Wednesday, January 3, 2007

Three Individuals Arrested Regarding Saddam Video Leak

Via soundslam.com -

Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein was executed late Friday night. By Saturday, full video of the hanging was widespread across the internet and YouTube. The video's immergence caused uproar among American and Iraqi government officials, and civilians. The video also shows Saddam Hussein being taunted and ridiculed before his death.

Following the execution, Iraqi officials investigated and vowed to uncover the individual responsible for the leak. An Iraqi prosecutor, Munqith al-Faroon believes that the government was responsible for the leak. He told MSNBC..."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."

Meanwhile, government officials denied taking part in the leak, and transferred blame over to the guards. Mowaffak al-Rubaie, Iraq's national security adviser told NBC that an investigation was launched and that they have identified the responsible party.

"I can officially now confirm the arrest of three individuals in the case of the execution of Saddam Hussein," he said.

It is believed that the man arrested was a guard assigned to the execution team.

The somewhat botched execution has raised the eyebrows of many involved, and also drew slight criticism from U.S. Forces. Maj. Gen. William Caldwell told the media that the United States would have handled things a bit differently. "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," he said.

Caldwell also spoke to Saddam's demeanor saying, "He spoke very well to our military police, as he always had, and when getting off at the prison site he said farewell to his interpreter; he thanked the military police squad."

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