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How significant is the capture of Saddam Hussein?  What is the latest in his trial? What happened to his sons?  What trials planned for other Iraqi leaders? What should we make of his hanging in December, 2006? Who else was executed in 2007 and 2008?

See the Washington Post special, in five sections, "The Trial of Saddam Hussein"
Also see "Saddam in Pictures" from the BBC, starting from Saddam as a teenager.

About nine months after the war began, Saddam Hussein was captured on December 13, 2003; details later in this section.

Before the war, a list of "Iraq's dirty dozen" predicted the most wanted Iraqis after the war.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/print/0,3858,4625976-110863,00.html

Bob Woodward's book of April 2004 told of the early bombing of Iraq before the 48 hour ultimate had elapsed in March 2003.  Around 4:30 in the morning CIA Director Tenet called the Situation Room and told the duty officer, "Tell the President we've got the son of a bitch."  He thought Saddam had been killed by U.S. bombings.

In mid-July, 2003 the CIA confirmed that an audio tape was indeed likely the voice of Hussein, calling on his people to keep fighting the occupation.  Another tape was released on July 16 and others in the fall. In early July Bremer announced a $25 million reward for Hussein, the same figure for Osama bin Laden. Bremer assumes Hussein is still alive and in Iraq. Many Iraqis "Fear Hussein Is Plotting Return to Power." and therefore may not be cooperating with the Americans out of this fear. 

The headlines all over the U.S. dramatically announced that Hussein's sons, Uday and Qusay, had been killed by U.S. troops in the northern city of Mosul on July 22. The New York Times lead editorial describes "The Brothers Grim."

See many details on Uday and Qusay, see "If Not Hussein" FAQ section.

On the news, President Bush said America and Iraq should be reassured, and commented, "The former regime is gone and will not be coming back." Others saw it as a morale booster. One expert described Hussein as being feared but his sons as being hated. The Post describes the "Wolf and Snake."  while NPR interviews a Newsday reporter who details their last days and the attempts to kill Hussein so far. During the war, the Pentagon released a card deck of 55 "most wanted" leaders of the regime.  By August, most had been killed or captured.

The lead Washington Post editorial, their first on Iraq in a week,  was entitled, "A Good Day in Iraq."  Clarence Page's Tribune commentary is "See what you want to believe in photos of Udai and Qusai."  while author Sandra Mackey wishes that the two sons were "better alive than dead." (NYTimes op-ed, 7/24

Journalist Peter Arnett won a Pulitzer Prize for his Vietnam coverage and led CNN's Gulf War coverage from Baghdad.  He reported in March 2005 that Uday was planning a "regime change" from his father.  Arnett was fired in March 2003 after granting a disputed interview about US progress to Iraqi state television. 

A tape allegedly of Hussein was released again in November.  Judging from comments by top U.S. officials, they then appeared to assume that Hussein was still alive.

In November we wondered it  Hussein could be put on trial.  In mid-December the Council agreed to set up a war crimes court system, led by Iraqis.  The UN would evidently not be part of the process. Leaders of Hussein's ruling party would be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A51049-2003Dec9?language=printer

President Bush proclaimed, "In the history of Iraq, a dark and painful era is over...A hopeful day has arrived.  All Iraqis can now come together and reject violence and build a new Iraq." The 43rd President added, "The terrorists in Iraq remain dangerous.  The work of our coalition remains difficult and will require further sacrifice.  Yet it should now be clear to all:  Iraq is on the path to freedom." 

How dramatic was the US capture?  In March of 2005 an ex-Marine was quoted in a Saudi paper as saying the Saddam "was actually captured the previous day in a modest home in a small village and not in a hole as announced."  Later on, Nadim Abou Rabeh added, "a military team fabricated the film of Saddam's capture in a hole, which was in fact a deserted well.   I have read no reaction to these accusations. Other reports were that the Kurds found and located him but let the US get the press coverage.

"How They Got Saddam" was a 2008 NPR piece detailed the capture, five years after the fact. Eric Maddox used non-violent interrogation techniques to find Saddam's whereabouts.

What did Saddam say to those who captured him? We only learned in January, 2008 (60 Minutes, 1/27/08), long after Saddam's hanging, that he was questioned for months by an American FBI agent. Saddam thought that the US would not actually invade but bomb, as in 1998, which he could withstand. On WMD, "it was critical that he was seen as still the strong, defiant Saddam. He though that [faking have WMD] would prevent the Iranian from re invading Iraq." Why did Saddam invade Kuwait in 1990? The FBI interviewer, George Piro, tells 60 Minutes that the Iraqi leader was "provoked by a swipe at Iraqi women in 1990 by Kuwaitis leader...who said, 'he would not stop'' flooding the world market with oil "until he turned every Iraqi woman into a $10 prostitute. And that really sealed it for [Hussein to invade Kuwait." I had never read this insult before anywhere in the press.

Reaction to the Hussein capture varied with emphasis.  All commentators I read were pleased that he was captured.  Some saw it as a turning point, and others stressed that capturing Hussein was not a primary rationale for the war. 

The Washington Post editorial was entitled "End of the Beginning."  They were pleased but saw future struggles ahead in Iraq.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A437-2003Dec14?language=printer

With the benefit of nearly two weeks of hindsight, intelligence experts mostly agreed that Hussein capture, and indeed, the war on Iraq, will do little to stem Al-Qaeda. Unfortunately, Americans probably are not any safer.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A30797-2003Dec25?language=printer

The New York Times opened its editorial "The Capture of a Dictator" with:  "The U.S. achieved its most important military objective in Iraq since the fall of Baghdad when it captured Saddam Hussein...The image [of bedraggled leader] was a tonic of relief...This man ranked with the world' most vicious dictators.  His crimes are monstrous."

Saddam's capture, in retrospect, gives us a sense for deep divisions in Iraq. An August 2007 Times report tells of the varied reaction to the capture by a Sunni and her Shitte friend. One was joyful and the other cried of sadness. Soon the two stopped talking.

Others paint with a broader brush to argue that Hussein's capture "does not vindicate the U.S. war policy."
http://www.commondreams.org/cgi-bin/print.cgi?file=/views03/1215-05.htm

When and where will his trial be?  We left wondering how or when Hussein would be put on trial. What if he divulges embarrassing information about his relationship with the U.S. before 1990?  

Also see "Saddam Trial Timeline" by the BBC.
See the Washington Post special, in five sections, "The Trial of Saddam Hussein"

Commented the NYTimes on December 17, "The trial of Saddam Hussein must do several things at once.  It must educate Iraq and the world about the nature of his regime, adhere to the highest international standards of fairness, and provide a mechanism for appropriate punishment.  The best way to achieve those goals is by creating a tribunal inside Iraq under UN authority., staffed by Iraqis and international judges and prosecutors.  This trial must make the details of Mr. Hussein's many crimes as widely knows as possible."  The editorial concluded, "If conducted wisely the trail...can help build a new, less fearful Iraq, where the rule of law prevails over the division of dictatorship."  

I began predicting in late December that a trial before the November 2004 Presidential election was doubtful because Hussein had too much "dirt" on Rumsfeld, Reagan, and others in the current administration.  The U.S. supported Hussein during the 1980s. For more History, see "History FAQ" section.

A detailed analysis the trial and the evidence appeared in the Post in "The Trial of Hussein:  Choosing the Evidence" looking at "the highest-profile war-crimes prosecution since Nuremberg."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A48220-2004Jan1?language=printer

The Post later produced "The Trial of Saddam Hussein" special., with timeline, photos, and video.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/custom/2005/10/18/CU2005101801150.html

Democrat Howard Dean remarked, "The capture of Saddam has not made America safer...the difficulties and tragedies we have faced in Iraq show the administration launched the war in the wrong way, at the wrong time, with inadequate planning, insufficient help and at extraordinary cost, so far of $166 billion."  Dean was criticized by nearly all of the other Democratic candidates for his "America is not safer" comment. The Washington Post concurred that the capture of Hussein and war against Iraq had not slowed al Qaeda.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A30797-2003Dec25.html
For more on Dean and other Democrats, see PS FAQ question #15.  

The polls showed a jump in those Americans believing "the war was going well"  from 45% to 52%.  Then, just days before Christmas, the national alert code moved to orange. 

Steve Chapman's (see "Should We/Columnists" for much more Chapman) "The hunters and the hunted" (12/18) opened, "Saddam Hussein was trapped in a tight, unpleasant space--angry but impotent, armed but no longer dangerous.  Though he might have been dreaming of triumphs, he was powerless to realize them.  Then the U.S. invaded Iraq." 

Charles Krauthammer (see "Should We/Columnists For War") responds to Dean by arguing "Why We Are Safer" in his January 9 Post commentary. Krauthammer looks at Libya and Pakistan and World War II to make his case against Dean.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A1986-2004Jan8?language=printer

Hussein seemed to disappear from the news in January and February of 2004, until the Red Cross visited him in late February.  The secret location was not disclosed. 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A60840-2004Feb21?language=printer

In March 2004 we heard reports of initial preparation's for Hussein's trial.  It seems questioning of the former leader has not providing much helpful information to the U.S.'s war or WMD search effort.

Also see "Saddam Trial Timeline" by the BBC.

"A Relentless Pursuit of Power" is a helpful and detailed overview of Hussein's demands for loyalty.  It also details his years before 1979.  http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A96-2003Dec14?language=printer

In June as the deadline for return of sovereignty approached, the U.S. considered handing over Saddam to the Iraqis.   This handover did take place and Hussein was part of a pre-trial hearing over the summer.  He refused to submit to the right of this court to try him.  In mid-August, the man appointed to be in charge of all the trials was given an arrest warrant on murder charges.  He is the nephew of Pentagon-favorite, Chalabi.  

In November 2004, Barry Levinson of the Baltimore Sun tried to make sense of Saddam's 'Exit Strategy.'  Did Saddam really think the U.S. wasn't going to attack?  He never thought the U.S. would attack because he knew he had no WMD and thought he was complying with the UN, Levinson argues.  "He got the message...It was a game.  It was political face-saving."  An invasion would be "too absurd...So if Bush Senior understood the dangers, reasoned Mr. Hussein, so would Bush Junior...A war was simply too illogical.  Too absurd.  But sometimes the absurd happens.  And that is how Saddam Hussein ended up in a hole in the ground with a rug and a fan." 
http://www.commondreams.org/views04/1123-20.htm

On the one year anniversary of Saddam's capture, Baghdad was struck by another deadly suicide car bomber.  This attack, near the U.S. green zone,  killed 10 and wounded 17.  
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A60606-2004Dec13.html

After 12 months in prison, Hussein first met with a lawyer.  The trial is still not expected to start until late 2005.  For months, it was not known where Saddam was being held.  I first read in early March that his location was Camp Cropper, near the Baghdad airport.  This is the location for 100 so-called "high value" detainees. 

Hearings for some of Saddam's associates began in mid-December, about five weeks before the elections. Among the first to appear was "Chemical Ali." 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A9960-2004Dec18?language=printer

In addition to Ali, former top aid and Tarik Aziz was able to meet with his lawyer after 20 month in captivity.  Aziz, a Christian, was called Michael Yohana until he entered politics.  He was the well known foreign minister during the first Gulf War of 1991.

The news of early March 2005 was that military tribunals would be trying some of Saddam's assistance for alleged "crimes against humanity."  The day after this announcement, though judges names are not made public, a tribunal judge was assassinated.   In Chicago that week the husband and mother of a judge were killed.  Such killings are common in Iraq. It was not clear why Saddam's trial had not began, 15 months after his capture. 

Some new charges included the 1982 response to a Shiite uprising.  As many as 1500 others spend years in prison though they were never charged or brought to trial.  143 others were brought to show trials and executed.  

In late April of 2005 news of Saddam surfaced again.  We learned that his legal team includes at least 22 lead lawyers and 1500 volunteers, appointed by Saddam's wife, Sajida.  The lead lawyers come from countries such as the US, France, Jordan, and Libya. 

News of Saddam in May was not very flattering.  Pictures of him in just his underwear appeared in the New York and London press.  The U.S. condemned the photos.  Saddam is officially being held by Iraqis not by Americans.

Also see "Saddam Trial Timeline" by the BBC.

The Saddam news of June 2005 was of his trial beginning in about two months.  We learned that he would face only 12 charges, from a list of 500 alleged crimes. This predictions was changed just a week later.  The trial has again been delayed.  The Tribune and Times (front-page story) highlighted some of the 14 major incidents on which he will be charged, chronologically:
--The forced exile of tens of thousands of Kurds to Iran starting in 1980;
--The 1982 massacre of more than 50-150 Shiites in Dujail, after a village resident tried to assassinate Hussein;
--The 1983 disappearance of 8000 Kurdish men and hundreds of children from the Barzani clan;
--The late 1980s Anfal campaign in which as many of 100,000 Kurds were killed or purged;  some of these graves have recently been excavated. A June 7 Times reports details the graves and evidence.  Also see "Saddam Hussein" pre-war FAQs.
--1988 chemical attack against Kurds of Halabja, resulting in 5000 killed;
--The 1990 invasion of Kuwait, which led to the first Gulf War.
--The aftermath of the war in which Shiites were brutally suppressed in Basra and throughout the south;

In July the trial story hit the front page of the papers, as Saddam was officially indicted on the Baath holiday of July 17.  The first crime he will be tried on is the murder of dozens of Shiites after a failed assassination attempt in 1982. 

Ahmad Chalabi, long-time exile and Pentagon favorite, upset the US administration again in late July when he dismissed nine senior staffers, including the chief investigative judge.  Chalabi did so because they were former Baath Party.  Last year Chalabi's nephew, was dismissed by Prime Minister Allawi as the tribunal' executive director.  One of Chalabi new allies is Moktada al-Sadr, the Shiite cleric who have fought US forces. Critics of the process have argued that the US should have agreed early to transfer the cases to the Hague courts, as was done for Bosnia and Serbia in the 1990s. For more on Chalabi, see pre-war FAQ "If not Hussein" Also see the cover story in the New York Times Magazine on Chalabi from November 5, 2006.

Iraqi President Talabani stepped in a few weeks later to say we would personally ensure the tribunal would be preserved. The President also hopes Saddam "should be executed 20 times."  The likely method is by hanging. Talabani announced that Saddam had confessed to the Anfal executions in Kurdish territories. 

On October 19, after long delays but as planned for a month, Saddam's trial began with seven co-defendants..  The 68 year old had been in prison for 22 months. Saddam was charged with the murder of hundreds in a Shiite town of Dujail in 1982.  The killings were in retaliations for an assassination attempt.  The prosecution is alleging that among those killed were 46 townspeople who died from torture before their death sentence could be carried out. There was a trial for those charged with assassination. On the first day, Saddam charged that the trial was not legitimate and he would refuse to answer questions.  The former dictator referred to himself as the current President of Iraq. Will he get a fair trial?  Some feel a international tribunal would have been more just and transparent.

See the Washington Post special, in five sections, "The Trial of Saddam Hussein"

After just three hours of opening statements, the trial was delayed for at least four weeks.  One of Saddam's lawyers was kidnapped and found executed.  Other lawyers were concerned for their well being. Another ambush occurred in early November.  Those killed connected to the courts has risen to eight. His lead lawyer is Khalil al-Dulaimi (at left) and the lead judge is Rizgar Mohammed Amin. 

Over the next few days 1100 Iraqi lawyers withdrew from Saddam's defense team. However, on November 24 we learned that they had agreed to end their boycott and accepted offers of protection.  Predictions were that the trial would last until at least the spring of 2006. 

Iraqi police say they uncovered a plot from Mr. al-Douri, a Hussein ally, to assassinate court's best known judge. The "1920s Revolution Brigades" planned to attack the courthouse. 

One of Saddam's five lawyers is Ramsey Clark, liberal activist and former Attorney General under President Lyndon Johnson in the '60s. Clark is now 77. As Johnson's attorney general, a drafted the Voting Rights Ac and the Civil Rights Act.

Veteran Times correspondent John Burns reported on Attorney Clark.   In the '90s, Clark opposed economic sanctions against Iraq.  Citing the need for a fair trail, Clark says, "If you don't do that historical truth will be distorted."  Clark was involved in the defense of Qaddafi, Milosevic, and Sheik Omar Abdel Rahman" in the first World Trade Center bombing.  The other foreigners on Saddam's defense team are from Qatar and Jordan. 

On December 7, Saddam refused to even show up to the court.  It appeared the trial would continue, at least in the short term, without him. Then, we learned that the trial would not start again until December 21 and that Saddam had been "excused" by the chief judge, Rizgar Muhammad Amin. 

The Washington Post editorial tried to capture the subtleties of the trial on December 12.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/10/AR2005121000939_pf.html

Charles Krauthammer wrote in the Tribune and Post that instead of Hussein's crimes being on trial, "have has succeed in putting the new regime on trial  The lead story of very court session has been his demeanor, his defiance his imperiousness."  See Krauthammer's pre-war pro-war views and his post-war thoughts.

The Washington Post editorial (12/11/05)suggests that focus should not be what the Western press emphasizes, Saddam's behavior and outbursts, but should note that Iraqis are mesmerized by the TV coverage.  What matters is that the interest in Iraq is high.  "The main purpose of this trial, after all, is not to impress Westerners but to achieve a cathartic effect within Iraq itself." 

Also see "Saddam Trial Timeline" by the BBC.

After the December 15, 2005  Iraqi election, Saddam's trial reconvened.  The prime defendant returned to the courtroom, calmer and less combative. This time a witness testified without their identity hidden.  The torture descriptions were difficult to even hear about. Saddam claimed that he had been beaten and tortured by US troops.  He claimed to have marks all over his body. "To hell with [President Bush] and his father" for the two wars American has launched against him, yelled Saddam. Another adjournment was announced until Jan. 24 after only seven total days of testimony. 

That week 24 ex-Hussein officials were released.  The most noteworthy were Dr. Taha ("Dr. Germ", left) and Dr. Ammash ("Mrs. Anthrax." ) Ammash was a doctoral graduate of the University of Missouri-Columbia. They were held at Camp Cropper detention center in the Baghdad Airport but "no longer posed a threat."  Dr. Taha was once among "the most wanted."

The release was delayed probably not to anger Shiites prior to the December 15 elections. About 15 former officials, previously released, have left the country. Many were part of the "deck of cards" of most wanted Iraqis. 

The Iraqi national security adviser vowed to re-arrest these two women and others. 

In the period leading up to the schedules resumption on January 24, the chief judge, Amin, a Kurd, resigned, citing that he was tired of the criticism. 

Delays continued in January 2006, over issues such as which judges would serve and who would be the chief judge. The new chief judge was to be Mr. Rahman. He is from the Kurdish town of Halabja, where the worst of the chemical attacks took place in 1988. Of the original panel of five, three have been replaced. Were these new judges "alternatives" who had heard all of the previous testimony?  

The trial resumed, once again, in the last days of January, with Saddam and others being forcefully dragged from the proceedings and testimony continuing without most of the defendants. The judge had warned them they would be removed. Saddam's half brother exclaimed that the court is "a daughter of adultery" before he was dragged out howling. Saddam walked out before he could be forcefully removed. It seemed Saddam's strategy was again to make it a "show trial." At one point, the entire defense team walked out in protest, only to be replaced by court-appointed defense attorneys. The judge decided not to call a recess to allow the defendants to hire new lawyers. Could the trail continue without the defendants or their attorneys present? The Times reported that such a trial "could be an embarrassment for the US government." 

After about two days of January testimony, the latest excuse for a delay until Feb. 13 was that witnesses needed to be notified.  Would Saddam be present in the trail when it resumed?  Would he lawyers be allowed to continue?

On February 13 Saddam did indeed return to his trial, shouting as he entered, "Down with Bush."  By early March, Saddam admitted taking the land of those accused as trying to assassinate him, but denies ordering the killings. A document was produced in court with what was alleged to be Saddam's signature on orders to execute 148 men and boys, some as young as 11.  This was the lead story in the Times

On March 15, the Ides of March, the former dictator officially testified for the first time.  He supported Sunni insurgents against the US occupation, saying, "You're defending your country against the occupation.  I want you to stick to your virtues, your faith, and your patience." As usual, he was reprimanded by the chief judge for lambasting the court.  Saddam urged Iraqis to stop sectarian violence. Interestingly, Saddam admitted to approving the death sentences of the 150 Shiites who he said were part of the plan to assassinate him. 

See the Washington Post special, in five sections, "The Trial of Saddam Hussein"

Following convictions for genocide in Rwanda and Yugoslavia, Saddam is the first Middle East ruler to be charged.  As the Times reports in their front page story, "Since the UN adopted the genocide connection in 1948, very few courts have charged defendants with genocide, the attempt to annihilate an ethnic, religious, national or political group in whole or in part."  The report wonders weather a guilty verdict in his initial charge would lead to a death sentence before the genocide charges begin to be adjudicated. 

The other news of April is whether Saddam signed the death sentences for those Shiites in the first part of his trial.  32 were said to be under the age of 18. The official charges are that Saddam secret police arrested hundreds of men, women and children; "tortured dozens to death; banished more than 300 others to years of exile in the desert; and ordered a vast acreage of date palm groves at Dujail plowed under."

Not until May 15, 2006 was Saddam back in the news, as his trial resumed.

Later that month long-time top aid Tariq Aziz appeared before the court to defend his former boss. Aziz said, "All over the world, even in Switzerland, if the president is subjected to an assassination attempt, he is compelled by law to take the necessary measures and arrest anyone who has any relationship with the attack."

The Saddam news from the summer of 2006 was that his penalty, if connected, would likely by hanging. Probably about 3 of his aides would also meet the same fate.

In mid-August the second trial began, where Saddam was charged with genocide in connection with the Anfal campaign against the Kurds in the late 1980s. Probably 180,000 Kurds were killed. These attacks involved the infamous chemical attacks. Saddam claims that Kurds will allied with Iran, who fought a war against Iraq during most of the '80s. He claimed local militias were allied with Iran. During this part of the trial, in mid-September, he vowed to "crush the heads of all the Zionists and their collaborators." In reaction to testimony against him, he added, "...I have noticed today that there were too many insults And when you put a lion in a cage, any coward can put a stick in the cage and frighten him."

The late September 2006 trial news, most shocking, was the chief judge saying, "You were not a dictator...It was the people surrounding you who made a dictator of you you." Just a few days later, the Iraqi Prime Minister fired this judge and replaced him with his assistant. The judge was accused of bias. Human rights advocates criticized the move as improper political interference. For instance, Human Rights Watch concluded that the firing undermined the credibility of the court and, according to a Times report, "might send a message to other judges that displeasing the government may lead to dismissal."

The new chief judge, also a Shiite, is al-Uraibi. He threw Hussein out of the court on his first day behind the bench

A Times editorial wished the judge had not said the dictator words but "judges sometimes say stupid things. And Mr. Hussein is not on trial for being a dictator. He is on trial for genocide." Even the Tribune worried about the fairness of the trial, ending an editorial focusing on the US goal of democracy and the rule of law. "That means Hussein deserves to see the evidence against him and respond to the charges. If he was using a press pass as a cover to help terrorists, bring that out in a fair trial. Otherwise, free him."

In late September, with a show of free speech, 3000 pro-Saddam protestors demonstrated outside a mosque in Tikrit, demanding his return to power.

The chief prosecutor had his brother murdered in mid-October. He was shot in his home in front of his wife. That day Saddam proclaimed, "Fighting the invaders, is a right and a duty...I call upon you my brothers and comrades...to embrace righteousness and justice in your jihad."

Saddam was found guilty on November 5, 2006 and sentenced to death by hanging. The verdict will automatically be appealed, by a nine judge panel, which should take 1-2 months. Early predictions are that Saddam will be executed in February 2007, at infamous Abu Ghraib prison, which the US recently vacated. Will the hanging to public and/or televised? Saddam was found guilty of "murder and crimes against humanity" not for the Kurdish chemical weapons (still pending) but for the killings of 150 Shiites in Dujail in 1982. While in the village, Saddam's motorcade had been fired on, in an assassination attempt, by no more than 10 men. Most of the gunmen were killed immediately. Saddam claimed that the assasins were backed by Iran and that a crackdown was necessary because his country was at war with Iraq.

Of the eight defendants, two were to be hung, his half brother, Barzan Ibrahim Hasan al-Tikriti and Awad al-Bandar, President of Saddam's revolutioary court. Hussein is now 69. He did not express remorse, even at mass killings of womena and children. Shouted Saddam, ever defiant, "Long live the poeple! Long live the nation! Down with the occupiers! Down with the spies!" He mocked the chief judge, Mr. Rahman: "Go to hell, you and the court!"

Saddam also asked Iraqi factions to reconcile, recalling how the Prophet Muhammad and Jesus showed forgiveness for their enemies. "I call upon all Iraqis, Arab and Kurds, to fogive, reconcile, and shake hands." Saddam is a Sunni Arab.

Reaction to the verdict in Iraq was as expected. Shiites were jubilant, breaking a curfew. Sunnis were generally upset. Some Kurds were upset because the part of his trial his killing of Kurds will not get completed. Wrote one as a Times op-ed, execution is an act of justice but the timing is bad. "His greatest crimes" were the "Anfal campaign" of the late 1980s against the Kurds, "the genocidal assault on the Marsh Arabs in the 190s, and the slaughtering of the Shiite Arabs and Kurds who rose up against him, with American encouragement, in 1991" at the end of the Persian Gulf War. Thus, Saddam did not "confront the full horror of his crimes...Will we ever know what really happened?"

Reaction in the White House included positive pre-election comments from President Bush speaking of justice for Iraqis. He labeled the verdict "a landmark event" in Iraq's progress toward democracy. Speaking two days before the US election, he sought to rally Republicans on national security. "Saddam Hussein's trail is a milestone in the Iraqi people's efforts to replace the rule of a tyrant with the rule of law."

Reaction in the press came from many areas, including Robert Fisk from Britain, and his criticism of the war, in "This Was a Guilty Verdict on America As Well." Fisk writes that our one-time ally "has been sentenced to death for war crimes he committed [1980s] when he was Washington's best friend in the Arab world. America knew all about his atrocities and even supplied the gas--along with the British, of course--yet there we were yesterday declaring it to be, in the White House's words, another 'great day for Iraq.'"

Former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a self-described pacifist, labeled the trial "palpably unfair" and "egregiously vindictive."

The Tribune reminds readers, during these months of violence and debate what was accomplished in 2003: "the overthrow of a mass murderer." His trial "is a stirring accomplishment for this fledgling democracy." The lead editorial concludes, "Iraqis have waited for justice. Now they have it. The debate about the conduct of the Iraq war will go on. But there can no doubt that it ended the reign of one of the world's most vicious, brutal men."

Anne Applebaum, writing in the Washington Post, concludes her reaction to the verdict on a positive note: "For the first time, an Arab dictator was held accountable for crimes against his people."

Norman Solomon wanted to also condemns Saddam's "co-conspirator, Donald Rumsfeld.

Howard Dean, candidate for President in 2004, had said upon Saddam's capture that Americans were not any safer. He received much criticism for those comments in 2003. Now he feels it is "a great verdict" because he is "a war criminal, and he's getting what he deserves...But I don't think it has any impact on the safety of America."

A New York Times editorial realizes that Saddam's "horrendous crimes deserve exemplary punishment" and his trial was more fair than under his own courts. Yet, "Iraq got neither the full justice nor the full fairness it deserved" because politicians "regularly tried to influence the outcome, judges were not allowed to rule impartially.." Another editorial speaks of "the rush" to hang. Guilty of crimes against humanity, what really matters was whether hope can come from the trial. A careful, fair trial "could have helped undo some of the damage...It could have, but it didn't" The trial was "flawed, politicized, and divisive...Toppling Saddam Hussein did not authomatically create a new and better Iraq. Executing him won't either."

Experts would have preferred an international court, but the judges tried to make a fair trial. The trial lasted over one year and needs to be seen as fair to help US image. Three defense lawyers were assassinated and the first judge resigned in January. The last judge, Rahman, allowed evidence that had not been shown to the defense and was much less tolerant of Saddam's outbursts. Iraqi judges were given advise by American lawyers.

Also see detailed FAQ on Rumsfeld.
Also see "Saddam in Pictures" from the BBC, starting from Saddam as a teenager.

Who will hang Saddam? An adviser to the Prime Minister said there are many applicants because "so many people want revenge for the loss of their loved ones." Officials considered a public hanging in a stadium seating tens of thousands, which "might satisy a communal need for closure" but they reject it due to security and attacks. He will likely be hung at US Camp Cropper. Between 50-100 Iraqis have been hanged since August 2004. A steel trap door opens and the victims fall through, with the process recorded with camera and video. In previous hanging, use of an old rope led some to take 8 minutes to die. Saddam has requested a firing squad, arguing that this is used for soldiers, and he was leader of the Iraqi forces.

Saddam Hussein was hung early on December 29, 2006. Even in death, he was controversial. He was turned over to the Iraqis by the Americans, despite American reservations. A video made from a cell phone showed Saddam with the noose tied around his neck, waiting to be dropped. US TV networks did not show the parts after he was dropped to his death.

As the Times reported, "It was supposed to be a formal and solemn proceeding carried out by a dispassionate state" but it became "cruel theater." In the last minutes of his life, he was taunted by unruly and mocking Shiites guards charged with keeping order with chants of "Moktada Sadr" and yelled at to "go to hell." Saddam' prosecutor, present at the hanging, was heard to say, "Please, no. The man is about to be executed." On one video I saw, his last words were "There is not God but Allah and Mohammed..." Thomas Friedman wrote that his last breathe was against "the traitors, the Americans, the spies, and the Persians [Shiites]."

In addition, the hanging was illegal according to Iraqi law, as the signatures of three leaders were not obtained, including Kurdish President Talabani. Also, the day of the hanging was a religious holiday. The day of Id was holy to Sunnis, not Shiites, which some Shiites reveled in emphasizing. The increasing sectarian nature of Iraq was readily apparent in this last chapter of Saddam's life. As the Times describes, "A mass murderer appears" with "dignity and restraint" while his executioners seem "like bullying street thugs." Many Sunni politicians have already left Iraq.

His body was taken to be buried by his sons to the Tigris River in his home town of Awja, near Tikrit. Loyalists made pilgrimages there.

Protests and "widespread dismay" were felt by Sunnis civilians and politicians in Iraqi ("This is a political mistake. We lost a lot")and elsewhere in the Middle East, by a range of US politicians, and by human rights groups. Added veteran politician Pachachi, "It was a deliberate insult to so many people." The Maliki government promised an investigation "into the abusive behavior" at Saddam's execution. The Interior Ministry, dominated by Shiites, would form the committee. While the death penalty is outlawed in the UK, a spokesman was pleased that Saddam would be "held to account." Concerns came Britain's deputy Prime Minister, : "I think the manner was quite deplorable, really."

The White House declined to criticize the execution for days. Days later the President said he finally seen the video but not "the whole thing" because he didn't want to see Saddam fall through the trap door. Then, as criticism continued Bush stated that he "wished" it had been done "in more dignified way." Later is said on The Newshour that the execuation had been "bungled" and it "seemed like a revenge killing." The Commander in Chief added: "He was given justice; the thousands of people he killed were not."

In contrast, Republican Senator like McCain said, "It's a very bad thing, it's harmful, and I'm sorry that it happened. Obviously, it unnecessarily inflames the emotions of the Sunnis" Sen. warned worried the reconciliation would now be even more difficult. Sen. Collins had similar concerns: "It threatens the very existence of the nation and thousands of American and Iraqi lives to have Saddam mocked before his execution." Maybe, to ironically quote Howard Dean, the US is not safer without Saddam Hussein.

The media responded to the hanging with general dismay, including Bush and Iraq War supporter Charles Krauthammer. In The Colorado Gazette the Post columnist labeled the hanging "another debacle" he reminded readers that "Of the 6 billion people on this earth at the time of his death, not one killed more people that Saddam Hussein. And not just killed, but tortured and mutilated. It is quite a distinction to be the pre-eminent monster on the planet. If the death penalty was every deserved, no one was more richly deserving than Saddam Hussein. For the Iraq government to have botched both his trial and execution, therefore,and turned monster into victim, is not just a tragedy but a crime-against the new Iraq that Americans are dying for, and against justice itself." Krauthammer feels that the trial was "turned into a stage for Saddam....That was bad enough. Then comes the execution, a rushed, botched, unholy mess that exposes the hopelessly sectarian nature of the Maliki government." It was done extra-constitutionally and on a Sunni religious holiday. "True, Saddam's hanging was just and, in principle nonsectarian. But the next handing might not be." Saddam's victims were Shiite of Maliki's own Dawa Party who had tried to assassinate Saddam. "Maliki ultimately got his revenge, completing Dawa's mission a quarter-century later."

Krauthammer concludes, "The whole sorry affair illustrates not just incompetence but the ingrained intolerance and sectarian of the Maliki government...Maliki should be made to know that if he insists on having this sectarian war, he can well have it without us."

Thomas Friedman saw the hanging as more of a "tribal revenge ritual rather than the culmination of a constitutional process in which American should be proud to have participated...It was our closest Iraqi partners who oversaw Saddam's tribal hanging. We have to look that in the eye....As Saddam's hanging underscores, Iraqis are doing things their way. So maybe it's time to get out of their way."

Libya announced that it would erect a statue of the former leader, to stand next to one of Libya's national heroes.

Several boys died imitating the hanging they had seen on TV. At least one American was among those found dead. Most of the boys were ages 10-14.

In yet another bizarre twist in the life and death of Saddam Hussein, his voice was heard to court boasting that "chemical weapons are not used [presumably against the Kurds] unless I personally give the orders....They are very effective if people don't wear masks...Yes, they will kill thousands. Estimates are that in Halabja and other Kurdish towns 180,000 Kurds were killed, many with chemical weapons.

Two top assistants to Saddam, including his half brother, were hung about two weeks after their leader, in January 2007. In one case, the actual hanging were odd, and unique, and gory. One was the chief judge of the revolutionary court. The other, Saddam's half brother, was Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, who headed the secret police, was actually decapitated by the hanging.

Even in death, Saddam seemed not to leave the news. In mid-March, the bodies of his sons, Uday and Qusay, were reburried by their father's body in Awja, the village were Saddam Hussein was born. The marble tomb is Saddam is very simple.

In mid-March an appeals court ruled against Hussein's former VP, Taha Yassin Ramadan, in the Dujail killings. International human rights groups feel the evidence of his role does not justify the death penalty. Ramadan was hung on March 19, the fourth anniversary of the war.

Gruesome tales at August 2007 testimony includes men being thrown from helicopters with weights, sinking and drowning in the river below. This trial was for "Chemical Ali." This cousin of Saddam and leader of the Anfal ("spoils of war") campaign against the Kurds, is Ali Hassan al-Majid. He was found guilty in June and sentenced to death. Anfal of the late 1980s led to the killing of up to 180,000 Kurds in the 1980s. He and two other defendants were to be turned over from US military in mid-October. This turn-over was delayed, however. A Mr. Hashem's guilt was called into question. An adviser to Talabani, a Kurd, commented, "We need to show there have been enough deaths; we are tired of it, we need to stop it." My the end of November, Ali had still not been turned over, despite Iraq's prime minister appealing to Bush to do so.

"Chemical Ali" was set to be executed in early March. Ali Hassan al-Majid had been sentenced in June, but now the US was ready to turn him over to the Iraqis. Not be be executed was a respected Iraqi General, Mr. Hashem, who was once praised by US Gen. Petraeus, calling him a "man of honor and integrity." If Hashem surrendered, Petraeus wrote that he could "avoid capture, imprisonment and loss of honor and dignity befitting a general officer."

Chemical Ali was finally executed by hanging in January 2010. This was over three years after Saddam's hanging. He ordered the chemical weapons attacks on Kurdish villages, most infamously Halabja in 1988, which killed over 5000. Majid was given 8 death sentences including the Anfal campaign wich killed 180,00. He was also sentenced for crushing the Shiite uprising at the end of the Gulf War of 1991, where thousands were killed and displaced. He did not apologize, claiming that Kurdish villages should be destoryed because they had Iranian agents.

What should be Hussein legacy of statues and monuments? This question hit the front page of the Times in April, 2007. "Scores of hubristic statues, murals, frescoes" were built to commemorate the Iraqi leader. The largest example is the Crossed Swords of the Hands of Victory which the US recently convinced Maliki's to save it from destruction. The issue is very emotional. Should they be saved and preserved for museums and for history or be destroyed? The beaurocratic sounding Committee to examine this question is The Committee to Remove the Remains of the Baath Party and to Consider Building New Monuments and Murals. Says one critic of the destruction, "Do they want to change history?" He feels that archives can help Iraqis understand and come to terms with the horrors of their past.

Saddam's grave was back in the news in August of 2007. John Burns, veteran Times reporter, reminded readers that under a US occupation decree of 2003, all photos, statues, and drawings of Saddam are fobidden, as are public protests in support of him. But his "legend lives on" in Awia, though it is far from a pilgrimmage site. Just three miles from Tikrit, no other western reporter has reached the site besides Burns.

Saddam's legacy continued in the news in November. Sadr's political allies called on paid compensation for the relatives of Saddam's victims. He suggested this occur prior to any deBaathification. The relatives should receive $40,000 and a weekly pension. Political prisoners should receive $24,000. It was likely the bill would not be approved.

Saddam's allies were in the news in late November. A Des Plaines, Illinois man, Sami Khoshaba Latchin, was sentenced to prison for espionage. A federal judge gave him only four years because he was "lousy" as espionage and acting as a sleeper agent for the pre-war Iraqi government.

On the one year anniversary of Saddam's hanging, there was little unrest in Iraq. At his grave in Awja, one relative commented, "Saddam didn't die, he is in our hearts. The conspracies that happened against him and his comrades and son was nothing but an American-Iranian conspiracy." One wonders if decades from now Saddam will be fondly remembered just as some in Russia now fondly remember the horrible dictator Stalin.

Saddam was remembered on March 16, 2008, by Kurds on the 20th anniversary of the gas attacks on Halabja. As many of 5000 were killed in this one town. Survivors suffered health problems, including those described in the Times as "sterility, breathing difficulties" and children born with deformities. Kurds in 2008 were demanding the immediate execution of "Chemical Ali." One survivor lost 24 relatives in the attacks. The overall Anfal campaign against the Kurds killed as many as 180,000.

In December 2008, the month before local elections, ex-Hussein officials went to trial. Some had already been found guilty, which led critics to see political motivations to help Shiite politicians. The two dozen defendants are charged with killing members of Prime Minister Maliki's party, Dawa, outlawed since 1980. That year, its spiritual leader, Ayatollah al-Sadr was executed. Chemical Ali, Ali Hassan al-Majid, has already received a death sentence. Tariq Aziz, Hussein's former deputy prime minister and foreign minister, is also charged. One massacre of 1981 was in Balad, north of Baghdad, where over 1000 Dawa partisans and their families were rounded up. Men and boys over 15 were executed. This tribunal which will conduct the trials was set up by the American occupation authority.

The legacy of Saddam continued in the spring of 2009, with an NPR report of Saddam palaces being opened to the public. One is in historic Babylon.

Even in death, Saddam made the news in July, also. He told US interrogators that he feared Iran more than he did the US. He felt Iran might discover that he no longer had WMD. Concerned with his own security, he spoke on a phone only twice in 13 years. Saddam denied that he deployed look-alike doubles, as was rumored during the start of the war.

In October 2009, Saddam seems to leave the news. Iraqi high school textbooks were finally being revised and 18 year old were contemplating voting. On NPR's "Morning Edition" (10/14/09), Saddam was being written out of the newest textbooks. No longer would high school students read about the wonders of their great leader.