buhari,babangida and obj.so what's going to happen to them ?

Good work Johnie
Very instructive

Intriguing and informative. Nice one Johnie.

I always wonder why some of these people feel they are invincible until they come to an untimely end. . . .the all-consuming nature of power.

~Bluetooth:

The wise ones are still living and enjoying their loots eg Buhari,babangida and obj.so what's going to happen to them ?

Are you saying that Abacha was not wise?

~Bluetooth:

The wise ones are still living and enjoying their loots eg Buhari,babangida and obj.so [b]what's going to happen to them ?[/b]

Maybe like,

THE ONE THAT GOT AWAY,

JOSEPH STALIN
The Russian ruler died in his bed at home near Moscow on March 5, 1953, at the age of 74. He suffered a stroke and had spent four days bedridden before passing away.

Through purges, famine and gulags he is estimated to have been responsible for the deaths of over 20million. Some historians have suggested he could be responsible for over 60million deaths.
The reality - with so few records kept - is no one knows how much damage this dictator truly inflicted on his people.

It is thought that around 14.5million needlessly starved to death and 9.5million were executed in cold blood for opposing his politics.
Stalin was such a ruthless dictator that all of his enemies were murdered. Throughout the 1930s the 'enemies of the people' were murdered - with thousands executed. The purges weakened the army heading into World War II.
The murder of Sergey Kirov, Stalin's rival, in 1934 was the pretext for the fierce repression of Stalin's enemies.
As he grew old, Stalin became increasingly paranoid but he was never himself the victim of the tough 'justice' he meted out.

Good article, keep them coming @johnie,what of osama??

October 20, 2011 12:26 PM
Qaddafi's last moments: "Don't shoot"

Muammar Qaddafi's final day most likely began as it ended: In a squeeze. He was almost surely in the 700-square-yard area of Sirte where Libya's ex-rebels had penned in the die-hard forces remaining loyal to him.


The transitional government had for some time speculated that Qaddafi was out wandering the desert, recruiting fighters for a counter-insurgency. Therefore, at around 8 a.m., the ex-rebels where probably unaware that their ultimate target was actually within their grasp as they began an assault on that small final area. It was around that time that Qaddafi got in a convoy to flee, according to most accounts.


Somewhere just outside of the loyalist-held area, NATO aircraft struck Qaddafi's convoy, but didn't kill him. According to NATO officials, they were unaware Qaddafi was inside. That airstrike, however, hastened his demise.


The Telegraph's Ben Farmer visited the scene where Qaddafi's convoy was hit and the ex-dictator's final moments played out. He writes: "Colonel Gaddafi was finally cornered in a drain underneath a road in open countryside to the west of the city of Sirte. Rebels said a column of vehicles tried to punch out of an encirclement at dawn. They parked up around 3-4kms west of the town, which was hit by a NATO airstrike. Gaddafi and several bodyguards were then forced to take refuge in the drain where they were then captured and taken away by revolutionary forces."




Libyan National Transitional Council (NTC) fighters carry a young man holding what they claim to be the gold-plated gun of ousted Libyan leader Muammar Qaddafi at the site where the latter was allegedly captured in the coastal Libyan city of Sirte on October 20, 2011.

(Credit: Getty Images) An ex-rebel fighter named Mohammed, "a young fighter in his 20s wearing a blue t-shirt and a New York Yankees baseball cap," told the BBC he found Qaddafi hiding in the tiny drain pipe. The colonel allegedly looked up and said simply: "Don't shoot."


They didn't listen.

There are conflicting reports about how and at whose hands exactly Qaddafi died. It seems pretty certain he was alive when first captured. Al Jazeera aired video (below) of what is almost surely Qaddafi's final moments. The once-mighty ex-dictator is seen soaked in blood, apparently disoriented, either being led around by or restrained by ex-rebels, who brandish guns as they yell at him and tug his hair, and he appears to yell back. Still other video taken later of his body being dragged around show him covered in blood everywhere, seeming to be bleeding from the head and other places. Reuters reports Qaddafi died around noon and that an ex-rebel official said Qaddafi died after capture in a firefight between his supporters and his captors.


The Associated Press reports: "One fighter says after the convoy was hit, it turned back and re-entered a compound, which was then attacked by several hundred fighters. He says they found Qaddafi there, and someone shot him with a pistol. But a spokesman for a local military council says fighters had surrounded the convoy and exchanged fire, before finding Qaddafi in one vehicle, wounded in the neck. The spokesman says Qaddafi bled to death from his wounds a half-hour later. Fighters said he died in an ambulance on the way to Misrata."


Still, others report a different ending.


CBS News correspondent David Martin reports that some claim Qaddafi's own bodyguard shot him, in order to spare him the indignity of being captured.


An ex-rebel named Salem Bakeer told Reuters that he and his comrades gave chase to Qaddafi and his small retinue of bodyguards after they fled their convoy following the airstrike.


"At first we fired at them with anti-aircraft guns, but it was no use," said Bakeer. "Then we went in on foot. One of Qaddafi's men came out waving his rifle in the air and shouting surrender, but as soon as he saw my face he started shooting at me. Then I think Qaddafi must have told them to stop. 'My master is here, my master is here', he said, 'Muammar Qaddafi is here and he is wounded.' We went in and brought Qaddafi out. He was saying 'What's wrong? What's wrong? What's going on?'. Then we took him and put him in the car."


At the time of capture, Gaddafi was already wounded with gunshots to his leg and to his back, Bakeer said.


"They captured him alive and while he was being taken away, they beat him and then they killed him," an ex-rebel told Reuters. "He might have been resisting."


Ex-rebel Adel Samir told the Telegraph that Qaddafi was gunned down with a 9mm pistol, shot in the stomach. Imad Moustaf, another ex-rebel fighter, told Global Post Qaddafi had been shot in the head and the heart. Still other reports claim he was shot in the both legs.


Libya's interim prime minister, Mahmoud Jibril, said that Qaddafi was killed from a bullet to the head during crossfire between government fighters and his loyalists, The Guardian reported.


Qaddafi likely bound for "secret burial"


Sometime after Qaddafi was shot, freelance photojournalist Holly Pickett tweeted that she saw his body. Pickett says she was embedded with an ex-rebel ambulance, and spotted another ambulance packed with rebels speeding away from Sirte with Qaddafi's body.


"From the side door, I could see a bare chest with bullet wound and a bloody hand. He was wearing gold-colored pants," Pickett tweeted. "At every checkpoint between #Sirte and #Misrata, crowds had gathered and wanted to know if we were the ambulance with #Gaddafi's body in it. Upon hearing the truth, that #Gaddafi was truly dead, revolutionaries at the checkpoints were beside themselves, shouting with joy."


However his final moments may have actually unfolded, the numerous images of his body have already made the rounds on cell phones, computers and TV screens all over the globe, leaving little doubt that Libya's 42 years of Qaddafi's oft-cruel "Jamahiriya" rule is over.


Also captured and killed Thursday was Qaddafi's flamboyant fifth son - also his National Security Adviser - Mutassim Qaddafi, whom Libyans had claimed a week earlier was already captured. An ex-rebel spokesman said Mutassim was killed "resisting his captors," Reuters reports. Additionally, the BBC reports that ex-rebels captured his famed former security chief, Mansour Daw, who, it had been reported, fled to Niger.

According to Reuters, Qaddafi will have a "secret burial."

Read more: http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-503543_162-20123183-503543/qaddafis-last-moments-dont-shoot/#ixzz1bQi3HcLV

Good job Johnie B. Goode.    History shows over and over again that despots, tyrants and dictators NEVER learn from history.

Don't forget to mention Satan himself,  Pol Pot of Cambodia, whose "Killing Fields" consumed over 2 million souls during the sadistic reign of the Khmer Rouge during the 1970s.

Pol Pot, Former Khmer Rouge Leader, Dead at 73
7.27 a.m. ET (1127 GMT) April 16, 1998
PHNOM PENH, Cambodia (AP) — Cheating pursuers who believed they were days away from capturing him for trial, toppled Khmer Rouge leader Pol Pot died peacefully in his sleep — evading prosecution in the deaths of as many as 2 million countrymen. He was 73.

Cambodians wept in disappointment after hearing that Pol Pot had died of heart failure Wednesday in a jungle hut on the Thai border, even as the last diehard members of his vanquished movement were moving toward surrendering him to an international tribunal.

"He deserved to die. I am only sorry that he died so easily without being tried," sobbed Kim Saren, whose entire family — mother, father and eight brothers and sisters — died under Pol Pot's regime.

Pol Pot's Khmer Rouge ruled Cambodia from 1975 to 1979, killing everyone who stood in the way of remaking the country into a Marxist agrarian regime. One person in five died of starvation, illness or execution.

Cambodian King Norodom Sihanouk, who the Khmer Rouge deposed, recently described Pol Pot as "one of the most powerful monsters ever created by humanity."

The last few hundred Khmer Rouge were on the run from government soldiers and the movement was nearing its demise at the time of his death. He was no longer the leader, but a prisoner of his own men who were offering to turn him over for trial in exchange for a peace deal.

Pol Pot's wife discovered his body when she went to arrange the mosquito netting around him for the night, said Non Nou, his Khmer Rouge jailer.

"At 12 midnight his wife came to us" sobbing, Non Nou said. "She learned that her husband was dead when she was tying the net for him. He died in a hut built for him after he lost his power."

Non Nou said Pol Pot's body would be kept for one or two days before a traditional Cambodian funeral. "Wait and see," he said when asked if journalists or outsiders would be allowed to attend.

Thai military officers, speaking on condition of anonymity, said one of their teams had crossed into Cambodia and obtained photographs of Pol Pot's corpse. The photos were to be released to the media Friday.

Skepticism about the news of the reclusive leader's death, often rumored in recent years, was especially strong given the timing. The United States sought China's aid on April 9 in bringing him to trial for crimes against humanity, and his comrades-turned-captors were mulling over what nation, if any, they should surrender him.

"I think we could almost have arrested him tomorrow. It was very close," said Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, a Yale University-affiliated project gathering evidence against top Khmer Rouge leaders in case they are ever brought to trial.

Youk Chhang said countries like Thailand and China must be "relieved" about the death because Pol Pot would not be able to reveal just how much these countries had aided his movement.

To the end, Pol Pot showed no regret, or even recognition of the misery he had caused.

His "conscience is clear," he told Western journalist Nate Thayer in October. While he acknowledged "mistakes," he suggested he had been the target of a plot to discredit him, perhaps by Cambodia's traditional enemy, Vietnam.

It was a frail gray-haired man who spoke to Thayer in the first interview he had given in 18 years. By then he had become a victim of the movement he once headed, condemned to spend the last months of his life under house arrest.

A "people's tribunal" held at the guerrillas' last stronghold in northern Cambodia condemned him in July for crimes that included the killing of the group's longtime guerrilla defense minister, Son Sen, and his family.

The murders were committed by Pol Pot's henchmen as the group itself was in its death throes, sent into irrevocable decline by mass defections in 1996.

"I want you to know that everything I did, I did for my country," Pol Pot said in his rueful final interview last fall.

Pol Pot was born into a farming family in Kompong Thom province, 80 miles north of Phnom Penh. Personal details of his life were always hard to verify, and only in his 1997 interview did he make public the true year of his birth, 1925.

Pol Pot went to Paris in 1949 on a government scholarship to study electronics. Absorbed with leftist politics, he established a communist cell with fellow Cambodian students. He failed his exams, lost his scholarship and returned home.

In the early 1960s, Pol Pot fled into the jungle after the government, led by then-Prince Norodom Sihanouk, savagely repressed leftist opposition. There, he built up an armed resistance movement, dubbed the Khmer Rouge — Red Cambodians — by Sihanouk.

In 1970, when Sihanouk was overthrown in a coup, the Khmer Rouge numbered a few thousand. But the aggrieved prince then joined forces with them, bringing his prestige and popular support.

Aided by China and Vietnam, the guerrillas gained control of the countryside and forced the army of U.S.-backed Premier Lon Nol into the towns. U.S. bombing alienated the peasantry.

On April 17, 1975, the black pajama-clad guerrillas seized Phnom Penh, immediately expelled all foreigners and sealed off the country.

"This is Year Zero," Pol Pot said.

Society was to be "purified," Khmer Rouge officials said. The country began a forced march to pure agrarian communism — cities were emptied, money was abolished, nationwide communal kitchens introduced, schools and temples shut.

Phnom Penh was evacuated at gunpoint and its 2 million people sent to work in the countryside.

Marked for death were educated people, religious or ethnic minorities, Buddhist monks, and anyone suspected of ties with the former government or who questioned the regime.

Vietnam invaded on Christmas Day 1978 and installed a new communist government led by Khmer Rouge defectors. Pol Pot retreated to western Cambodia and began directing his forces against the Vietnamese.

The Khmer Rouge boycotted a U.N.-supervised election in 1991. A decline in strength and support was capped by the 1996 defections.

In 1997, his interviewer asked Pol Pot if a daughter born to him after a 1987 marriage would be proud of him when she grew up.

"I don't know about that," Pol Pot responded. "It's up to history to judge."


http://www2.fiu.edu/~fcf/polsstilldead41698.html

Mobutu Sese Seko

The archetypal African dictator, Mobutu Sese Seko, a military officer, rose to power in the Congo by displacing populist, left-leaning leader Patrice Lumumba. Burnishing his nationalist chops, he renamed the resource-rich, strategic former Belgian colony "Zaire," a pronunciation of a local Kikongo word for "the river that swallows all rivers."

Mobutu swallowed all his country's politics, building a highly centralized state where power radiated from his presidential palace and tales of his nepotism and corruption — including Concorde-borne shopping trips to Paris — were legion. Propped up with aid from the West — for years, Zaire was one of the biggest recipients of U.S. funds in Africa — Mobutu presided over the country for some four decades, despite myriad reports of abuses and human rights violations.

The end of the Cold War prompted him to embark upon hesitant political reform, but it took civil strife and the victory of armies loyal to Laurent Kabila to unseat Mobutu in 1997 — he died shortly thereafter in exile in Morocco, of prostate cancer.

http://www.time.com/time/specials/packages/article/0,28804,2097426_2097427_2097458,00.html

Jakumo:

Good job Johnie B. Goode.    History shows over and over again that despots, tyrants and dictators NEVER learn from history.

Don't forget to mention Satan himself,  Pol Pot of Cambodia, whose "Killing Fields" consumed over 2 million souls during the sadistic reign of the Khmer Rouge during the 1970s.

If there's any justice in the afterlife, Pol Pot and Joseph Stalin should be suffering eternal unspeakable agonies for their monstrous deeds. These were monsters in human skin, not true men.

Does anyone here want to be a dictator? We'll decapitate and mutilate you at Eagles square, Abuja. Hehe

All the world is a stage. Vanity inside several layers of vanity.

Mehhn i watched that Gaddafi video where they were slamming him against the car. I was like forkk, is this the great Gaddafi? Unbelievable! We're all mortal humans after all is said and done. Dictators seem to forget that.

NEXT: paul biya, yoweri museveni. time's up!

ArQueBusieR:

Does anyone here want to be a dictator? We'll decapitate and mutilate you at Eagles square, Abuja. Hehe

good luck with that. b4 you ppl make it to Aso rock gate, i would have thrown myself into a giant meat grinder. there's no way i'll be taken alive .

9ice one johny u neva mentioned laurent Gbagbo, charles taylor,fodey sanko, mubarak