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Excerpt - BAGHDAD, Jan 15 (Reuters) - Two of Saddam Hussein's aides were hanged before dawn on Monday, the Iraqi government said, admitting that the head of his half-brother Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti was also ripped from his body during the execution. On the defensive after international uproar over sectarian taunts during the illicitly filmed hanging of the ousted president two weeks ago, government spokesman Ali al-Dabbagh insisted there was "no violation of procedure" during the executions of Barzan and former judge Awad Hamed al-Bander. But defence lawyers and politicians from Saddam's once dominant Sunni Arab minority expressed fury at the...

BAGHDAD, Iraq — Saddam Hussein's half brother and the former head of Iraq's Revolutionary Court were both hanged before dawn Monday, Prosecutor Munqith al-Faroon said, two weeks and two days after the former Iraqi dictator was executed in a chaotic scene that has drawn worldwide criticism.

The execution of the two co-defendants of Saddam Hussein deferred to Sunday BAGHDAD - the execution envisaged Thursday of the two co-defendants of Saddam Hussein, his half-brother Barzan Al-Tikriti, former chief of the Iraqi secret service and the former president of the revolutionary tribunal Awad Al-Bandar, was deferred to Sunday, according to a close relation of Iraqi the Prime Minister. "It is deferred to Sunday", indicated to AFP Baha Al-Araji, appointed Shiite close to the Prime Minister Nouri Al-Maliki. "Because of the international pressures and within the Arab world, the execution of Barzan Al-Tikriti and Awad Al-Bandar were deferred...

BAGHDAD, Jan 2 (Reuters) - Thousands of Sunni Arabs vented their anger on Tuesday over Saddam Hussein's execution as the Iraqi government promised an investigation into illicitly filmed footage of Shi'ite officials taunting him on the gallows. A court official said he nearly halted the hanging over the jeering, which has inflamed sectarian passions in a nation already on the brink of civil war. Data showed civilian deaths hit a new record in December and were over 12,000 in 2006. He also challenged government claims those who filmed the event were guards, saying they were senior officials. In the video,...

Saddam Hussein's trials and his march to the gallows were intended to be turning points in Iraq's history in which justice was delivered on behalf of hundreds of thousands of people killed by the dictator's brutal regime. But for many human-rights advocates and legal experts who followed the trials, Hussein's rapid conviction and execution instead left them with doubts about the emerging Iraqi government and the fairness of its judicial process. Hussein died on the gallows in Baghdad on Saturday, less than two months after an Iraqi court sentenced him to death for the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims in...

Later this evening, another video of the hanging popped up, this time being shown on Al-Jazeera and Arabiya, two Arabic TV channels based in the Gulf. The new video was of poor quality, was very jerky, and had clearly been shot on a cell phone or some similar device from below by one of the two dozen witnesses to the event. It also had sound. The picture it gave of Saddam’s last moments was very different from the edited, silent version that the Iraqi government had released earlier. There are five men in black face masks who are visible on...

The saga of Saddam's end—his capture, trial and execution—is a sad metaphor for America's occupation of Iraq. What might have gone right went so wrong. It is worth remembering that Saddam Hussein was not your run-of-the-mill dictator. He created one of the most brutal, corrupt and violent regimes in modern history, something akin to Stalin's Soviet Union, Mao's China or Kim Jong Il's North Korea. Whatever the strategic wisdom for the United States, deposing him began as something unquestionably good for Iraq. But soon the Bush administration dismissed the idea of trying Saddam under international law, or in a court...

Warning. This is the video. Click on the link above.

BAGHDAD, Dec 30 (Reuters) - The body of Saddam Hussein was taken to his home town of Tikrit after his execution on Saturday and tribal elders may bury him in his nearby native village of Awja overnight, a senior local cleric said. A defence lawyer and a senior Iraqi government official confirmed the plan for the ousted president to be buried in his home region, a bastion of the Sunni Arab insurgency against the U.S. occupation and the Shi'ite-led government. Saddam's sons Uday and Qusay were also buried in a family shrine at Awja after U.S. troops killed them in...

VATICAN CITY — The Vatican on Saturday denounced Saddam Hussein's execution as "tragic" and said it risked fueling revenge and new violence in Iraq. "An execution is always tragic news, reason for sadness, even in the case of a person who is guilty of grave crimes," the Holy See's spokesman, Rev. Federico Lombardi, said in a statement released by the Vatican press office. Earlier in the morning, Lombardi made similar comments on Vatican Radio. "The position of the Catholic Church — against the death penalty — has been reiterated many times," the spokesman said in the statement, referring to the...

MECCA, Saudi Arabia (Reuters) - Pilgrims in Mecca expressed outrage on Saturday that Iraqi authorities had chosen to execute former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein on a major religious holiday, saying it was an insult to Muslims. Sunni Arabs at the haj were shocked at Saddam's death which followed his conviction for crimes against humanity against Iraqi Shi'ites. Nawaf al-Harbi, a Saudi national speaking outside the Grand Mosque in Mecca, said Saddam's hanging during the Eid al-Adha, or Feast of the Sacrifice, was an insult to Muslims. "I don't want to believe it. Saddam cannot die. Is this the good news...

This morning's "Today" show characterized the execution of Saddam Hussein in generally negative terms. According to NBC reporter Richard Engel, reporting from Baghdad: "The Iraqi government is now going to great lengths to say that this execution was carried out with the utmost respect for human rights; that it was a very organized, precise event. However, interviews that we've conducted with witnesses, judges and other people who attended and followed all the proceedings say it was much more emotional and chaotic." Continued Engel: "The execution was primitive and vindictive. " Engel stated that the site of the execution was one...

Watch what this machine did to Saddam's victimsIt's safe to watch this video. But think how this must have felt to a human being. Sometimes Saddam would have them thrown in head-first, but other times -- to increase the agony -- he would have them thrown in feet-first.Saddam deserves his fate.

Iraq urges calm ahead of Saddam verdict By CHRISTOPHER BODEEN, Associated Press Writer 38 minutes ago SNIP BAGHDAD, Iraq - Iraq's prime minister on Saturday urged his countrymen to accept the impending verdict against Saddam Hussein without violence, then in the next breath declared the former dictator must get "what he deserves" with the decision that could send him to the gallows.