Execution sparks Arab support for Saddam

updated 5:02 p.m. ET Jan. 8, 2007

CAIRO, Egypt - The execution of Saddam Hussein has sparked a wave of support for the former Iraqi leader around the Arab world, with some proclaiming him a martyr and comparing him to heroes of Arab nationalism — raising resentment against the United States and Iraq's Shiite-led government.

A new video of Saddam's corpse, with a gaping neck wound, was posted on the Internet early Tuesday, carrying the potential to fan the flames higher.

The video, which appeared to have been taken with a camera phone, pans up the shrouded body of the former leader from the feet. It apparently was taken shortly after Saddam was hanged and placed on a gurney.

As the panning shot reaches the head region, the white shroud is pulled back and reveals Saddam's head and neck.

His head is unnaturally twisted at a 90 degree angle to his right. It shows a gaping bloody wound, circular in shape, about an inch below his jaw line.

There is blood on the shroud where it covered his head.

Praise overshadowing atrocities
Praise for Saddam has only grown since his Dec. 30 hanging, eclipsing what had been a greater acknowledgement in recent years of the atrocities committed by his regime.

On Monday, one Egyptian paper, the independent Al-Karama, splashed Saddam's photo over a full page Monday, with an Iraqi flag behind him, declaring him an "Arab martyr."

"He lived as hero, died as a man," another Egyptian opposition newspaper, Al-Osboa, proclaimed in a headline, showing a photo of Saddam at the gallows.

The praise has angered Iraq's government and Kuwait, which Saddam invaded in 1990. On Monday, Kuwaiti lawmakers slammed Arab countries that described the former Iraqi leader as a hero and demanded the government reconsider ties and financial aid to them.

Anger over the execution could fuel support for Iraq's Sunni Muslim insurgency. It could also complicate the United States' efforts to rally Arab nations' help in reconciling between Iraq's warring Sunni and Shiite communities and ease the country's bloodshed.

The gallows scene
In large part, it was the unruly scene at the gallows that catapulted Saddam to hero's status. In video footage smuggled out of the execution room, Saddam's Shiite executioners are seen taunting and cursing him, while the former leader — his head unbowed — retorts, "Is this manly?"

For many, the scene came to symbolize dignified Arab resistance in the face of humiliation at the hands of a Shiite government seen by some in the region as illegitimate, backed by the U.S. military presence and closely allied to mainly Shiite Iran.

Some in the media compared Saddam to another hero of Arab nationalism against Western domination: Omar al-Mokhtar, the leader of resistance against Italy's military occupation of Libya, who was executed by hanging in 1931. Egypt's nationalist weekly newspaper Al-Arabi published a cartoon Sunday showing an open book with pictures of Saddam and al-Mokhtar on facing pages.

The reaction was in contrast to the shock that followed Saddam's capture by U.S. troops in December 2003. At the time, Saddam was humiliated, shown bearded and bedraggled in photos as he was pulled out of a hole by U.S. troops.

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