Posted on 12/31/2006 9:21:11 PM PST by Aussie Dasher
Hundreds of mourners have flocked to Saddam Hussein's tomb in his home village in northern Iraq, where he was buried after being hanged for crimes against humanity.
In an outpouring of grief and anger from Saddam's fellow Sunni Arabs, mourners knelt and prayed by his tomb, over which the Iraqi flag had been draped.
Many have vowed revenge against Americans soldiers and the Shiite-led Government of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
More than 1,000 Palestinians have demonstrated in Jenin in the northern West Bank in response to the execution.
Demonstrators carried pictures of Saddam and chanted slogans against Iran, the United States and Israel in a rally instigated by Palestinian president Mahmoud Abbas's Fatah party.
In the southern city of Hebron, masked men sprayed gunfire into the air while brandishing Saddam portraits.
Some 200 Palestinians demonstrated in the West Bank town of Bethlehem.
However the Iraqi Government has insisted the execution was about justice and not revenge.
A presidential adviser, Giwa Osman, was speaking after a video appeared on the Internet detailing Saddam's last moments as he was led to the gallows.
The unofficial video, apparently taken on a mobile phone, features voices chanting the name of Moqtar al Sadr, the prominent Shia cleric and militia leader whose father was killed by Saddam's agents.
The video shows Shiite officials taunting him as he stood on the gallows on Saturday, including one who shouts "Go to hell!"
Saddam is recorded answering their taunts by questioning their bravery as Arabs.
Mr Osman says Government members were not involved in the exchange of insults.
"We don't quite know who was shouting at Saddam or with whom he was exchanging the insults," he said.
"But I do not think it was any members of the Government who were doing this."
Mr Osman says the Government regrets the emergence of the video.
"I think it was unfortunate that this video came out," he said.
"I don't think it was the intention of anyone who was in the Government or the judiciary to have such pictures out because this trial is about justice.
"It is about somebody who committed crimes against the people of Iraq and has received the justice he denied the people of Iraq."
Tikrit Free Fire Zone Open now.
It was "thousands" in an earlier report. I guess the boys and girls in the "media" are starting to get a grip on reality again. It'll be "dozens" tomorrow.
Gee freakin Whiz Hundreds? More people in my neighborhood. Why is this NEWS?
How quick that some Iraqis are to forget the horrific deeds of their former dictator.
I hope that this group is only a small minority of the population over there.
The last story on FR said "thousands." So how many flocked to his grave, dozens?
Nah, the other 900 were pissing on the grave. Only 100 mourning.
Half of them US Democrats
Two blokes, a transvestite, and a three-legged dog!
If you need to whiz, there's no better spot.
1. He was not hanged for "crimes against humanity". He was hanged for his specific role and actions in the murders of certain specific individuals/groups of his own citizens. These commentators are desperate to characterize everything as being under the purview and jurisdiction of their "international law" BS.
2. This burial policy will prove over time to have been another mistake. He should have been buried in an unmarked grave in an undisclosed location, at least for now.
Appropriate terminology for a bunch of sheep!
Happy New Year, AD!
Happy New Year to you too, JC!
You're right on both points.
I wonder why they burried this devil.
They should have cremated him and spread his ashes somewhere out of reach.
Giving him a grave just gives crazy muslims another realize to blow up.
I hope they install a camera in the headstone, to record the identities of the mourners who come to pay their respects. ;)
Any Aussie Laborites there? Galloway, missed his flight, from London, Chomsky, from Boston, Clark, from New York? Where was Lurch, Coffee, Fat Boy, Conyers, Pelosi, and Hitlery, Bubba was in Canada with his main squeeze.
All I can think of is "why???"
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