Iraqi Official: Militias Hijacked Saddam's Execution

[StrictlyRockers]

http://news.scotsman.com/international.cfm?id=15732007

Militias hijacked Saddam's execution, claims government official
International
Thu 4 Jan 2007


SADDAM Hussein was hanged by "militias and outsiders" who infiltrated the execution chamber, an official claimed yesterday.

He said the hanging was meant to be carried out by executioners employed by the interior ministry but that "militias" had taken over instead.

"The execution was carried out by militias and outsiders. They put aside the team from the interior ministry that was supposed to carry it out," the official said.

The claim came as Iraqi investigators said a guard was being questioned in connection with the illicit filming of the former dictator's death.

<...>

So, how much difference is there between the "security forces" and the "militias"? Is there more overlap than we imagine? Do factions compete for control, even of judicial functions? The Iraqi government must not have complete control if they could not handle this execution in an orderly way.

In the south last week, the British bulldozed the "major crimes division", after determining that the major crimes division was in fact the local death squad. Are we determined to stay right in the middle of the mess no matter how many bullets are flying back and forth?

SR

[NastyRiffraff]

1. In other words...

there was zero security to prevent the "militias and outsiders" from taking over the hanging of a former head of state?

Yeah, Bush, things are going just great.

[Kagemusha]

2. Militias hijacked it.. and you let them.. this makes it better how?...

That's the question I would pose if I had the chance, anyway.

[larryepke]

3. Strictly bull!

Now that the execution has been totally botched, the puppet government is coming up with a Bush-like cover story!

Where are the Interior Ministry officials where were "put aside" and should at least have a few bruises?

They've learned somethings from the U.S. government.

[StrictlyRockers]

4. They are embarrassed badly and they are scrambling for a fig leaf.

And in so doing they are exposing futher their incompetence. Would you be all that surprised if you found that the puppet government of an inept adminsitration turned out also to be totally inept? Either way you slice it, it does NOT inspire confidence. Either these guys are lying, or incompetent, or corrupt or some combination of the three.

SR

[Say_What]

11. The US made them the scapegoat. They're just passing it on... the blame game...n/t

[bullimiami]

5. oh bologna. it was on an american base under american control.

they knew who was there.

[architect359]

6. Not quite American any more

"American military officials have attempted to better the situation at Camp Justice by taking a more active role in the training and observation of Iraqi forces' treatment of prisoners and cases of detainee abuse have reportedly lowered. However, Camp Justice is still an Iraqi facility and the Americans can only watch so much."

From this site: http://www.globalsecurity.org/military/world/iraq/baghdad-kazimiya.htm, posted in another thread elsewhere in DU GD. However, I don't know exactly when this article was written and there doesn't seem to be much info on this camp.

I'm more of the opinion that the situation is more chaotic than they let on.

[Tempest]

8. It was an all-American production

Saddam was transferred to Camp Justice by American forces.

The execution was held on an American controlled base.

Saddam was handed over to the Iraqis by American forces just minutes before the execution.

American forces patted down the Iraqi officials and confiscated their cameras and mobile phones.

After the execution Saddam's body was placed under American forces control.

Saddam's body was transported to the burial site by American forces.

[cui bono]

13. I only heard about it being on an American base on Randi's show yesterday...

did any American press ever say that? That's incredible to me.

[IowaGuy]

14. heard the same thing...

was some talking head on NBC as I was headed out the door yesterday morning. I haven't been able to verify beyond that one random statement. If so, that was an incredibly stupid move...even more so than the Abu Gahraib issue. How far up your ass does your head have to be before you could not see that would not be a good idea?

[Tempest]

19. Everything can be verified

You can verify everything by reading the reports with interviews from the Iraqi officials and from U.S. military confirmation.

[StrictlyRockers]

7. I'm not so sure. They claimed they handed him over to Iraqi control.

I didn't follow the show that closely. So I could be wrong about details.

It seemed like they wanted to keep US involvement at some distance from the actual execution. I also heard a conflicting report that they had decided at the last minute to maintain control over Mr. Hussein until the end. So, I am not sure who had control and how much control US or Iraqi forces had over the site and the execution.

I'm also not certain, even if it was a US base, that they would know everything going on there once (if) he was handed over. Could they be sure that the Iraqi "security forces" had not been infiltrated? Also, it is harder to maintain distance from responsibility for executing a head of state if they carried it out on a US base.

Everyone in the short bit of the video I watched had ski-masks on. I could not tell if they were American or Iraqi.

I agree with your sentiment that the story stretches credulity, for me at least. I find it interesting that everyone wants to point fingers, pass the buck and say "not me" now.

SR

[rodeodance]

9. my gawd. is this for real?

[Say_What]

10. Fuck. I suppose when they execute the brothers we'll have to see that on tv ad nauseum..

like we did Saddam. More shining examples of what to see on the internet/tv so more kids in the USSA can hang themselves and the sick fuck retailers can make 'gallows toys'. I'm gonna :puke:

Sick, sick fucks--us and them.

[Say_What]

12. Race to the gallows: Behind the shabby trial and execution of Saddam Hussein

Race to the gallows:

<clips>

If there is one thing one would have thought the United States and its local allies in Iraq could get right it would be dealing with Saddam Hussein. The copious evidence documenting the dictator's crimes against humanity, including mass murder and the waging of wars of aggression against Iran and Kuwait , provided an ideal opportunity for an exemplary exercise in the rule of law. Instead, like everything else involving the U.S. misadventure in Iraq , the trial and execution of Saddam Hussein was a botched, shabby, affair that is more likely to generate violence and division than to serve as a shining example of justice.

What went wrong with Saddam's case is a microcosm of what is wrong with the American intervention in Iraq . The same unilateralism and contempt for international law and world opinion that led the Bush administration to defy the UN Security Council and wage an illegal war also set the stage for the debacle that the Saddam trial became. It was what motivated the rejection of an international tribunal as the proper venue for trying a former head of state accused of crimes of historical proportions and international dimensions. Instead, in order to maintain absolute control and to be able to impose the death penalty, which would have been precluded in a trail involving an international court, the United States and its Iraqi allies engineered the creation of an Iraqi tribunal to try the former dictator.

The credibility of such a court, organized under occupation by a government with dubious legitimacy, a government which itself is the product of an unlawful war, is limited at best. The conduct of the trial and the climate surrounding it, marked as it was by the murder of defense attorneys, the replacement of judges, and an atmosphere that at times seemed on the verge of descending into chaos and farce, decreased the credibility of the proceedings even further.

Moreover, the charges that ultimately led to the conviction and execution of Saddam involved crimes that pale in comparison to the former Iraqi ruler's many truly heinous acts. As a result, there will be no opportunity for justice and closure regarding the gassing of the Kurds, the aggression against Iran that resulted in more than a million deaths, the invasion of Kuwait , or many other crimes much worse than those of which Saddam was found guilty.

This makes clear that justice was never the main point; the point was to get rid of Saddam--quickly and without having to acknowledge the complicity of past U.S. administrations with the Saddam regime at the time it was committing its worse atrocities.

http://www.progresoweekly.com/index.php?progreso=Max_Castro&otherweek=1167890400

[earlybelle]

15. So what? Maliki still lied about the execution. He never thought the public would

be able to see what actually happened.

[LynnTheDem]

16. Gee, Iraq is such a "successful democracy".

What a total incredible absolute fuck-up.

Yeah yer going down in history, bush. Ain't no doubt of that.

Biggest fuck-up by the biggest fuck-up.

Ever.

[IndianaGreen]

17. Is this the Iraqi version of "it's Clinton's fault"?

Those "militias" are an integral part of Maliki's government, a man that owes his current job to al-Sadr.

[C_U_L8R]

18. Wasn't the execution on a US Army base?

and how is it not 100% under US control ???