Ready to die, Saddam says

Former Iraqi leader's farewell letter goes online a day after his death sentence is upheld

BAGHDAD, IRAQ -- Saddam Hussein, who is expected to make the short walk up the gallows' stairs to his death here sometime in the next 30 days, said he was prepared to die and sure of his place in heaven as a martyr.

He also called on Iraqis to unite, according to a letter that his lawyers said Wednesday had been composed by the former dictator.

Fears that the announcement Tuesday upholding his death penalty would spark violence appeared not to be immediately borne out. But officials were still concerned about possible public reaction to the execution itself, and some speculated that the hanging would take place in secret and only be announced after the fact. U.S. and Iraqi officials said nothing definitive about the execution's details Wednesday.

A top government official, meanwhile, told The Associated Press that Saddam's execution could proceed without the approval of Iraq's president, meaning there were no more legal obstacles to sending the deposed dictator to the gallows.

Questions had arisen about whether the appeals court's ruling needed to be approved by the Iraqi presidency, which customarily signs off on death sentences.

Legalities of execution

Busho Ibrahim, deputy justice minister, told AP it wasn't necessary. "According to the legal provisions of the court, there is no need for the approval of the presidency," he said.

A spokesman for President Jalal Talabani acknowledged the legal argument that the execution could go ahead without ratification by the president, who has expressed opposition to the death penalty.

"Some people believe there is no need for his approval," spokesman Hiwa Osman said. "We still have to hear from the court as to how the procedure can be carried out."

Officials close to Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki have said the government wants the execution to take place as soon as possible.

"Definitely," Sadiq Rikabi, a political adviser to the prime minister, told The Washington Post on Tuesday. "This is in order to open a new page in the history of the Iraqi people."

Saddam is being held at Camp Cropper, a U.S. base near the Baghdad Airport. Although the site of the hanging has yet to be announced, the main execution center in Baghdad is near his cell. In a drab concrete building, a set of steel stairs leads to a platform, about 15 feet above the ground. There, nooses fashioned from hemp ropes are slipped around the necks of the condemned before a steel trapdoor swings down.

Saddam's goodbye

In his latest letter, Saddam displayed none of the bombast and defiance that had defined his court appearances.

Saddam was convicted Nov. 5 of crimes against humanity for his part in the execution of 148 men and boys in the northern town of Dujail, and he wrote his farewell letter at that time, his lawyers said.

"I say goodbye to you, but I will be with the merciful God who helps those who take refuge in him and who will never disappoint any honest believer," the letter said. "I call on you not to hate, because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking."

"I also call on you not to hate the people of the other countries that attacked us," it added, referring to the invasion that toppled his regime nearly four years ago.

The deposed leader said he was writing the letter because his lawyers had told him the Iraqi High Tribunal that tried his case would give him an opportunity to say a final word, AP reported.

The missive, which was posted on a Baath Party Web site and received extensive coverage on Arabic television news stations, seemed to cause little public stir in Baghdad.