Prime Minister Blair to Speak Out on Hussein Execution

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is going to speak out against Saddam Hussein's execution. Prime Minister Blair says the execution was carried out "completely wrong". Mr. Tony Blair will get to tell his point of view on the execution in public comments over the next week. Prime Minister Blair will confirm his support for the Iraqi government's investigation of how Saddam Hussein was taunted prior to his execution.

According to Chancellor Gordon Brown in a television interview, he said the manner of Saddam Hussein's death was "deplorable" and "completely unacceptable". Gordon Brown continued to state, "It has done nothing to lessen the tensions between the Shia and Sunni communities. Even those people, unlike me, who are in favor of capital punishment found this completely unacceptable," Brown said.

The alleged "deplorable" behavior towards the former Iraqi leader was filmed and broadcast. Leaked cell phone video footage shows Shiite witnesses taunting Saddam Hussein before his death. Prime Minister Blair has remained silent regarding the December 30th death of Saddam Hussein but he has been under growing pressure, especially from Labour MPs, to publicly comment.

Downing Street will not say exactly when Prime Minister Blair will make his public comments or in what form - be it a statement of a speech. A spokeswoman has also stated that the exact terms of Mr. Blair's comments will not be made public in advance.

The spokeswoman continued to comment, "In terms of what he will say next week, we don't think there are going to be any surprises on where he stands. He supports the inquiry by the Iraqi authorities. He does believe that the manner of execution was completely wrong, but this shouldn't lead us to forget the crimes that Saddam committed, including the death of hundreds of thousands of Iraqis."

Last week, Deputy Prime Minister John Prescott commented that the way the execution was carried out was "deplorable" and the responsible parties should be "ashamed". Health Secretary Patricia Hewitt had also made her opinions known that she felt the treatment of Saddam before his hanging was "very shocking". By these people commenting, it added even more pressure to Prime Minister Tony Blair to make his point of view public.

A security guard at Saddam Hussein's execution has been detained in connection with this cell phone video. Sadiq al-Rikabi, the advisor to the Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said the security guard shot the highly controversial footage of Saddam Hussein being taunted and actual footage of his hanging. The Iraqi government has not released the name of the man they have arrested. They have only identified him as being one of the guards who was at the site. The Iraqi government said that he was not one of the persons who was brought in specifically for Saddam Hussein's execution but one of the usual guards that secured the facility where Saddam Hussein was hanged by the Iraqi government. The security guard who has been arrested is an employee of the prison's dictorate under the Justice Ministry.

"The decision to press charges against him and the type of punishment he faces will depend on whether this individual acted alone and in the spur of the moment or whether he planned beforehand and acted in coordination with others outside the court like media or political organizations," Sadiq al-Rikabi remarked.

At least two more arrests are expected in regards to the leaked cell phone footage shot.

On October 18, 2005, Saddam Hussein went on trial for 1982 massacre of 148 people in Dujail, Iraq. One year later, the former Iraqi dictator is found guilty and sentenced to death by hanging. An Iraqi Parliament official said the United States wanted to delay Saddam Hussein's execution by up to two weeks. They didn't want to rush things. But due to security concerns and possible violence surrounding the Capital, the requests were rejected. An appellate chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal upholds Saddam Hussein's sentence December 26, 2006. Hussein is executed by hanging on the morning of December 30, 2006.