Saddam the martyr..?
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U.S. on Saddam:"Would have done it differently" By Alastair Macdonald and Claudia Parsons
1 hour, 20 minutes ago
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - U.S. forces had no role in Saddam Hussein's hanging, but would have handled it differently, a U.S. general said on Wednesday as Iraqi authorities questioned a guard over a video of officials taunting him on the gallows.
National Security Adviser Mowaffaq al-Rubaie said a committee investigating who had illicitly filmed and leaked a video of the hanging was questioning one of the guards at the prison facility where Saddam was hanged at dawn on Saturday.
There were conflicting reports of whether Saddam's two co- defendants, including his half-brother, would be hanged on Thursday at dawn, but Rubaie said the date had not been set.
U.S. Major General William Caldwell urged the Iraqi government to reach out to disillusioned Sunni Arabs, who have warned that the execution and video are a blow to the Shi'ite- led government's efforts to foster national reconciliation.
Caldwell said U.S. forces, who had physical custody of Saddam for three years, left all security measures at Saddam's hanging, including access to the execution chamber, to Iraqis. Saddam was handed over at a holding cell nearby and U.S. forces then withdrew from the site where the hanging took place.
"Had we been physically in charge at that point we would have done things differently," Caldwell told a news conference.
"At this point the government of Iraq has the opportunity to take advantage of what has occurred and really reach out now in an attempt to bring more people back into the political process and bring the Sunnis back," he said, singling out a need to ease restrictions on former members of Saddam's Baath party.
"It's a real critical juncture."
SADDAM COURTEOUS
An unofficial video of the hanging, apparently filmed on a mobile phone, showed Shi'ite officials mocking Saddam just before he was hanged, inflaming sectarian passions in a country already on the brink of sectarian civil war.
"We had absolutely nothing to do with the facility where the execution took place," Caldwell said.
He said Saddam had been courteous to his captors and thanked the guards and medical personnel who cared for him.
Rubaie blamed the video on an people trying to raise tension. "Whoever leaked this video meant to harm national reconciliation and drive a wedge between Shi'ites and Sunnis," Rubaie, one of a group of 20 official witnesses at the hanging.
The Iraqi government is investigating how somebody filmed the hanging and released the video to TV stations and Web sites.
Sami al-Askari, a senior aide to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki, said a committee set up by the government was making inquiries and would hand a report to the prime minister once it had completed its investigation.
"The decision about a punishment will be made by the prime minister," Askari told Reuters.
Askari also said the date had not been set for the hanging of Barzan al-Tikriti, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief, and Awad al-Bander, a former chief judge, despite media reports they would hang on Thursday at dawn.
TIMING
The timing of Saddam's hanging, just four days after an appeal failed and on the first day of the Eid al-Adha religious holiday, shocked many, both in Iraq and in the rest of the Muslim world. U.S. officials sought to delay the hanging.
A senior U.S. official was quoted as saying Maliki was concerned that if Saddam was not hanged quickly he would somehow avoid the gallows. The official told the New York Times Maliki was worried insurgents would try to stop the hanging.
"His concern was security, and that ... maybe there would be a mass kidnapping to bargain for Saddam Hussein's release," the official said. "He was concerned that he might somehow get free."
Prosecutor Munkith al-Faroon, heard appealing for order on the video, told Reuters on Tuesday that two senior officials had filmed the hanging, challenging government claims guards did it.
On Wednesday, Faroon denied reports he had identified one of the officials as Rubaie.
Contacted by Reuters, Rubaie denied filming the hanging.
Rubaie confirmed that Iraqi officials had been concerned Saddam might escape justice if he was not hanged quickly.
"The question is not 'Why the rush in the execution?' The question is 'Why the delay?"' Rubaie said.
"The more the delay, the more protests and the more speculation. Some people were talking about the Americans, saying they might take him to one of these islands controlled by the United States and exile him there."
Thousands of Saddam's fellow Sunni Arabs have marched to vent anger at the execution in Sunni Arab strongholds. More mourners came to visit his grave in his home village of Awja on Wednesday, and other towns also saw further demonstrations.
In Falluja, in western Iraq, posters were plastered on walls promising revenge for the "martyr" Saddam. |
