Iraq Plans Inquiry Into Hussein Execution - New York Times

Iraq Plans Inquiry Into Hussein Execution - New York Times: "January 2, 2007
Iraq Plans Inquiry Into Hussein Execution
By JOHN F. BURNS

BAGHDAD, Jan. 2 — With angry demonstrations spreading across Iraq’s Sunni Arab heartland, the country’s Shiite-led government said today that it had ordered an investigation into the disorderly scenes at the execution of Saddam Hussein, who was mocked and taunted by Shiite witnesses and guards as he stood on the gallows.

Iraqi officials said a three-member committee of the Interior Ministry would investigate scenes that have raised outrage among Mr. Hussein’s Sunni Arab loyalists and widespread consternation elsewhere as video recordings of the execution have been broadcast around the world.

The officials said the government wanted to know how some of those present at the hanging had been allowed to use cellphone cameras to record grainy images of Mr. Hussein as he endured the mockery from a group standing in front of the gallows. But the investigation would also ask why the hanging had been allowed to descend into scenes that some Sunni critics have described as a sectarian lynching, the officials said.

Sami al-Askari, a Shiite member of the Iraqi Parliament who was among those who attended the hanging, said in a telephone interview t"