"This is government by revenge. Saddam Hussein is our leader and now he is a martyr of history. We will turn ourselves into bombs to avenge him."

---Sabah al-Shamri, a former colonel in Saddam's Republican Guard,

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.

If you want to watch that clip you can visit Pull out the Pin who has a link to the execution footage there which allows you to watch the hanging of Saddam Hussein click here.

Perfection, of a kind, was what he was after,
And the poetry he invented was easy to understand;
He knew human folly like the back of his hand,
And was greatly interested in armies and fleets;
When he laughed, respectable senators burst with laughter,
And when he cried the little children died on the streets.


W.H. Auden.

I have to thank Pull out the Pin for reminding me of the poem. Read the post here.

Saddam Hussein is dead. Killed by his country for his crimes against his people, the Kurds, the Marsh Arabs and those others whom he killed at will.

It must be noted that for many years the US supplied Saddam with the weapons and chemical warfare agents that he used in these crimes.

Hanging the 69-year-old former dictator of Iraq solves nothing and only closes another chapter in Iraq's bloody history.

The violence will still go on and Iraqis, Americans, British and others will continue to die on the streets; victims of the hatred of others who have been allowed to rise to the top in the chaos following the invasion of Iraq.

Saddam Hussein should have been sent to rot in prison for the rest of his life. An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth is poor justice and only condones further violence as a means to an end.

Saddam is gone but the hatred he espoused towards others lives on.

"Long live great Iraq and its people.
Long live Palestine, free and Arab from the river to the sea.
God is greatest.
May the despicable ones be despised."

---Saddam Hussein, in his letter to the Iraqi people published just before his execution for crimes against humanity.

There is not much time left for Saddam Hussein as he has been handed over by the US to the Iraqi government for execution this evening. It is likely that he will be put to death this evening or tomorrow.

He has already said his goodbyes to his family. You can read Saddam's letter which he wrote when he was sentenced to die on this site.

It seems that Castro will live and Saddam will die.

Fidel Castro has been declared cancer free by the specialist flown out to him last week. Fidel may even return to power according to the Spanish doctor who examined him.

Saddam Hussein is to die following a court ruling in Iraq upholding the death penalty he received earlier in the year. He could be dead in 30 days.