Protest and Investigation after Saddam Execution
January 02, 2007 -- SADDAM'S EXECUTION
Saddam Video Inquiry Promised
Hundreds of Sunni Arabs gathered to show their anger and grief for Saddam Hussein on Tuesday as the Iraqi government promised an investigation into illicitly filmed footage of Shi'ite officials taunting him on the gallows. (Reuters)
NEW AL QAEDA STATEMENT
Al Qaeda Posts Fighting Words
Al Qaeda's No. 2 leader, Ayman al-Zawahri, attacked Egyptian and Palestinian leaders, accusing them of betraying Islam and collaborating with the United States and Israel, according to an Internet statement published in his name Monday. (AP)
IRAQ NEWS
16,273 Deaths Reported In Iraq In 2006
As enraged crowds protested the hanging of Saddam Hussein across Iraq's Sunni heartland Monday, government officials reported that 16,273 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police died violent deaths in 2006, a figure larger than an independent Associated Press count for the year by more than 2,500. (AP)
Sunni Party Office Hit in U.S. Raid in Iraq
U.S. forces said they were fired on from an office building belonging to a leading Sunni Arab politician during a raid on a suspected al Qaeda safehouse in Baghdad on Monday in which six insurgents were killed. (Reuters)
U.S./PHILIPPINES
Arroyo Justifies Transfer of Convicted Marine
A row has broken out in the Philippines over the transfer of a U.S. marine convicted of rape into U.S. custody, but President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo said on Tuesday the move was aimed at preserving bilateral ties. (Reuters)
PLANE CRASH IN INDONESIA
Confusion over Missing Indonesian Airplane
The disappearance, and presumed crash, of an Indonesian airliner with 102 people on board Monday was another tragic blow to a country with a checkered record of aviation safety. (International Herald Tribune)
IRAN NUCLEAR
Iran Will Press Ahead With Nuclear Work: President
President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said on Tuesday Iran would not retreat from its right to nuclear technology and that a U.N. resolution imposing sanctions on Iran was "invalid." (Reuters)
SPAIN
Spain Vows Tough Response to Bomb
Spain's attorney general has vowed an "energetic" response to a bombing in Madrid blamed on Basque separatists Eta, believed to have killed two men. (BBC)
SOMALIA
Somali Government Moves To Assert Control
Somali government troops pursued Islamist forces into a rugged, forested corner of Somalia on Tuesday, as the Kenyan military sealed its border against infiltration by the Islamists. (AP/International Herald Tribune)
ANALYSIS & OPINION
The Execution Of Saddam Hussein…A Crime Of Timing
By Tariq Alhomayed
Saddam Hussein killed his opponents in the name of Arabism, honor, and pride. The Iraqi government executed Saddam Hussein by hanging at dawn on Saturday, before Muslims slaughtered their sheep as a sacrifice on the first day of Eid ul-Adha, in the name of democracy. (Asharq Al-Awsat)
The Fault Lines of Civilizations
By H.D.S. Greenway
The old year closed with the murderous musketry of a new war. Ethiopia holds to the legend that it was founded by King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba's first son, Menelik, 3,000 years ago. Christianity came in the fourth century with Ethiopia's first bishop, Frumentius of Tyre. Seventeen centuries later, Ethiopia spent Christmas bombing the airfields of Mogadishu in neighboring Somalia. (The Boston Globe)
The Quality of His Mercy
By Jon Meacham
In history's light, the defining hour of Gerald Ford's presidency came at 11 o'clock on the morning of Sunday, Sept. 8, 1974, when he announced his pardon of Richard Nixon. The country has already heard much about Ford's role in healing the nation after Watergate and will undoubtedly hear more such reflections this morning when his life is commemorated at the Washington National Cathedral. It is fitting that these words will echo through the great nave, for Ford was, in a quiet, unnoticed way, an important figure in America's public religion. (Washington Post)
In the Club
Blue and gold balloons filled the air. Laser lights played over the monuments. The strains of Beethoven's Ode to Joy accompanied the dancing crowds. The new year celebrations in Bucharest and Sofia marked not only the start of 2007 but the greatest opportunity for Romania and Bulgaria to free themselves from the dictatorship, corruption and poverty of the past - and embrace a future as full members of the European Union. "Today a dream came true, a dream of generation of Bulgarians," their Prime Minister, Sergei Stanishev, told a huge outdoor concert. (UK Times)
The Insider Daily Investigative Report (DIR) is a summary of major news articles and broadcasts relating to investigative news, including international terrorism and developments in Iraq. The DIR is edited daily from foreign and U.S. sources by Chris Isham, Hoda Osman and Elizabeth Sprague of the ABC News Investigative Unit. The views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ABCNEWS.