(3 Jan 2007) SHOTLIST
1. Wide of presser
2. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, U.S. military spokesman:
"If you are asking me 'would we have done things differently?' Yes we would have. But that's not our decision. That's the government of Iraq's decision. What I think it's important to realise is the government of Iraq has the opportunity to take advantage of what has occurred and really reach out now in an attempt to bring more people back into the political process and bring the Sunnis back in and work this de-Baathification process in terms of trying to bring back a unity government. It's a real critical juncture that has an opportunity if they want to take advantage of it that they can look at."
3. Wide of presser
4. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, U.S. military spokesman:
"We had absolutely nothing to do with anything further than just the physical movement and security of him as we had always done to get him to a pre-determined location, which in the past had been to the courthouse where the proceedings had been taking place."
5. Wide of presser
6. SOUNDBITE: (English) Maj. Gen. William Caldwell, U.S. military spokesman:
"He was dignified as always. He was courtesy (sic) as he always had been to his military police guards. His characterisation did change at the prison facility when Iraqi guards were assuming control of him, but he was still dignified towards us. He spoke very well to our military police as he always had, and when getting off at the prison site he said farewell to his interpreter; he thanked the military police squad; the lieutenant; the squad leader; the medical doctor we had present; and the colonel that was on site. And then we had absolutely nothing to do with any of the procedures or any of the control mechanisms from that point forward. In fact our forces withdrew from the building back away from the location."
7. Wide of presser
STORYLINE:
The United States would have handled the execution of former Iraqi president Saddam Hussein differently, a US military spokesman said in Baghdad on Wednesday.
"If you are asking me: 'Would we have done things differently?' Yes, we would have. But that's not our decision. That's the government of Iraq's decision," said Major General William Caldwell, a US military spokesman.
"What I think it's important to realise is the government of Iraq has the opportunity to take advantage of what has occurred and really reach out now in an attempt to bring more people back into the political process," added Caldwell.
He said that Saddam was "dignified" and "courteous" as he was transferred from US military control to Iraqi custody before he was executed.
"He spoke very well to our military police, as he always had, and when getting off at the prison site he said farewell to his interpreter; he thanked the military police squad," said Caldwell.
When asked about the controversy surrounding the filming of Saddam's execution on mobile phones, Caldwell said the US was not involved.
"We had absolutely nothing to do with anything further than just the physical movement and security of him, as we had always done to get him to a pre-determined location," he said.
Saddam was hanged at a former military intelligence headquarters in Baghdad's Shiite neighbourhood of Kazamiyah.
During his regime, Saddam had numerous dissidents and opponents executed in the facility, located in a neighbourhood that's home to the Iraqi capital's most important Shiite shrine - the Imam Kazim shrine.

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