Iraq to probe filming of Saddam hanging
Iraq to probe filming of Saddam hanging
By Steve Negus, Iraq Correspondent and Reuters
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: January 1 2007 18:41 | Last updated: January 1 2007 18:41
The Iraqi government launched an inquiry on Monday into how guards filmed and taunted Saddam Hussein on the gallows, turning his execution into a televised spectacle that has inflamed sectarian anger.
Many in Iraq were transfixed by the footage, apparently shot on a videophone.
With Saddam executed, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki now faces the job of trying to impose state authority upon a shattered society that is on the verge of sectarian civil war. The run-up to Mr Saddam’s death illustrates how difficult that task will be.
As the noose was tightened around the deposed president’s neck, several in the chamber began to chant a slogan affiliated with the radical Shia Sadrist movement, whose founder, the Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, was assassinated by presumed agents of Saddam in 1999.
Despite pleas from one unidentified voice in the room to allow Saddam a dignified end, the chanting of the name of the ayatollah’s son and the movement’s new leader built up to a crescendo – “Moqtada! Moqtada! Moqtada!”
The moment captured the extent to which the Shia radicals associated with the Sadrs have imposed their agenda on the Iraqi state and its institutions, and the magnitude of the task facing Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, as he tries to impose his authority on a deeply fractured and radicalised country.
Further emphasising the splits within Iraqi society was the pilgrimage of hundreds of mourners to Saddam’s tomb in the town of Awja, where he was born in 1937. Mr Maliki’s government appears to have rejected initial plans to bury the former leader in an unmarked grave, and Saddam’s body was flown to the town in a US helicopter.
Much of the confusion that reportedly surrounded Saddam’s last hours is probably down to the uneasy relationship between Mr Maliki and the Sadrists, who are one of the key parties in his ruling coalition but whose militias are also blamed for a large share of the sectarian killing.
Saddam’s swift execution has been a central demand of the Sadrist movement ever since his capture in December 2003. Rushing the former president to the gallows may have afforded the prime minister a rare opportunity to look decisive in front of his core constituency.
The Sadrists control 30 seats in the 275-member parliament, which makes them one of the three largest forces in Mr Maliki’s Shia-led coalition but belies their true strength as what is almost certainly Iraq’s largest mass movement.
Although Mr Maliki, a member of the Shia Islamist al-Dawa party, has received Sadrist support in the past, recently their relationship has been strained, with the radicals accusing Mr Maliki of bowing to US pressure to reach out to the Sunni. The Sadrists, who control three main ministries, announced last month they were boycotting Iraq’s government in protest at Mr Maliki’s decision to meet US President George W. Bush in Jordan.
The execution may allow Mr Maliki a window of political opportunity. For the Sadrists, as for many other Shia, Saddam’s hanging represents a point of no return for the old Sunni-dominated political order, and evidence that his former ruling Ba’ath party, which has a strong role in the insurgency, can no longer dictate events.
Iraq will now see what Mr Maliki does with this opportunity. Mr Maliki has suggested he would attempt early in the new year to disarm Shia militias, of whom the Sadrists’ Mahdi Army is by far the largest. The government has also said it would consider allowing members of the former ruling Ba’ath party, purged from public life in 2003, to be rehabilitated.
But Shia leaders have been under pressure from the US and others to reach out to the Sunni for well over a year, but have consistently put off key decisions. It is not yet clear whether the swift execution of Saddam has given Mr Maliki the political capital he needs to take steps that will almost certainly be criticised by the Sadrists, if he even wants to do so at all.
By Steve Negus, Iraq Correspondent and Reuters
Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2007
Published: January 1 2007 18:41 | Last updated: January 1 2007 18:41
The Iraqi government launched an inquiry on Monday into how guards filmed and taunted Saddam Hussein on the gallows, turning his execution into a televised spectacle that has inflamed sectarian anger.
Many in Iraq were transfixed by the footage, apparently shot on a videophone.
With Saddam executed, Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki now faces the job of trying to impose state authority upon a shattered society that is on the verge of sectarian civil war. The run-up to Mr Saddam’s death illustrates how difficult that task will be.
As the noose was tightened around the deposed president’s neck, several in the chamber began to chant a slogan affiliated with the radical Shia Sadrist movement, whose founder, the Ayatollah Mohammed Sadeq al-Sadr, was assassinated by presumed agents of Saddam in 1999.
Despite pleas from one unidentified voice in the room to allow Saddam a dignified end, the chanting of the name of the ayatollah’s son and the movement’s new leader built up to a crescendo – “Moqtada! Moqtada! Moqtada!”
The moment captured the extent to which the Shia radicals associated with the Sadrs have imposed their agenda on the Iraqi state and its institutions, and the magnitude of the task facing Nuri al-Maliki, the Iraqi prime minister, as he tries to impose his authority on a deeply fractured and radicalised country.
Further emphasising the splits within Iraqi society was the pilgrimage of hundreds of mourners to Saddam’s tomb in the town of Awja, where he was born in 1937. Mr Maliki’s government appears to have rejected initial plans to bury the former leader in an unmarked grave, and Saddam’s body was flown to the town in a US helicopter.
Much of the confusion that reportedly surrounded Saddam’s last hours is probably down to the uneasy relationship between Mr Maliki and the Sadrists, who are one of the key parties in his ruling coalition but whose militias are also blamed for a large share of the sectarian killing.
Saddam’s swift execution has been a central demand of the Sadrist movement ever since his capture in December 2003. Rushing the former president to the gallows may have afforded the prime minister a rare opportunity to look decisive in front of his core constituency.
The Sadrists control 30 seats in the 275-member parliament, which makes them one of the three largest forces in Mr Maliki’s Shia-led coalition but belies their true strength as what is almost certainly Iraq’s largest mass movement.
Although Mr Maliki, a member of the Shia Islamist al-Dawa party, has received Sadrist support in the past, recently their relationship has been strained, with the radicals accusing Mr Maliki of bowing to US pressure to reach out to the Sunni. The Sadrists, who control three main ministries, announced last month they were boycotting Iraq’s government in protest at Mr Maliki’s decision to meet US President George W. Bush in Jordan.
The execution may allow Mr Maliki a window of political opportunity. For the Sadrists, as for many other Shia, Saddam’s hanging represents a point of no return for the old Sunni-dominated political order, and evidence that his former ruling Ba’ath party, which has a strong role in the insurgency, can no longer dictate events.
Iraq will now see what Mr Maliki does with this opportunity. Mr Maliki has suggested he would attempt early in the new year to disarm Shia militias, of whom the Sadrists’ Mahdi Army is by far the largest. The government has also said it would consider allowing members of the former ruling Ba’ath party, purged from public life in 2003, to be rehabilitated.
But Shia leaders have been under pressure from the US and others to reach out to the Sunni for well over a year, but have consistently put off key decisions. It is not yet clear whether the swift execution of Saddam has given Mr Maliki the political capital he needs to take steps that will almost certainly be criticised by the Sadrists, if he even wants to do so at all.
posted by Carlos T Mock @ 9:17 AM
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