By Country / Iraq

U.S. Military Says It Had No Role In Hussein's Execution

January 3, 2007 (RFE/RL) -- A spokesman for the U.S. military says it had nothing to do with the hanging of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein.

Major General William Caldwell told reporters in Baghdad that the U.S. military would have handled the execution "differently," but said Iraq was a sovereign nation and that it made its own decisions regarding how the execution was handled.

"We had absolutely nothing to do with anything further than just the physical movement and security of him [Hussein] -- as we've always done -- to get him to a predetermined location, which in the past had been to the courthouse where the proceedings have been taking place," Caldwell said.

Meanwhile, the U.S. State Department said Washington has raised questions with the Baghdad government about the procedures and timing of the Hussein execution. A spokesman emphasized, however, that "justice was done."

The Iraqi government has pledged an investigation into Hussein's execution on December 30 to determine who unofficially filmed the event on a mobile-phone camera, and to determine who is heard on the recording taunting Hussein minutes before his death.