Free Republic

Five Saddam-era officials, including two of the late dictator's half-brothers, will be executed within a month after being handed over to Iraqi authorities by the US military, Gulf News reported Friday. The group, transferred to Iraqi custody on Thursday morning, were among 206 high-value detainees still being held by American forces ahead of a US military pullout expected by the end of the year. "We received the final 206 Iraqi prisoners being held by US forces, including five senior officials from the former regime," said justice ministry spokesman Haidar al-Saadi. "They (the five officials) will be executed within one month....

Saddam's 3 Half Brothers Killed for Him .c The Associated Press Saddam Hussein has three half brothers from his mother's second marriage. They have been close to Saddam for most of the past three decades. Their willingness to kill and conspire for him, eliminating even members of their own extended clan, was one of the mainstays of the regime. BARZAN IBRAHIM HASAN, captured Thursday: The youngest of Saddam's half brothers at 53, he served as head of Iraq's secret police, the dreaded Mukhabarat, and as Iraqi ambassador to the United Nations in Geneva. In that position, he reportedly ran Iraq's...