From the NYT:
Four executioners, drawn from the ranks of the Iraqi police, wearing black ski masks, shepherded him to where the thick rope resting on a red railing was at the ready.
And what kind of allegiances did these hand-picked, presumably top-of-the-line, cops have? Let's turn to the LAT:
The charged silence that settled over the execution chamber was broken by an exchange between Hussein and four guards, who were apparently followers of Muqtada Sadr, the militant Shiite cleric whose father was killed by Hussein.
"Muqtada Sadr!" they cried out.
Hussein scoffed in reply.
His last word was a sarcastic "Muqtada," Haddad said. "And then he was hanged."
At what point should we stop saying that Shiite militia have "infiltrated" the government and instead acknowledge that in large part they are the government?
P.S. Abu Aardvark thinks the hasty offing of Saddam means the U.S. has written off the Sunnis and is now launching the "Shiite Option." (That's the nutty "strategy" of putting all our chips in with the Shiite in hopes of... I dunno, perhaps in hopes that they'll pound the Sunnis into submission.) Let's hope he's wrong.
