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BREAKING NEWS
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Updated: 13 minutes ago


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BAGHDAD, Iraq - Three years after he was hauled from a hole in the ground by pursuing U.S. forces, Saddam Hussein was hanged Saturday under a sentence imposed by an Iraqi court, an Iraqi official told NBC News.

The deposed president was found guilty over the killing of 148 members of the Shiite population of the town of Dujail after militants tried to assassinate him there in 1982, during Iraq’s war with Shiite Iran.

Asked if Saddam were dead, the official in the Iraqi prime minister's office said, “Yes, the body of Saddam Hussein is in front of me.”

Iraq's Deputy Foreign Minister Labeed Abbawi confirmed the execution to the BBC. Al-Arabiya reported that Saddam's half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bander, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, were also executed iin connection with the Dujail killings.

NBC News reported that gunfire, presumably celebratory, could be heard in Baghdad after the executions.

The official witnesses to the execution gathered Friday in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in final preparation for the hanging, as state television broadcast footage of his regime’s atrocities.

The Pentagon said U.S. forces, always on high alert in Iraq, were braced for any upsurge in violence from Sunni insurgents loyal to Saddam.

A U.S. judge refused late Friday to stop the execution, rejecting a last-minute court challenge by the former Iraqi president.

"Petitioner Hussein's application for immediate, temporary stay of execution is denied," U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly said in Washington after a hearing over the telephone with attorneys.


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/<br><br>Post edited by: Nadia, at: 2006/12/30 00:12

I have very mixed emotions about the whole thing... I don't know what to think... On the one hand it's good that he was ousted... and most of the neighboring countries were glad that he was out of power! It was at an incredibly high price.. especially for the citizen's of Iraq...

It's a major mess there..

I heard they were going to film it.(the hanging).. Part of me wonders if it is not beyond the possibility that the hanging was a ploy to get him out of U.S. custody... and pull some sort of switch to free Saddam..

Maybe that's too thick of a plot... But seems very surprising that he was executed so quickly.. Was he ever convicted when he gassed the Kurds? he was supposedly hung because of his crimes against the Shiites.


I just have a sick feeling in my stomach.. and it's not joy...

Somehow, I just don't feel right about it.. I guess it will depend on what ramifications occurr because of the execution. Either Iraq might be able to really get on track with Saddam's regime totally humiliated... or the people will be outraged and blame the U.S. and then the U.S. might have heck to pay... More so than we already are.

I'd appreciate hearing other's views here.. I've just got a very uneasy feeling about it all.

The Iraqi government decided that they needed to video tape the execution and release photos of his corpse. The Iraqi people need those photographs and &quot;proof&quot; of his death before they will believe. This was proven with Saddam's son's death. I know some people personally that thinks it's barbaric... but it's a different world over there. It's what they need.. not what we think is better.

He was hung for his crimes against the Shite Village of Dujail. The trial for the genocide of the Kurds will continue esp because there are co-defendants that still need to be tried.

As far as the quickness of execution... naturally there will be conspiracies of it but Iraqi law says that a convicted person must be executed within 30 days of an appeal (if the verdict is upheld)... There are several reasons. Also the US wanted his execution to be treated without humilitation. Americans were not part of the witnesses.

I also have mixed thoughts on this... The pros and cons... the ramification to the Iraqi people.

Yes, there could be ramifications...........but then again, there could be ramifications for every action taken.

I am glad he's gone, but in the sense that I wish all those in power who are responsible for such horrible murders were gone!!

I do wish we had swifter justice in our country! I know 30 days is quick.....and maybe we'd need to balance that out and not be so quick about it. But 20 years on Death Row with umpteen appeals is too extreme the other way!!

I tuned in last night at 10:00 PM to make sure they went through with the execution. I like the idea of swift justice for people on Death Row... I hate the idea of using taxpayers money to support the appeals process for 20 years... as well as the cost of housing them in prison. Balance is the key... a panel of judges to carefully review the process and if it warrants additional time... okay... if not... off with their head... LOL... to a serious issue.

Flipping through channels last night , I paused on a news channel, where the &quot;blurb&quot; was &quot;awaiting pictures of Saddam's hanging.&quot;
The first thought that came to my mind was....what have we come to?&quot; I did not hang around to find out.