Iraqi Hangings Bring More Denunciations

For Monday's hangings, the Iraqi government restricted the witnesses to a judge, a prosecutor, a doctor, a prison warden and representatives of the Interior Ministry and the prime minister's office, Dabbagh said. They made the attendees sign documents pledging they would not misbehave, Dabbagh added.

"Everyone obeyed the instructions of the government; no violation, chant, slogans or words that would harm the execution of this verdict was registered," he said.

Iraqi officials showed silent video clips of the hangings to reporters at a news conference but did not release the footage to the public.

According to an Associated Press account of the video, the two defendants appeared side by side at the gallows wearing red prison jumpsuits. They were surrounded by five masked men, and black hoods were placed over their heads. After the trapdoors beneath them opened, Bander dangled from the rope, but the shock of the rope going taut severed Ibrahim's head from his body, both of which fell to the floor, the news service reported.

By 6 p.m., the bodies had arrived in Auja, about 100 miles north of Baghdad, and were greeted by more than 1,000 people. The crowd carried the corpses, wrapped in Iraqi flags, on their shoulders into a hall as chants rang out of "Allahu akbar" -- "God is great" -- and guns were fired into the air.

The bodies were washed and wrapped in white shrouds before being buried in a garden plot next to the hall that houses Hussein's grave. The crowd surrounded the bodies, and the sound of crying mixed with chanted praises to God.

"We are so proud that [Bander] died as a martyr defending his beliefs," said Abdulla al-Sadoon, 55, a relative of Bander from Basra. "It is a proud thing to die like this."

Top officials from Salahuddin province attended the burials, and the funerals for Bander and Ibrahim were expected to last three days.

The hangings occurred on a day when two top outgoing U.S. officials in Iraq, Gen. George W. Casey Jr. and U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad, told reporters that they were optimistic about the new plan to secure Baghdad, saying they sensed a deeper commitment by the Iraqi government to combat Sunni and Shiite extremists who are fighting in the capital.

The Shiite-led Iraqi security forces have been widely accused of operating death squads that target Sunnis while allowing Shiite militias in the capital free rein. But Casey added that he did not expect to see significant improvement in Baghdad's security until the summer or fall.

"There is a strong political commitment from the government of Iraq to the plan, including the will to act, and including the will not to impose constraints on coalition and Iraqi security forces," Casey said, adding: "As with any plan, there are no guarantees of success, and it's not going to happen overnight. But with sustained political support and concentrated efforts on all sides, I believe that this plan can work."

President Bush has committed to send an additional 21,500 troops to Iraq in order to maintain a more visible presence in Baghdad's embattled neighborhoods and provide more support for Iraqi troops. The first of the reinforcements have arrived, Casey said.

"Yes, there are still difficulties with the Iraqi security forces; that has been a challenge," he said. "The increased deployment of coalition forces will enable us to increase the level of support we are providing to those forces, to strengthen them a little bit as we go forward with this plan."

Also on Monday, the U.S. military announced that a U.S. soldier from the 89th Military Police Brigade died Sunday when a roadside bomb exploded near his vehicle north of Baghdad. The soldier's name was not released.

Aldin reported from Auja. Special correspondents Naseer Nouri and Saad al-Izzi in Baghdad contributed to this report.