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Iraq "ignored" U.S. caution

New York: In hours before the hanging of Saddam Hussein, American officials in Iraq had questioned the political wisdom of expediting the execution in ways that required Prime Minister Maliki to override religious and constitutional precepts which might have assured him a more dignified passage to his end, a leading U.S. daily claimed.

The Americans' concerns seem to have been heightened by what happened at the hanging, as evident in video recordings made just before Saddam fell through the gallows trapdoor, the New York Times said, adding a new video that appeared on the Internet, apparently made by a witness with a camera cellphone, underscored the unruly, mocking atmosphere.

The weekend's final disorderly chapter, the paper said, came with the tensions over Saddam's body. For nearly 18 hours on Saturday, Mr. Maliki's officials insisted that his corpse would be kept in secret government custody until circumstances allowed interment without his grave becoming a shrine or a target. Once again, the Americans intervened, the paper said.

American officials in Iraq, the paper said, have been reluctant to say much publicly about the pell-mell nature of the hanging. — PTI

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