Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein executed

[TomCat111]

Saddam Hussein's last moments

In the wake of the execution of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein a fuller picture has gradually emerged of how his final moments played out.
In an interview with the BBC, one of the witnesses, Judge Munir Haddad, gave a detailed account of what he saw, painting a picture of a man defiant to the end.

Official video released within hours of the execution - without audio - showed what appeared to be a subdued, compliant Saddam Hussein on the gallows being readied for execution. It did not show the hanging itself.

Yet a second video, shot on a mobile phone by an onlooker below the scaffold - revealed an angry scene in which witnesses hurled insults at the former leader and he in turned mocked them. It also showed the moment of death.

Koran present

The hanging took place at around 0600 local time (0300GMT) on 30 December 2006, before the sun had risen.

A small group of Iraqis had gathered to witness the event at a compound known by the Americans as Camp Justice in the Baghdad suburb of Khadimiya - a facility where under Saddam's regime many dissidents were executed.

Saddam Hussein was brought into the concrete-lined execution chamber, surrounded by men in black ski masks.

Dressed in a white shirt and dark suit and overcoat, he was handcuffed with his hands in front of him and carried a copy of the Koran in his hands, which he asked to be given to a friend.

A judge then read out the death sentence.

Judge Haddad described what happened next:

"One of the guards present asked Saddam Hussein whether he was afraid of dying.

Saddam's reply was that 'I spent my whole life fighting the infidels and the intruders', and another guard asked him: 'Why did you destroy Iraq and destroy us? You starved us and you allowed the Americans to occupy us.'

His reply was, 'I destroyed the invaders and the Persians and I destroyed the enemies of Iraq... and I turned Iraq from poverty into wealth.'

Hands and feet bound

He said: 'This is my end... this is the end of my life. But I started my life as a fighter and as a political militant - so death does not frighten me.'"

Saddam Hussein's handcuffs were removed and his hands bound behind his back and his feet shackled. Then he was taken upstairs to the top of the gallows platform.

"He was reciting, as it was his custom, 'God is Great!' and also some political slogans like: 'Down with the Americans!' and 'Down with the Invaders!'," Judge Haddad said.


In a last act of defiance, Saddam Hussein refused to wear a hood


Final moments

"He said: 'We're going to Heaven and our enemies will rot in Hell!'

And he also called for forgiveness and love amongst Iraqis, but also stressed that the Iraqis should fight the Americans and the Persians."

The official video showed a now silent, seemingly compliant, Saddam Hussein on the gallows platform, flanked by his masked guards, who were all wearing civilian dress.

Briefly the crude-looking trapdoor, ringed by a low red metal fence, came into view. The thick rope of the noose looped down from a fixture in the ceiling.

One of the men gestured to the gallows - Saddam Hussein glanced at it, then at the man, apparently to ask him a question.

The masked man moved a hand along the former leader's neck and chest, seemingly explaining that a scarf would be placed around his neck before the noose is applied - but Saddam Hussein appeared to be scarcely listening.

Hood removed

A dark piece of cloth was produced and wrapped around the former president's neck. Then with one of the executioners holding the scarf in place from behind, Saddam Hussein shuffled onto the gallows platform, guided by his masked guards.

He stood still and erect on the trapdoor, facing straight ahead, as the noose was lowered over his neck and tightened.

It was at this point that the official video ended.

The second video was shot from below the gallows and started with Saddam Hussein being led out onto the gallows trapdoor.

The darkened scene was frequently lit up by flashes from people taking photographs.

Sarcasm

As he shuffled forward, the crowd of witnesses standing below could be heard talking in conversational tones, but as the noose was placed around his neck the crowd became more agitated, with some shouting out insults.

In his account Judge Haddad mentions this, saying: "Some of the guards started to taunt him - by shouting Islamic words."

An unseen person shouted "go to hell", others chanted the name of Shia cleric Moqtada al Sadr and of Mohammed Bakr Sadr, his uncle who was murdered by Saddam Hussein's agents.

In response Saddam Hussein was sarcastic asking "do you consider this bravery?"

A Muslim cleric in attendance asked Saddam Hussein to say a prayer, which he did, but according to Judge Haddad "with sarcasm".

In a clear voice Saddam Hussein began intoning the Shahada, the Islamic creed, saying "there is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad is the messenger of God. There is no God but Allah and I testify that Muhammad" - at which point he was cut off as the trapdoor opened with a loud crash and he fell.

On the mobile phone video, noise broke out and a voice shouted out "the tyrant has fallen, damn him!" as the camera swung around wildly for a few seconds before settling on a close up image of Saddam Hussein's head - still swinging on the noose, his lifeless face upturned, eyes open.

Saddam Hussein's neck appeared to have been broken in the fall and Judge Haddad said that he died instantly.

"He was killed instantly and I witnessed the impact of the rope and it was a horrible sight," he said.

 

[Lahori paa jee]

He went down like a brave man. May he rest in peace. Amen

 

[Awesome]

u mean during saddams period he was a friend of shias.
u mean iraninan should have been sad for him
may i remind u or iran iraq war
shias should be affraid of what.what is there thst hasnt been done on them in pakistan.or any other arab country.i belive its more like the wahabies that created the hate.

My objection is not why Saddam was killed but by who and how he was. Saddam's killed in an act of vengeance not by an act of law. If it really is vindication for Shias, then it is an assassination not an execution.

A farce trial sending him to the gallows just means that he'd go down as "pronounced guilty by a joke of a trial". In essence officially by many international countries that recognized the trial to be a farce, he dies innocent since he's never been proven guilty.

That's why its so important to follow the letter of the law.

The Muqtada slogans don't help the Shia cause either. Is he killed in the name of Shia Islam? Then that antagonizes the Sunnis. Is he killed in the name of Iran? Then he's been killed by traitors.

i ask again paa jee why did the saudi pigs took nawaz from pakistan.would u like to share that with all.

What's that got to do with it?

did any of u shed tears like this when shias were being slaughterd by saddam or saudi and uae finnaced pakistani terrorist groups why most here would expect shias to be sad when this pig is hannged.

We shed a lot of tears for Pakistanis, my friend. Shia, Sunni, Christian, Atheist, Ahmedi. Some idiocy has been brought from these foreign countries to Pakistan all the time. Are you going to be a part of the problem or the solution?

paa jee how many shia families couldnt celebrate eid during when your nawaz was in power in pakistan.bu ho ho u cant celebrate eid.

This is about Saddam and his execution.

Whether or not he deserved this, IMO, he shouldn't have been killed. Not now. Not by them. The government's a joke, the entire country is busy doing its own thing. The government is called traitors over there by the way and the Americans are nicked "dirty forces". Criminals giving criminals justice?

On his charges against Iranians and Kurds, in fact, he dies guilt free. Since they were never proven, he's never going to be called guilty.

 

[Cheetah786]

No i did not and wont have shed the same sort of tears. Killing of traitors is justified. And Saddam was justified in killing Iraqi Shiites and kurds who were up in arms supported by US and Iran.

Let me also remind you that the bulk of Iraqi forces during the Iran Iraq war were shias who fought for Saddam. It was a bunch of them who sold their loyalties to Iran and US and deserved what was done to them

What has all of this got to do with Nawaz Sharif?

do u have links suggesting that or u are getting this intel from MUllaha on the corner.second u might wanna read up before u come up with ridiculous ideas paa jee Even the monkey on the street knows Americans were in bed with sadam during iran iraq war would u like some reading material on that.1 million Mulsims died)would u also share with us all why saudies are in washington asking them to hit iran.claiming if the Americans leave they will come to there sunni brothers help do u agree so far paa jee.they have shown a lot of concern about there sunni brothers in iraq.well then when are these same sauides going to help there brothers in palestine.or somalia.or chechnya.or afghanistan nigeria.why only wanna help the sunni brothers in iraq.the rest of them dont deserve help.or is it only to fight the shias

even if i take your logic of some shias sold there loyalities to iran and usa so they deserved to be killed
I HATE TO TELL YOU SADDAM SOLD HIS LOAYALITIES TO USA FROM THE BEGINING WHEN HE WAS INSTALLED BY CIA.SO even using your logic he deserved to be killed.BUT THEN WE SHOULD ALSO CONTINUE ON THATS SAUDIES WERE INSTALLED BY BRITISH JORADAN WAS GIVIEN TO CIA THUG BY BRITISH EGYPT MOST OF THE MIDDLE EASTEREN COUNTRIES SO WHEN ARE WE GOING TO KILL THEM FOR SELLING OUT OR THAT BECOMES DIFFERENT.

 

[Cheetah786]

My objection is not why Saddam was killed but by who and how he was. Saddam's killed in an act of vengeance not by an act of law

As i have said it before saddam was killed because he knew to much.

What's that got to do with it?

wahhabi terrorist was openely killing shias and walking the streets without and fear of punishment.during nawaz times and the reason suaides took him was he was doing there dirty.funny isnt it.

We shed a lot of tears for Pakistanis, my friend. Shia, Sunni, Christian, Atheist, Ahmedi. Some idiocy has been brought from these foreign countries to Pakistan all the time. Are you going to be a part of the problem or the solution?

Asim i dont doubt u dont love pakistan so please not for a second question My loyality i love my country i have so far with Gods help created over 300 jobs in pakistan.i dont hire people and ask them what religion they belong to.as i mentioned Above when the so called primeminister was in bed with saudies And uae. and shias get questioned for there loyality.thats why i keep asking why was nawaz taken by saudies.
shias arent the ones declayring every body else infidel cause some one is christian is ifidel or ahmedi or shia.u have no idea when i talk to investers in westren world there first answer to me is Are u nuts.killing of shais and other minorities braught a brain drain on pakistan and during nawaz times our economy was about to boom like afghanistan.back to iraq saddam voted against pakistan in UN resolutions for kashmere.
but they cry for him in pakistan give me 1 good reason why he wasnt a friend of pakistan.
sick and tired of this bull in pakistan where Arabs are our friend automatically.Mullahas on Saudi payroll teach people how every body is bad except them.every other day u see idiots on the street showting ''death to America death to this'' while same saudies invest heavily in usa them selfs.can u undestand what kind of image it creates for pakistan in the west.isnt arabs the ones that have provided there lands for long time to attack muslims including iraq.but for some reason ARABS are good in pakistan every body else is bad give me a break.


He went down like a brave man. May he rest in peace. Amen


He was found hidding in a hole in the ground.

 

[Cheetah786]

u mean during saddams period he was a friend of shias.
u mean iraninan should have been sad for him
may i remind u or iran iraq war
shias should be affraid of what.what is there thst hasnt been done on them in pakistan.or any other arab country.i belive its more like the wahabies that created the hate.


Why did saddam have shia/kurdish army officers if was anti shia.Do you not understand it was an arab/persian conflict.The bulk of iraqs army was shia.
If the sunnis of iran revolted against the government of iran with the backing of the americans the the reaction of iranian army would be to go into the rebellious areas and crush the traitors.Would that make the iraninans anti sunni?
Saddam did just as the above statement said but to the shias of the south instead of sunnis but somehow he hates all shias.
Saddam killed his own son in law for being a traitor..he was a sunni.
The hate can not just be blamed on sunni/wahabies but also the Kufaiite/shia who are just as extreme.

i ask again paa jee why did the saudi pigs took nawaz from pakistan.would u like to share that with all.

I remember Khomeini was under CIA protection living in france.I would also like to ask why was Khomeini licking american arse ... please do share.
Bro if you start insulting the saudis by calling them pigs do not be amazed when people start insulting the ayatollahs by calling them pigs.

did any of u shed tears like this when shias were being slaughterd by saddam or saudi and uae finnaced pakistani terrorist groups why most here would expect shias to be sad when this pig is hannged.

You have the mindset of sunni/shia confrontation.If you check it was iraq fighting iran not shia fighting sunni.After the iran "revolution" Khomeini tried spreading the "revolution" to pakistani shias.The pakistan government counted by taking out all the pro iranians that just happed to be shia.Anti shia sentiment only really started in pakistan after the overthrow of the shah when Khomeini thought he would convert the loyalty of pakistanis shias to iran .As far as i can remember the shah of iran helped pakistan against india the "islamic" government of iran has never helped us but been more pro indian.
The zionist media is going to make the shias think that they have been oppressed by the sunnis.The zionist media talks off the shia crescent that will dominate the muslim lands.They keep reminding the shias that all the oil is under the feet of shia people but the sunni leaders keep the wealth to themself.
This sooner or later is going to lead to conflict in islam between shai/sunni.Once the civil war has happened and the muslims are weak then the zionist will step in and take control.
As far as i can recall the islamic government of iran has never attacked isreal.The sunni arabs have fought isreal on a number of times.


paa jee how many shia families couldnt celebrate eid during when your nawaz was in power in pakistan.bu ho ho u cant celebrate eid.

If you do not like pakistan move to iran nobody is stopping you.Celebrate eid there but please do check out how the Kufa/shia treat sunnis in iran and compare to pakistan.

i hate to tell u Khomeini was never under CIA protection.MAy i remind you of 1979 revelution i belive shah was a cia man.
As said over and over again saddam himself was a traitor he came to power with CIA help.so traitors are to be killed why is it any different for saddam.

Bro if you start insulting the saudis by calling them pigs do not be amazed when people start insulting the ayatollahs by calling them pigs
u obviously never been to saudi or any other Arab country. other wise i wouldnt have to tell ya how they treat BAKISTANIES there.May be to open your eyes go there then come back and we will discuss it again.saudies finnanced terrorist in paksitan that braught pakistan economy to Almost crash and we were about a week away from total financial disaster.IF same thing was done by indians you would have call for there head but it was wahabi terrorist it was kool is it.so As a proud PAkistani i will over and over call a pig a pig.they try to destabalize my country.before zia none of this garbade was in pakistan.

You have the mindset of sunni/shia confrontation.If you check it was iraq fighting iran not shia fighting sunni.
if it was iraq fighting iran would u like to tell us all why all the wahabi controlled countries supporting iraq with any means possible.or that was because iraqies were there cousins and they wanted to help out but if thats the case why same countries have provided all support to Americans to kill over 600,000 iraqies so far and now saddam why arent u crying for those civilians.or they werent important enough.

"islamic" government of iran has never helped us but been more pro indian. in what regards they have never helped you with.pro india u said eh would u like me to put up Arabs voting against pakistan in UN. would u like me to put up investment BY Arabs in india.give me 1 example where an arab state have given a statement in favour of pakistan for kashmere.

If you do not like pakistan move to iran nobody is stopping you.Celebrate eid there but please do check out how the Kufa/shia treat sunnis in iran and compare to pakistan

I beg your parden sir.so talking in against Arab leader killed by HIs masters (who hated pakistan and always always voted against pakistan and in favour of india.)if thats called Anti pakistan then yes iam Anti pakistan.but then lets take a look at you and paa jee.who didnt celebrate EID.cause saddam was killed.whats the love shown here for .he had nothing to do with pakistan.that makes u and ex ploticians son to be pro PAkistani then i guess i have nothing to say.but then what are you doing in pkaistan crying for a dic-tator installed by Americans on iraq and killed by Americans.shouldnt you move out of pakistan as clearly your loyalities are with Arabs.
I will keep living in MY pakistan.And working towards the better ment of MY country while u keep crying for Arabs while living in my country.
for your information after the creation of pakistan Almost all the Manufacturing plants installed in pakistan were shias.while jamate-islami was against the creation of pakistan so yeah shias are anti pakistan.:flag:

 

[TomCat111]

U.S. Questioned Iraq on the Rush to Hang Hussein

BAGHDAD, Dec. 31 — With his plain pine coffin strapped into an American military helicopter for a predawn journey across the desert, Saddam Hussein, the executed dictator who built a legend with his defiance of America, completed a turbulent passage into history on Sunday.

Like the helicopter trip, just about everything in the 24 hours that began with Mr. Hussein’s being taken to his execution from his cell in an American military detention center in the postmidnight chill of Saturday had a surreal and even cinematic quality.

Part of it was that the Americans, who turned him into a pariah and drove him from power, proved to be his unlikely benefactors in the face of Iraq’s new Shiite rulers who seemed bent on turning the execution and its aftermath into a new nightmare for the Sunni minority privileged under Mr. Hussein.

The 110-mile journey aboard a Black Hawk helicopter carried Mr. Hussein’s body to an American military base north of Tikrit, Camp Speicher, named for an American Navy pilot lost over Iraq in the first hours of the Persian Gulf war in 1991. From there, an Iraqi convoy carried him to Awja, the humble town beside the Tigris River that Mr. Hussein, in the chandeliered palaces that became his habitat as ruler, spoke of as emblematic of the miseries of his lonely and impoverished youth.

The American role extended beyond providing the helicopter that carried Mr. Hussein home. Iraqi and American officials who have discussed the intrigue and confusion that preceded the decision late on Friday to rush Mr. Hussein to the gallows have said that it was the Americans who questioned the political wisdom — and justice — of expediting the execution, in ways that required Prime Minister Nuri Kamal al-Maliki to override constitutional and religious precepts that might have assured Mr. Hussein a more dignified passage to his end.

The Americans’ concerns seem certain to have been heightened by what happened at the hanging, as evidenced in video recordings made just before Mr. Hussein fell through the gallows trapdoor at 6:10 a.m. on Saturday. A new video that appeared on the Internet late Saturday, apparently made by a witness with a camera cellphone, underscored the unruly, mocking atmosphere in the execution chamber.

This continued, on the video, through the actual hanging itself, with a shout of “The tyrant has fallen! May God curse him!” as Mr. Hussein hung lifeless, his neck snapped back and his glassy eyes open.

The cacophony from those gathered before the gallows included a shout of “Go to hell!” as the former ruler stood with the noose around his neck in the final moments, and his riposte, barely audible above the bedlam, which included the words “gallows of shame.” It continued despite appeals from an official-sounding voice, possibly Munir Haddad, the judge who presided at the hanging, saying, “Please no! The man is about to die.”

The Shiites who predominated at the hanging began a refrain at one point of “Moktada! Moktada! Moktada!”— the name of a volatile cleric whose private militia has spawned death squads that have made an indiscriminate industry of killing Sunnis — appending it to a Muslim imprecation for blessings on the Prophet Muhammad. “Moktada,” Mr. Hussein replied, smiling contemptuously. “Is this how real men behave?”

American officials in Iraq have been reluctant to say much publicly about the pell-mell nature of the hanging, apparently fearful of provoking recriminations in Washington, where the Bush administration adopted a hands-off posture, saying the timing of the execution was Iraq’s to decide.

While privately incensed at the dead-of-night rush to the gallows, the Americans here have been caught in the double bind that has ensnared them over much else about the Maliki government — frustrated at what they call the government’s failure to recognize its destructive behavior, but reluctant to speak out, or sometimes to act, for fear of undermining Mr. Maliki and worsening the situation.

But a narrative assembled from accounts by various American officials, and by Iraqis present at some of the crucial meetings between the two sides, shows that it was the Americans who counseled caution in the way the Iraqis carried out the hanging. The issues uppermost in the Americans’ minds, these officials said, were a provision in Iraq’s new Constitution that required the three-man presidency council to approve hangings, and a stipulation in a longstanding Iraqi law that no executions can be carried out during the Id al-Adha holiday, which began for Iraqi Sunnis on Saturday and Shiites on Sunday.

A senior Iraqi official said the Americans staked out their ground at a meeting on Thursday, 48 hours after an appeals court had upheld the death sentence passed on Mr. Hussein and two associates. They were convicted in November of crimes against humanity for the persecution of the Shiite townspeople of Dujail, north of Baghdad, in 1982. Mr. Hussein, as president, signed a decree to hang 148 men and teenage boys.

Told that Mr. Maliki wanted to carry out the death sentence on Mr. Hussein almost immediately, and not wait further into the 30-day deadline set by the appeals court, American officers at the Thursday meeting said that they would accept any decision but needed assurance that due process had been followed before relinquishing physical custody of Mr. Hussein.

“The Americans said that we have no issue in handing him over, but we need everything to be in accordance with the law,” the Iraqi official said. “We do not want to break the law.”

The American pressure sent Mr. Maliki and his aides into a frantic quest for legal workarounds, the Iraqi official said. The Americans told them they needed a decree from President Jalal Talabani, signed jointly by his two vice presidents, upholding the death sentence, and a letter from the chief judge of the Iraqi High Tribunal, the court that tried Mr. Hussein, certifying the verdict. But Mr. Talabani, a Kurd, made it known that he objected to the death penalty on principle.

The Maliki government spent much of Friday working on legal mechanisms to meet the American demands. From Mr. Talabani, they obtained a letter saying that while he would not sign a decree approving the hanging, he had no objections. The Iraqi official said Mr. Talabani first asked the tribunal’s judges for an opinion on whether the constitutional requirement for presidential approval applied to a death sentence handed down by the tribunal, a special court operating outside Iraq’s main judicial system. The judges said the requirement was void.

Mr. Maliki had one major obstacle: the Hussein-era law proscribing executions during the Id holiday. This remained unresolved until late Friday, the Iraqi official said. He said he attended a late-night dinner at the prime minister’s office at which American officers and Mr. Maliki’s officials debated the issue.

One participant described the meeting this way: “The Iraqis seemed quite frustrated, saying, ‘Who is going to execute him, anyway, you or us?’ The Americans replied by saying that obviously, it was the Iraqis who would carry out the hanging. So the Iraqis said, ‘This is our problem and we will handle the consequences. If there is any damage done, it is we who will be damaged, not you.’ ”

To this, the Iraqis added what has often been their trump card in tricky political situations: they telephoned officials of the marjaiya, the supreme religious body in Iraqi Shiism, composed of ayatollahs in the holy city of Najaf. The ayatollahs approved. Mr. Maliki, at a few minutes before midnight on Friday, then signed a letter to the justice minister, “to carry out the hanging until death.”

The Maliki letter sent Iraqi and American officials into a frenzy of activity. Fourteen Iraqi officials, including senior members of the Maliki government, were called at 1:30 a.m. on Saturday and told to gather at the prime minister’s office. At. 3:30 a.m., they were driven to the helicopter pad beside Mr. Hussein’s old Republican Palace, and taken to the prison in the northern suburb of Khadimiya where the hanging took place.

At about the same time, American and Iraqi officials said, Mr. Hussein was roused at his Camp Cropper cell 10 miles away, and taken to a Black Hawk helicopter for his journey to Khadimiya.

None of the Iraqi officials were able to explain why Mr. Maliki had been unwilling to allow the execution to wait. Nor would any explain why those who conducted it had allowed it to deteriorate into a sectarian free-for-all that had the effect, on the video recordings, of making Mr. Hussein, a mass murderer, appear dignified and restrained, and his executioners, representing Shiites who were his principal victims, seem like bullying street thugs.

But the explanation may have lain in something that Bassam al-Husseini, a Maliki aide closely involved in arrangements for the hanging, said to the BBC later. Mr. Husseini, who has American citizenship, described the hanging as “an Id gift to the Iraqi people.”

The weekend’s final disorderly chapter came with the tensions over Mr. Hussein’s body. For nearly 18 hours on Saturday, Mr. Maliki’s officials insisted that his corpse would be kept in secret government custody until circumstances allowed interment without his grave becoming a shrine or a target. Once again, the Americans intervened.

The leader of Mr. Hussein’s Albu-Nasir tribe, Sheik Ali al-Nida, said that before flying to Baghdad on an American helicopter, he had been so fearful for his safety that he had written a will. Bizarrely, Sheik Nida and others were shown on Iraqi television collecting the coffin from the courtyard in front of Mr. Maliki’s office, where it sat unceremoniously in a police pickup.

After the helicopter trip to Camp Speicher, the American base outside Tikrit, the coffin was taken in an Iraqi convoy to Awja, and laid to rest in the ornate visitors’ center that Mr. Hussein ordered built for the townspeople in the 1990s. Local officials and members of Mr. Hussein’s tribe had broken open the marbled floor in the main reception hall, and cleared what they said would be a temporary burial place until he could be moved to a permanent grave outside Awja where his two sons, Uday and Qusay, are buried.

At the burial, several mourners threw themselves on the closed casket. One, a young man convulsed with sobs, cried: “He has not died. I can hear him speaking to me.” Another shouted, “Saddam is dead! Instead of weeping for him, think of ways we can take revenge on the Iranian enemy,” Sunni parlance for the Shiites now in power.

 

[Neo]

Iraq govt to probe filming of Saddam hanging

By Mussab Al-Khairalla and Alastair Macdonald

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The Iraqi government launched an inquiry on Monday into how guards filmed and taunted Saddam Hussein on the gallows, turning his execution into a televised spectacle that has inflamed sectarian anger.

A senior Iraqi official told Reuters the U.S. ambassador tried to persuade Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki not to rush into hanging the former president just four days after his appeal was turned down, urging the government two wait another two weeks.

News of the ousted strongman's death on Saturday and of his treatment by officials of the Shi'ite-led government was blamed by one witness for sparking a prison riot among mainly Sunni Arab inmates at a jail near the northern city of Mosul.

An adviser to Maliki, Sami al-Askari, told Reuters: "There were a few guards who shouted slogans that were inappropriate and that's now the subject of a government investigation."

The government released video showing the hangman chatting to a composed Saddam as he placed the noose round his neck.

But mobile phone footage on the Web showed guards shouting "Go to hell!," chanting the name of a Shi'ite militia leader and exchanging insults with Saddam before he fell through the trap in mid-prayer and his body swung, broken-necked, on the rope.

Saddam's exiled eldest daughter and even some residents of Dujail, the Shi'ite town whose sufferings led to his conviction for crimes against humanity, joined mourning rituals for him, most of these concentrated among Sunni Arabs in Saddam's home region north of Baghdad where he was buried on Sunday.

Mourners continued to arrive at his native village of Awja, near Tikrit. His daughter Raghd, who helped finance his defense from her strictly supervised exile in Jordan, joined several hundred people in the capital Amman in a show of solidarity.

Iraqi troops and police rushed to Mosul's Padush prison to put down a riot after visitors broke news of Saddam's treatment. The governor said seven guards and three prisoners were injured although a visitor reported gunfire and the death of an inmate.

There has been no significant repeat of the series of car bombings that killed over 70 people in Shi'ite neighborhoods on Saturday within hours of the dawn execution, but the government and U.S. forces are on alert for the kind of sectarian violence that has pitched Iraq toward civil war since Saddam's overthrow.

The Interior Ministry ordered the closure of another Iraqi television channel, Sharkiya, accusing it of fomenting hatred. The channel, owned by a London-based businessman who was once an official under Saddam, continued broadcasting from Dubai.

The government has taken similar measures against several channels, all with perceived Sunni leanings.

BUSH STRATEGY

President Bush plans to unveil a new strategy this month after the 3,000th soldier to die in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion was killed just before New Year. At least 112 Americans died in December, the deadliest month for them in more than two years as they struggled to contain the bloodshed.

Two U.S. soldiers died in an explosion on Sunday northeast of Baghdad. U.S. forces said they killed six insurgents in a raid on a suspected al Qaeda safe house in Baghdad.

While Saddam's sentencing and then death brought muted responses from most Sunnis, many have been particularly angered by video showing supporters of Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr chanting "Moqtada, Moqtada, Moqtada!" at him.

"Is this what you call manhood?" Saddam told them in reply.

Maliki adviser Askari said the government would look into how guards in the execution chamber, once used by Saddam's own feared secret police, had smuggled in a mobile phone camera.

Askari said: "They have damaged the image of the Sadrists. That should not have happened. Before we went into the room we had an agreement that no one should bring a mobile phone."

U.S. forces had declined to give Saddam to Iraqis for fear of abuses of his prisoner's rights. They only agreed to hand him over for execution hours before the unannounced hanging.

A government official involved in the talks told Reuters, on condition of anonymity, that U.S. ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad had urged Maliki to wait another two weeks, until after the long Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha, and had insisted on a variety of documents including approval from Iraq's Kurdish president.

"The Americans wanted to delay the execution by 15 days because they weren't keen on having him executed straight away," he said. "But ... the prime minister's office provided all the documents they asked for and the Americans changed their minds when they saw the prime minister was very insistent."

A U.S. embassy spokesman declined immediate comment.

Senior Iraqi officials have forecast a limited New Year offensive by U.S.-led forces against Sadr's Mehdi Army. "There will be limited and targeted operations against members of the Mehdi Army," one senior Shi'ite official said.

(Additional reporting by Claudia Parsons and Ibon Villelabeitia in Baghdad)

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20070101/ts_nm/iraq_dc

 

[Cheetah786]

Multan - A young boy who tried to copy hanging scenes from the execution video of Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein died in central Pakistan, said police on Monday.

Mubashar Ali, 9, hanged himself, while re-enacting Hussein's hanging with the help of elder sister, 10, after tying a rope to a ceiling fan and his neck in his home in Rahim Yar Khan district on Sunday, said a local police official.

The father of the deceased boy said that his children had been watching the video of Saddam Hussein's execution on television and attempted to imitate the hanging as other family members thought they were playing in another room.

"My wife and sister rushed to rescue Mubashar when children cried for help from the adjoining room, but he died due to hanging," said Alamgir Paracha, father of Mubashar.

Police said that the death was accidental and a case of parental negligence.

"It was an accident which happened due to carelessness of parents," said district police chief Sultan Ahmad.

Images of the fallen Iraqi dictator with a strap around his neck, surrounded by executioners in balaclavas, were repeatedly telecast by Pakistani television channels at the weekend.

Commentators and the media across Europe had expressed shock and unease on Sunday at graphic television pictures showing the last moments of Hussein just before his execution.

 

[EagleEyes]

Thats why such things should not be shown on the TV.

Its totally unecessary to get the publicity like that.

 

[dabong1]

i hate to tell u Khomeini was never under CIA protection.MAy i remind you of 1979 revelution i belive shah was a cia man.
As said over and over again saddam himself was a traitor he came to power with CIA help.so traitors are to be killed why is it any different for saddam.

The french newspaper Le Monde reported in 1979 that Khomeini had been protected in France as part of a CIA back-up plan that in the event that the Shah of iran lost control in Iran.I can not find the link at the moment but i am sure if you did a search yourself you would find the story.
After Mossadegh's deposition the Shah took power and begin to rid the country of any opposition to his rule. Khomeini was exiled and took up residence in France where he lived on funds provided by the French intelligence services and the CIA, if the the need came to replace the shah the CIA preferred his Khomeini religious-based radicalism to that of the communists and socialists in Iran


u obviously never been to saudi or any other Arab country. other wise i wouldnt have to tell ya how they treat BAKISTANIES there.May be to open your eyes go there then come back and we will discuss it again.saudies finnanced terrorist in paksitan that braught pakistan economy to Almost crash and we were about a week away from total financial disaster.IF same thing was done by indians you would have call for there head but it was wahabi terrorist it was kool is it.so As a proud PAkistani i will over and over call a pig a pig.they try to destabalize my country.before zia none of this garbade was in pakistan.

No i have not been to saudi so i can not say.
The terrorists killing shias in pakistan are not saudis but pakistanis with government backing.
I agree on you point about zia.

if it was iraq fighting iran would u like to tell us all why all the wahabi controlled countries supporting iraq with any means possible.or that was because iraqies were there cousins and they wanted to help out


After the Iranian Revolution in 1979 Khomeini was threatening to export the Islamic revolution to the rest of the Middle East thinking that the Shias in Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Kuwait could follow Khomeini and turn against their governments.
I think you forgot to mention why libya a sunni arab nation backed and supplied iran with scuds and other weapons and also syria a sunni arab nation backed iran.
Saddam did think that that sunnis of Iran would prefer a sunni leader than remain under shia Iran but the sunnis of Iran turned against the Iraqi army.


In what regards they have never helped you with.pro india u said eh would u like me to put up Arabs voting against pakistan in UN. would u like me to put up investment BY Arabs in india.give me 1 example where an arab state have given a statement in favour of pakistan for kashmere.

I agree the saudis could stop oil shipments to india and expell the indian workforce as a way of putting pressure on the indians but i think caring about the ummah is pakistani thing.....but saying that the saudis did give a lot of money during the earthquake as well as supplying us cheap oil during nawaaz sanction era.The UAE was a great help during the sanctions when they played the 3rd party to pak military deals.


I beg your parden sir.so talking in against Arab leader killed by HIs masters (who hated pakistan and always always voted against pakistan and in favour of india.)if thats called Anti pakistan then yes iam Anti pakistan.but then lets take a look at you and paa jee.who didnt celebrate EID.cause saddam was killed.whats the love shown here for .he had nothing to do with pakistan.that makes u and ex ploticians son to be pro PAkistani then i guess i have nothing to say.but then what are you doing in pkaistan crying for a dic-tator installed by Americans on iraq and killed by Americans.shouldnt you move out of pakistan as clearly your loyalities are with Arabs.


If the american/zionist invaded for example pakistan or iran and then lynched musharraf or ahmadinejad i would be saddened.


for your information after the creation of pakistan Almost all the Manufacturing plants installed in pakistan were shias.while jamate-islami was against the creation of pakistan so yeah shias are anti pakistan.


I never said shias where anti pakistani what i said was that during Khomeini time a minority of pakistani shias where more loyal to iran then they where to pakistan. In the same way a small number of the mohajir or kashmiri community is pro indian or pathaans being more pro afghani then pro pakistani.

 

[Neo]

Thats why such things should not be shown on the TV.

Its totally unecessary to get the publicity like that.

I beg to differ webby.

Imho its parents responsibilty in the first place to protect children from overexposure.

 

[EagleEyes]

I beg to differ webby.

Imho its parents responsibilty in the first place to protect children from overexposure.

I second that, but i still think that these kind of things shouldn't be shown on the T.V. A leader getting hanged, totally unecessary. Parents are not always watching the children, and it is nearly impossible to keep an eye on the childrens. Childrens can get away with these things.

 

[Awesome]

aww man thats so wrong, so sad. Parental negligence. Can't blame this on television channels, parents should have shielded them from such images!

 

[Bull]

Well the sunni - shia divide would be widened.
poor muslims would be fighting against each other,sparing their "common enemy" the americans and the jews.

Look at Palestine-Fatah and Hamas are busy killing each other and the israelis are having fun watching it.

Look at Lebonon-Hozbullah vs the rest and Israelis are wondering.

Look at Iraq...Saudi backed Sunnis Vs Iran and Syria backed Shias...