The Crime That Sent Saddam to the Gallows

Dec. 30, 2006 — -- Compared to other crimes committed by former Iraqi despot Saddam Hussein and his regime, the 1982 Dujail massacre was barely known.

In both preparation and justification for the Iraq War, President Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair often referred to the better-known examples of Saddam's barbarism -- such as the wholesale slaughter of thousands of Kurds, Marsh Arabs, and Shiites after the first Gulf War, or the March 1988 chemical attack on Halabja, which resulted in the deaths of approximately 5,000 Kurds.

But the torture and murders Saddam ordered on the residents of Dujail -- a largely Shiite town 35 miles north of Baghdad -- as retaliation for an assassination attempt on his life ultimately were the ones that led to his hanging.

It began on a hot summer's day on July 8, 1982, in the early months of the Iran-Iraq war, which at that point was proceeding poorly for Saddam.

With an official cameraman in tow, Saddam and his entourage went to Dujail, where he spoke to a cheering crowd and thanked locals for sending their sons to war. According to footage, Saddam met with a family, patted the head of a small girl and turned down the offer of a glass of water. All seemed to be going well for this p.r. event.

On his way out of town, however, Saddam was ambushed. From the cover of palm trees, members of a militant Shiite group, Dawa, fired upon Saddam's entourage.

Saddam turned the convoy around. His security team began tracking down suspects. The cameraman caught some of those moments in tapes obtained by the Journeyman documentary company and aired on the United Kingdom's Channel 4.

"I'm fasting and was on my way home," pleaded one young man.

Cried another: "Please sir, I'm in the Popular Army."

"Keep them separate and interrogate them," Saddam said.

The dictator again spoke to a crowd.

"These small groups imagine they break the relationship between Saddam and the people," he said. "Neither these few shots nor the artillery bombardments will deflect us from the course we are taking."