[Allegra]

Wonder if that's why Allegra stopped posting? Maybe we're going to get an eyewitness report??

Oh, they wouldn't allow civilian contractors anywhere near the execution site.

They'll lock it down...it'll probably be a bit of a madhouse around wherever they're going to hang Saddam.

[CougarGA7]

Let us know if you hear anything.

[txrangerette]

Welcome, Allegra!

Is this your first post on the Saddam Hanging thread?

I confess I haven't been able to read most of them...

[Ernest_at_the_Beach]

Lots of confusion with the media.....but that might be planned....from the BBC:

US denies Saddam handed to Iraqis

************************************

Friday, 29 December 2006, 18:46 GMT

US denies Saddam handed to Iraqis

Saddam Hussein: In US custody since he was caught in 2004

US officials have denied reports that former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has been transferred to Iraqi custody ahead of his execution.

Saddam Hussein's lawyers earlier said they had been notified of his handover to the Iraqi authorities.

This follows intense speculation about the timing of his execution, with some reports that it may be imminent.

Details have not been made public and may be revealed only afterwards to avoid civil disruption and unrest.

"There has been no change in his (Saddam Hussein's) status," US State Department spokesman Tom Casey said.

Saddam Hussein could be hanged at any time over the next four weeks, although one judge quoted by the Associated Press said he would die on Friday or Saturday.

A senior official from the state department told the BBC a diplomatic cable had been sent to all US embassies warning them to prepare for Saddam Hussein's execution within days.

US forces in Iraq are braced for any backlash following the execution, defence department officials said.

The BBC's Peter Greste in Baghdad says all the legal hurdles have now understood to have been cleared and that if anything is likely to hold up the execution, it would be administrative details.

An appeal against Saddam Hussein's execution for the killings of 148 Shias in Dujail in the 1980s failed earlier this week.

'Dignity of victims'

The former Iraqi leader has been in US military custody at Camp Cropper in Baghdad.

Earlier on Friday his lawyers said they had been asked to dispose of Saddam Hussein's personal effects. Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki said there would be no delay in carrying out the death sentence.

"No-one can oppose the decision to execute the criminal Saddam," Mr Maliki was quoted by AFP as saying.

"Those who reject the execution of Saddam are undermining the dignity of Iraq's martyrs."

Our Baghdad correspondent says the timing is significant: Mr Maliki has always said he wanted to see the former leader hanged before the end of the year, and Saturday is also the first day of the Muslim Eid festival, when most Iraqis will be at home.

Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death by an Iraqi court on 5 November after a lengthy trial.

A trial in a second case, genocide against Kurds, continues against him.

[bnelson44]

From http://hotair.com :

Update: It’s 2:48 and Fox just broke in to say, according to an unnamed Iraqi MP, the execution’s “imminent” and that he’s been handed over to them. Meanwhile, ABC News is hearing that it’ll happen over the weekend and that Saddam will remain in U.S. custody until it does. It’s got to be disinformation. I hope so, anyway — otherwise it means the military had to renege on their plan to transfer him, which can’t be good no matter what the explanation.

[sissyjane]

Let us know when the fireworks start!!!

[bnelson44]

Hey