Saddam's execution live from Baghdad

The Iraqis have launched an investigation into how Saddam Hussein's execution was filmed on a cameraphone and released to the world via the internet.

It seems that the 'spectators' at the execution were not banned from filming the event on any sort of recording device. The Iraqi government took no steps to see how Saddam was treated or if he was filmed and may have even permitted it, unofficially. Some reports say that those filming the execution on their phones were senior government officials.

Aside from the filming Saddam was also subjected to abuse from witnesses and this too was recorded on the footage. So bad was the shouting and abuse that prosecutor Munkith al-Faroon (an official witness as required by Iraqi law) threatened to leave the room, his leaving would have meant the hanging would have to be postponed. In the event, order was restored and Saddam was hung in the middle of his prayers.

However now that Saddam is fast becoming a martyr for Sunni supporters and that there is a back lash to the filming the Iraqi Government are launching an inquiry into the hows and whys of the filming and the abuse.

Far from bringing a bloody chapter to an end, the execution coupled with the abuse heaped on the condemned Saddam and the filming and publication of it, have left Iraq even more divided than ever as Sunni's increasingly see the execution as an attack on them by the Shi'ites. The impossible is becoming the probable as Saddam is acquiring a status as a martyr to Shi'ite justice.

The bloodshed continues in Iraq, 2,000 people died in December, there are now 3,000 dead US soldiers since 2003 and the civilian death toll is nearing 60,000. Saddam's execution has done nothing to settle the situation and may yet spark off more blood shed as the divide between Sunni and Shi'ite stretches wider in the wake of the hanging of the dictator.

It would appear that violence will begat violence. Saddam's killing will only lead to more killing.

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