He was the chief of the Iraqi Gestapo. Yesterday they swung him and his head popped right off. To quote an employer/friend of mine: boo freaking hoo.

Khalaf al-Olayan, a leader of the main Sunni bloc in parliament, demanded to see any video taken during the execution. It was not known if the government took an official video, as it did during Saddam’s execution.

“It is impossible for a person to be decapitated during a hanging,” he told Al-Jazeera television. “This shows that they (the government) have mutilated the body and this is a violation of the law.”

“We want to see the video that was taken during the execution of the two men in order for them (government) to prove what they are saying,” he added.

He’ll get his wish. Not only did they shoot video, they’ve already showed it to reporters.

They were both dressed in orange boiler suits.

Executioners in balaclavas placed hoods round both men’s heads, then the noose.

A short while later the footage, which is silent, shows both men fall.

Almost immediately the rope that was round Barzan’s neck flicks upwards, the body dropping below.

The cameraman then shows the pit below and a headless body, bloodied at the neck and what officials say was Barzan’s head still covered by a hood.

It’ll be online soon enough, I’m sure.

Meanwhile, Iraqslogger‘s chasing down a rumor which it says has already been confirmed by one U.N. source — namely, that Saddam’s execution was a wedding present from Maliki to one of his children. Far-fetched? Not really.

Mr Maliki added insult to injury by attending a family wedding the same day. After witnessing the dawn hanging, a few hours later Mr Maliki presided as father of the groom at a ceremony in Baghdad.

The Commissar read the news today, oh boy, and declares that the war is over — and the Shiites have won.

Update: From the Hussein family scrapbook: Saddam plots murder with Barzan while budding psychos Uday and Qusay frolic.