Tony Blair Condemns Saddam's Hanging

British Prime Minister Tony Blair is expected to comment to the public throughout the week against the manner in which Saddam Hussein's execution was carried out on December 30. He has been ostracized for not yet commenting publicly. Liberal Democrat, Sir Menzies Campbell said Sunday "The Prime Minister's continuing silence is deafening. His unwillingness to condemn the shameful scenes surrounding Saddam Hussein's execution does him no credit." [2] Blair's Deputy Prime Minister, John Prescott, defended the delay to comment saying that Blair was on holiday. Prescott "condemned the scenes as deplorable" [2] and reports that Blair feels that the way that it was carried out was both "completely wrong" [1] and "completely unacceptable" [2].

UK Finance chief, Gordon Brown and US President, George Bush also feel that the manner in which Hussein was executed is unacceptable. Bush declared that it should have been "more dignified". Brown said, "Even those people, unlike me, who are in favor of capital punishment found this completely unacceptable and I am pleased that there is now an inquiry into this and I hope lessons in this area will be learnt, as we learn other lessons about Iraq," [2]. He also stated that it was "a deplorable set of events" that led up to the execution [1].

Video footage of Hussein's execution was made unofficially available via the internet within hours of the event. It is very clear to see from the footage that the execution was carried out in a very unprofessional manner. Hussein was taunted and harassed to his face, which was not hooded for the hanging as per his request. The spokesman of Blair said that the execution "shouldn't have happened that way" [2].