Editor's Note: The article below by Reuters states, "Iraqi government promised 0aan investigation." The Iraqi government they refer to functions almost 0aentirely under the umbrella provided for it by the US military. Without the 0adirect support and protection of the US occupying force, it is not clear how 0amuch legitimacy or support this Iraqi government would have from Iraqis. An 0ainvestigation of this kind would almost certainly be questioned in light of 0aAmerican participation in the hanging of the former Iraqi president, Saddam 0aHussein. US military forces afforded what amounted to an angry mob access to a 0aUS facility in Baghdad and delivered the former president to them to be hanged 0ain a manner not consistent with either US or international law. - ma/TO

    Saddam Video Inquiry Promised
    Reuters

    Tuesday 02 January 2007

    Baghdad - Hundreds of Sunni Arabs gathered to show their anger and grief for Saddam Hussein on Tuesday as the Iraqi government promised an investigation into illicitly filmed footage of Shi'ite officials taunting him on the gallows.

    The sectarian passions that have pushed Iraq toward civil war could be further inflamed by the video of the execution, apparently shot on a mobile phone, showing people chanting the name of Shi'ite cleric and militia leader Moqtada al-Sadr.

    As President Bush pondered a new strategy for the unpopular war, new figures from the Iraqi Interior Ministry showed the number of civilians killed in political violence reached a record high in December.

    Hailed by Washington as a milestone for Iraqi democracy, Saddam's execution seems to have deepened sectarian divisions.

    A leading member of the Sunni Arab's largest parliamentary bloc said on Tuesday footage showing Shi'ite officials mocking Saddam as he was about to he hanged had damaged Shi'ite Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki's attempts at national reconciliation.

    "The big question now is how serious is the government in calling for national reconciliation. It now has to prove it," Saleem al-Jibouri of the Iraqi Accordance Front told Reuters.

    Saddam's grave in his native village, Awja, drew hundreds more mourners on Tuesday, as it has each day since he was buried in the dead of night early on Sunday.

    Several hundred people marched through the northern city of Mosul carrying portraits of Saddam and banners proclaiming him a martyr and a hero. Sunni neighborhoods in Baghdad and other towns have seen similar demonstrations since Saturday.

    The rapid execution, just four days after the failure of an appeal, boosted Maliki's fragile authority among his fractious Shi'ite supporters but angered many Sunnis. The timing, on the first day of the Eid al-Adha holiday, has caused particular outrage, along with the video.

    Investigation Promised

    An aide to the prime minister said the government was investigating how people filmed and taunted Saddam on the gallows, turning his execution into a televised spectacle.

    Khudayer al-Khuzai, deputizing for the justice minister who was abroad, said it appeared some guards violated instructions not to bring mobile phones or cameras.

    "The Iraqi government is going to have an investigation into what happened," he said. "This operation should be done with the highest standards of discipline and with respect for the condemned man, both when he's alive and once he's dead.

    "Anything that did not meet those standards should be accounted for."

    Washington has identified the Mehdi Army, a militia loyal to Sadr, as the biggest threat to Iraq and has urged Maliki to crack down on its illegal activities.

    Maliki relies on the support of Sadr's political movement in parliament and government - an uneasy relationship illustrated by the presence of Sadr supporters at Saddam's execution.

    There has been no significant repeat of a series of car bombings that killed more than 70 people in Shi'ite neighborhoods on Saturday within hours of the dawn execution, but the government and U.S. forces are on alert.

    Iraqi Interior Ministry figures, almost certain to be an underestimate, showed 12,320 civilians were killed in 2006 in what officials term "terrorist" violence.

    The figures are generally viewed as a guide to trends but give only a partial sampling of deaths.

    The ministry figure of 1,930 civilian deaths in December is three-and-a-half times the equivalent of 548 last January, before last year's surge in sectarian killing which followed the destruction of a major Shi'ite shrine in February.

    The figures also showed 1,231 policemen were killed in 2006 and 602 Iraqi soldiers.

    All such statistics are controversial in Iraq. A figure of 3,700 civilian deaths in October, the latest tally by the United Nations based on data from the Health Ministry and the Baghdad morgue, was described as exaggerated by the Iraqi government.

    The U.N. figure shows about 120 civilians died each day.

    Bush plans to unveil a new strategy this month after the 3,000th soldier to die in Iraq since the March 2003 invasion was killed just before New Year. At least 112 Americans died in December, the deadliest month for them in more than two years.