This is an archival story that predates current editorial management.
This archival content was written, edited, and published prior to LAist's acquisition by its current owner, Southern California Public Radio ("SCPR"). Content, such as language choice and subject matter, in archival articles therefore may not align with SCPR's current editorial standards. To learn more about those standards and why we make this distinction, please click here.
Whoever picked December 29th in the office Saddam Death Pool is about to have a happy new year indeed.
They found no weapons of mass destruction in his country, they found no ties between Iraq and 9/11, but in a few hours the tyrannical leader who used chemicals on his own people and authorized rape rooms will be hanged from the rope of justice.
Saddam, who was friendly with the US for many years of his rule, was found guilty of the slaughter of 148 people who were detained after a failed 1982 assignation in the northern Iraqi city of Dujail. Because Iraqi law prohibits executions during religious holidays, his execution was set for today after all of his appeals had run out.
Although the hanging won't be televised there are reports that there will be some "proof" once he is killed.
And according to the AP, Huessein won't die alone:
Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, who also appealed in U.S. court, is expected to be executed along with Saddam. Also slated for execution is Barzan Ibrahim, Saddam's half brother and former intelligence chief. There had been disagreements among Iraqi officials in recent days as to whether Iraqi law dictates the execution must take place within 30 days and whether President Jalal Talabani and his two deputies had to approve it.
In his Friday sermon, a mosque preacher in the Shiite holy city of Najaf called Saddam's execution "God's gift to Iraqis."
"Oh, God, you know what Saddam has done! He killed millions of Iraqis in prisons, in wars with neighboring countries and he is responsible for mass graves," said Sheik Sadralddin al-Qubanji, a member of the Supreme Council for the Islamic Revolution in Iraq, known as SCIRI, a dominant party in al-Maliki's coalition. "Oh God, we ask you to take revenge on Saddam."
