Saddam ready to die 'with honour'

Baghdad: Ousted former Iraqi president Saddam Hussain says he is ready to die ‘with honour and with no fear', his lawyers said after he was sentenced to death by hanging on Sunday.

Saddam's lawyers said they talked with him for more than three hours on Saturday, adding he was in high spirits as he chatted about escalating US military losses and the rising insurgency.

“I will die with honour and with no fear, with pride for my country and my Arab nation, but the US occupiers will leave in humiliation and defeat,'' they quoted the former president as saying.

“They will see rivers of blood for years to come. It will dwarf Vietnam.''

Saddam has said he wants to face a military firing squad, not the hangman.