Zoidmeister wrote:I believe he is dead as well but...
The only curious thing about the video was the fact that it almost appeared to be more like a "posse" hanging rather than an official government decreed hanging. I suppose there were American witnesses to the hanging but none are mentioned in the press release.
I would have expected more of an official setting with more government observers etc etc. Prisoners in the U.S. are executed with more officials present than it appears Saddam was.
Ahh well.
The whole thing was somewhat unofficial. At one point, there was some worry, because the president of Iraq is against capitol punishment, and some people thought it would be overridden by him.
He didn't, but chances are, people steered clear of involving any agency he is responsible for.
On top of that, the reason no Americans were there is simple, even if it was just one American standing in the corner, if that got leaked, it would be spun into the Americans forcing the execution, or influencing it.
Add to that the general newness of the Iraq police force, they really don't have procedures for anything like this. My guess is what happened is that the Americans turned Saddam over to the Iraqis, and some mid-level bureaucrat or official took it upon himself to carry this thing out.
To me, it's just another sign of the level of organization the Iraqis are currently at, and the fact that it doesn't look like America can pull out of there anytime soon without the whole thing spiralling into a mess.