Saddam Hussein, who ruled Iraq for a quarter-century, was taken to the gallows and executed Saturday. On the gallows, Saddam refused to wear a hood, the Associated Press reported. Baghdad was relatively quiet after the announcement, and the government did not impose a round-the-clock curfew as it did when Saddam was convicted on Nov. 5 to thwart any surge in retaliatory violence. «We wanted him to be executed on a special day,» National Security adviser Mouwafak al-Rubaie told state-run Iraqiyah television. Al-Rubaie said Saddam «totally surrendered» and did not resist. He said a judge read the sentence to Saddam, who was taken in handcuffs to the execution room. When he stood in the execution room, photographs and video footage were taken, al-Rubaie said.
