The bust of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein and the actual rope used to hang him, are on display in the living room of former national security adviser Mowaffak al-Rubaie. -AFP Baghdad: Mowaffak al-Rubaie sits in his office with a statue of Saddam Hussein behind him, the rope used to hang the dictator around its neck, recalling his final minutes. The former national security advisor, who oversaw Saddam's 2006 execution, said he remained strong until the end, and never expressed any regret.
"A criminal? True. A killer? True. A butcher? True. But he was strong until the end. "I received him (Saddam) at the door. No one entered with us -- no foreigners, and no Americans," Rubaie said in an interview at his office in the Kadhimiyah area of north Baghdad, near the prison where the execution took place seven years ago.
"He was wearing a jacket and a white shirt, normal and relaxed, and I didn't see any signs of fear. "Of course, some people want me to say that he collapsed or that he was drugged, but these facts are for history," Rubaie said.
"I didn't hear any regret from him, I didn't hear any request for mercy from God from him, or request for pardon. "A person who is about to die usually says, 'God, forgive my sins -- I am coming to you.' But he never said any of that," Rubaie said.
Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq for more than two decades marked by brutal repression, disastrous wars and punishing international sanctions, was hanged after being found guilty of crimes against humanity for the 1982 killing of 148 Shiite villagers in Dujail. He was president from July 1979 until the March 2003 US-led invasion of Iraq, and was found by American forces hiding in a hole on a farm in December of that year. Saddam was executed three years later on December 30, 2006 after a summary trial.
Some Iraqis, particularly Sunni Arabs, look back fondly on the time of Saddam's rule, especially the periods of internal stability that stand in stark contrast to the brutal violence that has plagued the country since his overthrow. Saddam is also held in high regard by some Arabs for his 1980-88 war with Iran, his confrontations with the United States, his strikes against Israel, and his composure during his execution, which was recorded on mobile phone videos.
"When I brought him, he was handcuffed and holding a Koran," said Rubaie, ignoring the statue of Saddam behind him, which depicts the dictator dressed in a uniform bearing the insignia of his exclusive military rank.
"I took him to the judge's room, where he read the list of indictments, as Saddam repeated: 'Death to America! Death to Israel! Long live Palestine! Death to the Persian magi!" Rubaie then took Saddam to the room in which he was to die. "He stopped, looked at the gallows, then he looked me up and down... and said: 'Doctor, this is for men'." When it was time for Saddam to mount the gallows, his legs were still bound, so Rubaie and others had to drag him up the steps.
Grappling with a spike in violence and a worsening political situation, Iraq on Wednesday marked 10 years since a US-led invasion that sought to establish a stable, democratic ally in the Middle East.
Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appears on Iraqi television on March 20, 2003, a few hours after the first U.S. cruise missiles and bombs fell on Baghdad. In the nationally televised address, Saddam accused the United States of committing a shameful crime by attacking Iraq.Smoke covers the presidential palace compound in Baghdad on March 21, 2003 during a massive US-led air raid on the Iraqi capital. Smoke billowed from a number of targeted sites, including one of President Saddam Hussein's palaces-AFPAn Iraqi prisoner of war comforts his 4-year-old son at a regroupment center for POWs of the 101st Airborne Division near An Najaf, March 31, 2003. The man was seized in An Najaf with his son, and the U.S. military did not want to separate them.A U.S. Marine watches a statue of Saddam Hussein being toppled in Firdaus Square in downtown Baghdad on April 9, 2003.A U.S. soldier aims his weapon at a man who attempted to flee down a narrow alley in a van, across the street from the scene of Tuesday's intense shootout on a house in Mosul, Iraq.Soldiers from the 3rd Brigade of the U.S. 101st Airborne Division rest in fox holes by their convoy staging area in the Kuwaiti desert on March 21, 2003. Allied forces missions continued as combat units rumbled across the desert into Iraq from the south and bombed limited targets in Baghdad.Piles of torn and burned Iraqi currency bearing the portrait of Saddam Hussein lie in ashes on the floor of the burned Baghdad Central Bank on Friday, April 18, 2003.U.S. Army Stf. Sgt. Chad Touchett, center, relaxes with comrades from A Company, 3rd Battalion, 7th Infantry Regiment, following a search in one of Saddam Hussein's damaged palaces on April 7, 2003 in Baghdad.A young Iraqi girl cries as a British Challenger tank moves in on the Baath party office in Basra April 8, 2003.A young Iraqi girl cries as a British Challenger tank moves in on the Baath party office in Basra April 8, 2003.Family members mourn the death of three male relatives, in Baghdad, Iraq. The three - a father, his teenage son, and another male relative - were shot and killed by U.S. Marines Wednesday night, April 9, after the car they were driving allegedly did not stop while passing a building occupied by U.S. Marines.US Army Sergeant Craig Zentkovich from Connecticut of the 1st Brigade Combat Team photographs a pink bedroom at Saddam Hussein's presidential palace 13 April 2003.'Mission accomplished speech': President Bush declares the end of major combat in Iraq on May 1, 2003 as he spoke aboard the aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln off the California coast. Flames erupt from a building hit with a TOW missile launched by soldiers of the Army’s 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault) in Mosul, Iraq on July 21, 2003. Saddam Hussein’s sons Qusay and Uday were killed in a gun battle as they resisted efforts by coalition forces to apprehend and detain them.Iraqi mini-bus driver Sami Kadum Sadiq is wheeled through a Baghdad hospital after he was injured when a homemade bomb exploded Wednesday, Sept 24, 2003 along a road in Baghdad, missing a U.S. military patrol but killing at least one Iraqi, injuring 18, and destroying two civilian buses. 'We got him': On December 12, 2003, U.S. soldiers capture former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein hiding in a 'spider hole' near Tikrit, northern Iraq.Captured former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein undergoes a medical examination in Baghdad on December 14, 2003 in this image made from video.Iraqis chant anti-American slogans as charred bodies hang from a bridge over the Euphrates River in Fallujah, west of Baghdad, on March 31 2004. Enraged Iraqis in this hotbed of anti-Americanism killed four foreigners took the charred bodies from a burning SUV, dragged them through the streets, and hung them from the bridge.U.S. Marines pray over a fallen comrade at a first aid point after he died from wounds suffered in fighting in Fallujah, Iraq, Thursday, April 8, 2004. Hundreds of U.S. Marines have been fighting insurgents in several neighborhoods in the western Iraqi city of Fallujah in order to regain control of the city. Photographs showing Graner standing by a human pyramid of unclothed detainees caused worldwide outrage when they were published in April last year. Eleven American soldiers, including three women, eventually were convicted in the photo scandal.A naked detainee at the Abu Ghraib prison is tethered by a leash to prison guard Army Pvt Lynndie England in these undated photos. Abuse of Iraqis by U.S. soldiers at Baghdad's notorious prison shocked and angered the world in April 2004 when leaked photographs were released by Western media. An Iraqi man celebrates atop a burning U.S. Army Humvee in the northern part of Baghdad, Iraq, Monday, April 26, 2004. An explosion leveled a building in northern Baghdad on Monday, setting four U.S. Humvees nearby on fire. At least one U.S. soldier and several Iraqis were wounded. British private contractor Michael Fitzpatrick thanks his U.S. Army nurse Jayme Sells while recovering from a suicide bomb attack in an American military hospital in Baghdad, Iraq Friday, Oct. 15, 2004. Fitzpatrick said that he was drinking coffee in the Green Zone Cafe when a suicide bomber detonated one of two explosions that killed 6 people.Although wounded, Staff Sgt. Shannon Kay, of 1st Battalion, 24th Infantry Regiment, fires on an enemy position after being attacked with a car bomb on December 11, 2004, in Mosul, Iraq.Former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is seen as he was questioned by Chief Investigative Judge Raid Juhi, not seen, in this Aug. 23, 2005 photo at an unknown location.A British soldier makes his way out of a burning Warrior fighting vehicle in Basra, 550 kilometers (340 miles) southeast of Baghdad Monday Sept. 19, 2005. British forces and demonstrators exchanged gunfire in the southern city of Basra leaving two civilians dead after two British men were arrested for allegedly gunning down an Iraqi police officerFormer Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, front center, and Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti, back center, berate the court during their trial in Baghdad, in this Dec. 5, 2005 photo.This image made from video released by Iraqi state television shows Saddam Hussein's guards wearing ski masks and placing a noose around the deposed leader's neck moments before his execution on Saturday, December 30, 2006.A child cries next to a person injured in an attack while in a hospital in Kirkuk, 290 kilometers (180 miles) north of Baghdad, Iraq, Saturday, March 10, 2007. A rocket hit an open market in central Kirkuk killing two people and injuring another 35, police said.Detainees pray at a U.S. military detention facility Camp Bucca, Iraq, Monday, March 16, 2009. The United States aimed to shut down its largest detention center, Camp Bucca, by 2010. More than 9,600 detainees who were captured as national security threats over the last four years were still being held there.In this November 30, 2010 photo, members of 1st Brigade sit in the belly of a C-17 aircraft at Sather Air Base in Baghdad as they began their journey home after a year in Iraq. More than 7 years after 1st Brigade entered Baghdad as the first conventional U.S. forces in Iraq, its soldiers were coming home from a yearlong deployment that saw the end of combat operations.Secretary of Defense Leon Panetta, center, speaks during ceremonies in Baghdad marking the end of the U.S. military mission in Iraq.The war ends officially on December 15,2011.In this Tuesday, March 5, 2013 photo, flames are superimposed on pictures of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein are displayed at the Shaheed Monument in Baghdad, Iraq.Iraqi woman looks at a display of pictures of people killed by Saddam Hussein's regime at the Shaheed Monument in Baghdad, Iraq.In this Wednesday, March 13, 2013 photo, bricks inscribed with the name of Saddam Hussein at archaeological site of Babylon. A decade on from the invasion that ousted the strongman, Iraqis still grapple with the country’s postwar identity and how much should be done to wipe away the dictator's influence.In this Tuesday, March 5, 2013 photo, Iraqis visit the Shaheed Monument in Baghdad, Iraq. Saddam Hussein had the split teardrop-shaped sculpture built in the middle of a man-made lake in the early 1980s to commemorate Iraqis killed in the Iran-Iraq War.
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