As the Americans prepare to “leave” – in a manner of speaking — Iraq, in order to replicate in Afghanistan and Pakistan the mess they made of Iraq, it is instructive to re-read Saddam’s letter to the American people [there is an English translation; and a copy], the final lines of which are reproduced below:

Final lines (“Save your homeland, [American people], and leave Iraq. Peace! God [alone] is the Greatest! God [alone] is the Greatest!”), with signature, title (“President, Republic of Iraq and the General Leader of the Mujahideen Armed Forces”), and date (“7/7/2006”), of Saddam Husain’s handwritten letter, addressed to the American People [Arabic pdf, and htm; alternate copy of Arabic pdf], some six months before his death (in the pre-dawn hours of Saturday 30 December 2006 / 10 Dhu al-Hijja 1427!).

Ironically, for a modern, secular, Arab socialist, who by all accounts had led an abominable life, Saddam Husain seems to have redeemed himself in his death. According to the Guardian (How Saddam died on the Gallows), as he recited the final prayers in preparation for death, he was taunted by hooded men – Saddam himself declined to wear a hood, telling his executioner, Iraq’s national security adviser, Mowaffak al-Rubaie, “don’t be afraid”! [CNN – in a story curiously titled, “Hussein executed with ‘fear in his face’”]. As he was led to the gallows, these men chanted, “Muqtada! Muqtada! Muqtada!” and shouted, “Go to hell” at which Saddam interrupted himself to ask, “To the hell that is Iraq?” He then ignored the taunts and continued with his prayers, “saying ‘I profess that there is no God but God and that Muhammad …,’ the executioners release[d] the trapdoor.”

See also: Robert Fisk: A dictator created then destroyed by America