The botched hanging of Ibrahim Barzan is no surprise. Albert Pierrepoint, who was official British hangman for 15 years, used to insist that getting the rope length just right for the weight and build of the… client, was key to a successful hanging. Too short a rope–strangulation. Too long a rope–decapitation. It was a matter of experience, fine judgment, and–yes!–some math.
There are so many fields in which true proficiency is hard to come by nowadays. Let us hope that all the money we US taxpayers are spending on training in Iraq will raise the overall level of professionalism amongst Iraqi government workers.