The Last Word in a Bitter Year

Riverbend does her best to try to clear out some of the disinformation propagated in the New York Pravda:

...From the video that was leaked, it was not an executioner who yelled "long live Muqtada al-Sadr". See, this is another low the Maliki government sunk to- they had some hecklers conveniently standing by during the execution. Maliki claimed they were "some witnesses from the trial", but they were, very obviously, hecklers. The moment the noose was around Saddam's neck, they began chanting, in unison, "God's prayers be on Mohamed and on Mohamed's family…" Something else I didn't quite catch (but it was very coordinated), and then "Muqtada, Muqtada, Muqtada!" One of them called out to Saddam, "Go to hell…" (in Arabic). Saddam looked down disdainfully and answered "Heya hay il marjala…?" which is basically saying, "Is this your manhood…?".

Someone half-heartedly called out to the hecklers, "I beg you, I beg you- the man is being executed!" They were slightly quieter and then Saddam stood and said, "Ashadu an la ilaha ila Allah, wa ashhadu ana Mohammedun rasool Allah…" Which means, "I witness there is no god but Allah and that Mohammed is His messenger." These are the words a Muslim (Sunnis and Shia alike) should say on their deathbed. He repeated this one more time, very clearly, but before he could finish it, he was lynched.

So, no, CNN, his last words were not "Muqtada Al Sadr" in a mocking tone- just thought someone should clear that up. (Really people, six of you contributed to that article!)

Then again, one could argue that it was a judge who gave them that false information. A judge on the Iraqi appeals court- one of the judges who ratified the execution order. Everyone knows Iraqi judges under American tutelage never lie- that explains CNN's confusion...

This makes it quite clear if true. Bu$hCo set up a Shia trial for Saddam under circumstances where evidence of American collusion with Saddam could be ignored instead of a trial in the Netherlands at the Hague. Bu$hCo handed Saddam over to Shia executioners to quickly silence Saddam before he could talk. But the execution was a spectacle of disinformation, designed to pour gasoline on a raging fire in Iraq.

Not that the facts aren't volatile enough. Saddam's supporters and religious Sunni antagonists alike will be impressed at the old tyrant's courage at the end. Far from taunting, he left the world with his eyes on the horizon and not on the smaller men pushing him out the door.