Posted on 01/01/2007 1:34:34 PM PST by wagglebee
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.
Investigate "taunting" a mass murderer?
Yeah, that's a good use of resources.
Oh no the ICLU
I'm glad they rushed it through. I was worried someone on the inside would help him to escape.
"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."
I hope this is true, and not only a limited, but a broad offensive against Monkey's Army.
Translation: There really hasn't been as much sectarian violence as we at Reuters expected in order to make President Bush look bad. Therefore, we'll do our best to encourage it.
To be honest, I never thought it'd happen. If it weren't televised, no one would have believed it.
rooters...
Saddam...blah,blah,blah
Saddam...blah,blah,blah
3000 americans dead
december 2006 worst month in 2 years
Saddam...blah,blah,blah
Saddam...blah,blah,blah
Yep, al-Reuters is befuddled by the fact that the "Arab Street" hasn't "risen up" to avenge their beloved leader.
Or holding a raffle to see who got to spring the trap. Ten chances for ten bucks ...
When I first saw the "official" Iraqi government approved video that shows the noose going on him, but only his dead body later after that - my first thought was "This could easily be faked", I had some doubts as to whether he was really dead.
After I saw the second, unedited video - I felt much better about it, it convinced me he really was executed. I'm glad to know his last moments were not respectful & dignified.
Also, did Sadaam kill Al Sadr's father? I think there is a back story here that is not being discussed. Sadaam got what he deserved, less than what he deserved. The media is turning his victims into villains.
Hell,he was laughing and smoking a cigar while sending anyone he thought wasn't loyal enough outside to be shot during his purge.
Or just charge like twenty bucks to have your picture taken putting the noose around his neck.
Note to self: It is a breach of etiquette to taunt a despicable tyrant before he gets his neck stretched.
Saddam killed nearly all of Sadr's family and relatives.
Moqtada's father and three brothers were killed by Saddam's order in 1999. His father-in-law (Baqir al-Sadr) was slaughtered, along with his sister, by Saddam in 1980.
Don't get me wrong. I despise Moqtada al-Sadr like every other reasonable human. He is a criminal, a thug and an islamo-fascist. He is a threat to us and the New Iraq.
But he has a damned good reasons to hate Saddam.
I don't blame him for this, but I blame him for being our enemy.
Everyone's getting a lot of milage out of this joke, but it's not the issue at all.
We handed Saddam over to what appeared to be a Shia death squad, chanting the name of Muqtada al-Sadr. That reinforces the impression already held by many Iraqis, that their government is a Shia dominated shell, and the real power is the militias behind it. THAT is the issue, not Saddam's hurt feelings.
Doesn't help that those present for his hanging were chanting "Moqtada! Moqtada! Moqtada!"...
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