Rep. Jim McDermott, right, D-Wash., and Rep. David Bonior, D-Mich., left, are shown during a Capitol Hill news conference in this 2002 file photo. Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday.

These members of Congress COULD NOT or WOULD NOT find out who funded their trip to Iraq immediately preceding the start of the Iraq War?

Saddam Hussein’s intelligence agency secretly financed a trip to Iraq for three U.S. lawmakers during the run-up to the U.S.-led invasion, federal prosecutors said Wednesday

An indictment unsealed in Detroit accuses Muthanna Al-Hanooti, a member of a Michigan nonprofit group, of arranging for three members of Congress to travel to Iraq in October 2002 at the behest of Saddam’s regime. Prosecutors say Iraqi intelligence officials paid for the trip through an intermediary.

At the time, the Bush administration was trying to persuade Congress to authorize military action against Iraq.

The lawmakers are not named in the indictment but the dates correspond to a trip by Democratic Reps. Jim McDermott of Washington, David Bonior of Michigan and Mike Thompson of California. There was no indication the three lawmakers knew the trip was underwritten by Saddam.

“Obviously we didn’t know it at the time,” McDermott spokesman Michael DeCesare said Wednesday. “The trip was to see the plight of the Iraqi children. That’s the only reason we went.”

During the trip, the lawmakers expressed skepticism about the Bush administration’s claims that Saddam was stockpiling weapons of mass destruction. Though such weapons ultimately were never found, the lawmakers drew criticism for their trip at the time.

Oklahoma Sen. Don Nickles, the second-ranking Senate Republican at the time, said the Democrats “sound somewhat like spokespersons for the Iraqi government.”

In the pocket of Saddam Hussein, yet, Baghdad Jim McDermott claims that he did not know who paid for the trip outside a Seattle church group.

And, there will be more excuses from the other Democrats.

But, these United States Congressmen gave aid and comfort to Saddam Hussein and his government in the immediate period before the war. Didn’t they have the slightest inkling as to who was sponsoring the trip?

Right……..

Update: White House Won’t Condemn Saddam Taunts

The Bush administration sent conflicting signals Wednesday about the taunting and baiting that accompanied Saddam Hussein’s execution, with the White House declining to join criticism of the procedure and the State Department and U.S. military raising questions about it.

“The president is focused on the new way forward in Iraq so these issues are best addressed out of Iraq, out of Baghdad,” deputy White House press secretary Scott Stanzel said. “Prime Minister Maliki’s staff have already expressed their disappointment in the filmings, so I guess we’ll leave it at that.”

Bush not seen Saddam execution video: White House

This video image released by Iraqi state television shows Saddam Hussein being led to the gallows by guards wearing ski masks moments before his execution Saturday Dec. 30. 2006. Clutching a Quran and refusing a hood, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows before sunrise Saturday, executed by vengeful countrymen after a quarter-century of remorseless brutality that killed countless thousands and led Iraq into disastrous wars against the United States and Iran.

AP: Official held in Saddam hanging video

The person believed to have recorded Saddam Hussein’s raucous execution on a cell phone camera was arrested Wednesday, an adviser to Iraq’s prime minister said.

A U.S. military spokesman, meanwhile, said the United States would have handled the execution differently had it been in charge.

The adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki, speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to talk to the media, did not identify the person. But he said it was “an official who supervised the execution” and who is “now under investigation.”

“In the past few hours, the government has arrested the person who made the video of Saddam’s execution,” the adviser said.

Iraqi state television broadcast an official video of Saturday’s hanging, which had no audio and never showed Saddam’s actual death. But the leaked cell phone video showed the deposed leader being taunted in his final moments, with witnesses shouting “Go to hell!” before he dropped through the gallows floor and died.

The unruly scene was broadcast on Al-Jazeera television and was posted on the Internet, prompting a worldwide outcry and big protests among Iraq’s minority Sunnis, who lost their preferential status when Saddam was ousted in the U.S.-led invasion of March 2003.

“If you are asking me: ‘Would we have done things differently?’ Yes, we would have. But that’s not our decision. That’s the government of Iraq’s decision,” said Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, a U.S. military spokesman.

So, the new Iraqi government is having their own New York Times moment?

And you are going to punish this person, how?

Please……

The UNCUT video in question:

On Wednesday, an Iraqi prosecutor who was also present at the execution denied a report that he had accused National Security Adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie of possible responsibility for the leaked video.

“I am not accusing Mowaffak al-Rubaie, and I did not see him taking pictures,” Munqith al-Faroon, a prosecutor in the case that sent Saddam to the gallows, told The Associated Press.

“But I saw two of the government officials who were … present during the execution taking all the video of the execution, using the lights that were there for the official taping of the execution. They used mobile phone cameras. I do not know their names, but I would remember their faces,” al-Faroon said in a telephone interview.

The prosecutor said the two officials were openly taking video pictures, which are believed to be those which appeared on Al-Jazeera satellite and a Web site within hours of Saddam’s execution.

The New York Times on Wednesday reported that al-Faroon told the newspaper “one of two men he had seen holding a cell phone camera aloft to make a video of Mr. Hussein’s last moments up to and past the point where he fell through the trapdoor was Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Mr. Maliki’s national security adviser.”

The Times said it had been unable to reach al-Rubaie for comment. AP also could not reach him Wednesday. His secretary said the security adviser, a close aide to al-Maliki, was in Najaf and would not return until later.

Looks like the Iraqis are learning about the FREE press.

Stay tuned……….

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Saddam Hussein Watch: Saddam’s Execution Video UNCUT

Saddam Hussein Watch: Saddam Executed as Iraq War Violence Continues

Saddam Hussein Watch: Saddam Hussein- The Butcher of Baghdad Has Been Hanged

Saddam Hussein Watch: Hangman Cometh – Within Hours

Cox & Forkum: Old Acquaintance

Iraq War Watch: Saddam Huissein Convicted and Sentenced to Hang For Crimes Against Humanity

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This video image released by Iraqi state television shows Saddam Hussein being led to the gallows by guards wearing ski masks moments before his execution Saturday Dec. 30. 2006. Clutching a Quran and refusing a hood, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows before sunrise Saturday, executed by vengeful countrymen after a quarter-century of remorseless brutality that killed countless thousands and led Iraq into disastrous wars against the United States and Iran.

Hot Air has the UNCUT execution video via Rusty and Vinnie.

Flap now has the video which I will embed here (graphic warning – not for children):

Obviously this wasn’t shot by the official Iraqi cameraman: he was up on the platform with Saddam and using a real lens, not a cell phone. This probably was taken by one of the Shiite witnesses, who passed it along to the Sadrists for dissemination on the web.

I don’t know whose bright idea it was to let three punks in leather jackets and balaclavas take care of business instead of the Iraqi army, but the more I watch it, the more it looks like a hit instead of a state execution.

Telegraph: Saddam’s end: tormented as his death loomed

Read it all for a description of Saddam’s last moments alive.

Frankly, Flap could care less.

Good Riddance to this POS.

Related:

Video: Saddam’s final moments

In pictures: Life and times of Saddam Hussein

Timeline: Life of a tyrant

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Saddam Hussein Watch: Saddam Executed as Iraq War Violence Continues

Saddam Hussein Watch: Saddam Hussein- The Butcher of Baghdad Has Been Hanged

Saddam Hussein Watch: Hangman Cometh – Within Hours

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Iraq War Watch: Saddam Huissein Convicted and Sentenced to Hang For Crimes Against Humanity

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Reuters: Saddam hanged as violence goes on

Saddam Hussein was hanged at dawn on Saturday for crimes against humanity after
Iraq’s prime minister rushed through an execution that delighted victims of Saddam’s harsh rule.

The former president, toppled by the U.S. invasion four years ago, was shown going calmly to his death on the scaffold in images of his last moments broadcast on state television.

“It was very quick. He died right away,” one official witness told Reuters, adding that the body was left to hang for 10 minutes and death was recorded at 6:10 a.m. (0310 GMT).

The bearded Saddam, still robust at 69, refused a hood or to have a cleric present but did say a brief prayer before a short drop to oblivion on gallows once used by his own secret police.

Hot Air (Via Michelle Malkin) has the Video here.

Saddam Hussein the Butcher of Baghdad is dead. Let’s move on,finish the job and allow the Iraqi people to determine their own fate without a ruthless dictator.

Grainy video later showed his body in a white shroud, the neck twisted and blood on a cheek. An adviser to Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki said he would probably end up in a secret grave.

Three decades after Saddam established his personal rule by force, it closed a chapter in Iraq’s history marked by war with
Iran and a 1990 invasion of Kuwait that turned him from ally to enemy of the United States and impoverished his oil-rich nation.

But, as President Bush said in a statement, sectarian violence pushing Iraq toward civil war has not ended.

Car bombs set off by suspected insurgents from Saddam’s once dominant Sunni minority killed over 70 people in Baghdad and near the Shi’ite holy city of Najaf, striking areas populated by Shi’ite Muslims oppressed for decades and now in the ascendancy.

But Maliki, his fragile authority among fellow Shi’ites enhanced after he forced through Saddam’s killing over Sunni and Kurdish hesitation just four days after his appeal failed, reached out to Saddam’s Sunni followers.

“Saddam’s execution puts an end to all the pathetic gambles on a return to dictatorship,” he said in a statement as state television showed film of him signing the death warrant in red ink. “I urge … followers of the ousted regime to reconsider their stance as the door is still open to anyone who has no innocent blood on his hands to help in rebuilding … Iraq.”

It is time to rebuild Iraq…….

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This video image released by the Biladi TV stations, which are affiliated with the Dawa party of Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki. appears to show the body of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein wrapped in a white shroud following his execution Saturday Dec. 30. 2006. Clutching a Quran and refusing a hood, Saddam Hussein went to the gallows before sunrise Saturday, executed by vengeful countrymen after a quarter-century of remorseless brutality that killed countless thousands and led Iraq into disastrous wars against the United States and Iran.

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Saddam Hussein Watch: Saddam Hussein- The Butcher of Baghdad Has Been Hanged

Saddam Hussein Watch: Hangman Cometh – Within Hours

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Iraq War Watch: Saddam Huissein Convicted and Sentenced to Hang For Crimes Against Humanity

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Fox News is reporting Saddam Hussein, the Butcher of Baghdad has been executed.

The Hanging Scene

AP: Saddam Hussein Executed for War Crimes

Saddam Hussein, the shotgun-waving dictator who ruled Iraq with a remorseless brutality for a quarter-century and was driven from power by a U.S.-led war that left his country in shambles, was taken to the gallows clutching a Quran and hanged Saturday.

In Baghdad’s Shiite enclave of Sadr City, people danced in the streets while others fired guns in the air to celebrate the former dictator’s death. The government did not impose a round-the-clock curfew as it did last month when Saddam was convicted to thwart any surge in retaliatory violence.

President Bush called Saddam’s execution “the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.”

And Hot Air has a reminder of Saddam and his nefarious acts here.

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Saddam Hussein Watch: Hangman Cometh – Within Hours

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Iraq War Watch: Saddam Huissein Convicted and Sentenced to Hang For Crimes Against Humanity

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***Scroll Down for Updates***

Reuters: Saddam may hang within hours: senior Iraqi source

Saddam Hussein could be hanged within hours, a senior Iraqi source told Reuters on Friday after Saddam’s lawyer said U.S. forces had handed over the former president to Iraqi authorities for execution.

“Things have changed in the past three hours. There were some issues … and now that is resolved so it seems it’s possible he may be hanged tonight,” the source, who is in a senior position of authority, said after a day of confusion.

However, the start of the Muslim festival of Eid al-Adha on Saturday raised the possibility of a delay until after the week-long holiday is over, he added: “It’s not certain,” he said.

Najib Naimi, a former Qatar justice minister who served on Saddam’s legal defense team, said he expected his client to be executed soon.

“We think he might be executed by tomorrow as a gift for the Iraqis,” he told BBC News 24.

Fox News at 10:25 AM PST is reporting that Saddam continues in United States custody and has not been turned over to the Iraqis for execution.

Update 1:38 PM PST:

AP: Saddam Asks U.S. to Block Execution

Lawyers for Saddam Hussein on Friday made a last-minute appeal to an American court to avert execution in Iraq, asking a judge to block his transfer from U.S. custody to the hands of Iraqi officials.

Hussein’s lawyers filed documents Friday afternoon asking for an emergency restraining order aimed at stopping the U.S. government from relinquishing custody of the condemned former Iraqi leader to Iraqi officials, a spokeswoman for a federal court in Washington D.C. said.

The documents were being processed and were not immediately made public. The Justice Department had not yet responded to the request.

A similar request by the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, Awad Hamed al-Bandar, was denied Thursday and is under appeal. Al-Bandar also faces execution. The Justice Department argued in that case that U.S. courts have no jurisdiction to interfere with the judicial process of another country.

Al-Bandar argued that his trial violated his rights under the U.S. Constitution but Justice countered that foreigners being tried in foreign courts are not protected by the U.S. Constitution.

No standing here……..

Tick Tock Tick Tock

Update 2:10 PM PST

Fox News is reporting that Saddam will be hanged before 6 AM Baghdad time. It is now 1:10 AM there.

Update 2:44 PM PST

Fox News is reporting that the final arrangements for Saddam’s release to Iraqi authorities are being made and that Saddam will be hanged within hours – by 10 PM EST, 7 PM PST.

Update 4:00 PM PST

Matt Drudge is reporting that Saddam Hussein is about to be executed.

The official witnesses to Saddam Hussein’s impending execution gathered Friday in Baghdad’s fortified Green Zone in final preparation for his hanging, as state television broadcast footage of his regime’s atrocities.

With U.S. forces on high alert for a surge in violence, the Iraqi government readied all the necessary documents, including a “red card” _ an execution order introduced during Saddam’s dictatorship. As the hour of his death approached, Saddam received two of his half brothers in his cell on Thursday and was said to have given them his personal belongings and a copy of his will.

State television, which spent Friday evening preparing the public for Saddam’s death by playing footage of torture and murder carried out by his forces, said the execution would take place between 5:30 am and 6:00 am.

Two and one half hours to go?

The execution of the Butcher of Baghdad.

Update 4:56 PM PST

Saddam’s daughter is requesting that her father be buried in Yemen. And Saddam be reburied in Iraq when it is liberated.

Update 6:08 PM PST 5:08 AM Baghdad time

Fox News is reporting that a United States court has rejected a stay of execution for Saddam. Execution is expected within the hour.

Update 6:16 PM PST  5:16 AM Baghdad Time

Final Plans Made for Saddam’s Execution

An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saddam would be executed before 6 a.m. Saturday, or 10 p.m. Friday EST. Saddam and others were convicted of murder in the killings of 148 Shiite Muslims from an Iraqi town where assassins tried to kill Saddam in 1982.

Also to be hanged were Saddam’s half-brother Barzan Ibrahim and Awad Hamed al-Bandar, the former chief justice of the Revolutionary Court, the adviser said.

The time was agreed upon during a meeting Friday between U.S. and Iraqi officials, said the adviser, who declined to be quoted by name because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

“Saddam will be handed over shortly before the execution,” the official said. The physical transfer of Saddam from U.S. to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged. Saddam had been in U.S. custody since he was captured in December 2003.

Stay tuned for updates…..

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