Saddam Hussein

The appeal lodged by the former Iraqi dictator's legal defense team against his death sentence has been rejected. Saddam Hussein is now to be hanged within 30 days. There is an outside chance that the sentence could be overturned by the president, but the trial judge has stated that it cannot be commuted.

Dramatic as though this may seem, Saddam Hussein has been reduced to little more than a footnote in current proceedings in his country. His supporters will probably transported into a frenzy of rage, but the situation in Iraq is now so chaotic that this won't make much of an impact.

Saddam Hussein was a monstrous leader, whose invasion of Kuwait in 1990 gave the American forces an opportunity to remove him from power. They did not do so for diplomatic considerations. Thirteen years down the line, the pretext of 'weapons of mass destruction' was used to invade Iraq and depose its president. The pretext was hollow and unfounded - Saddam had got rid of his nasties some time before, realising he was in a stranglehold.

The balance of power in the region has now shifted firmly towards Iran, Iraq's eastern neighbour. Although its president, Mahmoud Ahmedinajad, has made some pretty outrageous statements, I have him down as a very shrewd player. His own wings were clipped in recent elections, which saw several hard-line politicians removed from power. Ahmedinajad is a highly educated individual, who hides his intellect behind rhetoric and populist speeching. Beware.

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