I refer to the malaysiakini report Dr M: Saddam's execution barbaric . Our former prime minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad has expressed 'horror and disgust' over the trial and sentencing of Saddam to death and that 'the world watched in horror at the barbaric lynching of (former) President Saddam Hussein of Iraq'.

Given that Mahathir has established a reputation for speaking on things he has scant knowledge of, this outburst is not surprising. Let's just do a quick recapitulation of Saddam's record of savagery:

Between 1978-80: Hundreds of thousands of Iraqis, whose ancestors were of Iranian origin, were packed in trucks and thrown out on Iranian border after their properties were all confiscated. Hundreds died in the cold winter with no place to find shelter. The teenage sons were kept in Iraqi jails and from 1992~1995 were all killed no exceptions.

1983: A government campaign against members of the Barzani tribe (they helped launch an Iranian offensive in northern Iraq) resulted in 8,000 deaths who were buried in mass graves in the southern desert.

1986-1988: The scorched earth offensive called 'Anfal' resulted in chemical attacks on Kurds in northern Iraq seeking autonomy. Over 180,000 Kurds were killed (you, Mr ex-PM, would have seen the pictures that included graphic footage of mothers clutching their children in death poses as did the rest of the world).

1991: Government crackdowns on Shiite Muslims and Kurdish uprisings at the end of the Iran-Iraq war end. Over 60,000 were killed and buried in mass graves.

1992: Driving out the Marsh Arabs in southern Iraq by draining the marshlands on which they depended for their living. Several thousands were killed here.

1979-2003: Elimination of political prisoners by Saddam including Turkomans, religious Muslims and communists. Tens of thousands were killed, some buried in mass graves and some near prisons.

The above are official data coming out of investigations and also some interviews with next of kin some of whom never saw their loved ones come back from work, prison or detention. Here, in the US, we got to see a Japanese camera crew filming one of the many hundreds of unearthed mass graves in just one area in Iraq which had over 2,200 sets of remains carted away for identification.

Another episode showed distraught mothers and family members clutching a few bones which was all that were left of their long missing (and identified) son/father/husband. Ex-prisoners' accounts of the torture they survived which left them incapacitated for life (during the early days of the Gulf War) revealed the real nature of Saddam's 'barbaric' (to borrow your word, ex-prime minister) bent.

He would have his political prisoners dunked in a vat of acid after they were subject to electric shocks. Yet others spoke of his 'worst enemies' (suspected of not being loyal) being put through a commercial meat grinder very slowly while the lower parts of the abdomen were slowly ground up.

Sorry to be so graphic Mr Ex-Prime Minister, but please try to see the case from the victim family's perspective before you go defending Saddam first. Better yet, why does RTM not televise the mass grave exhumations so that Malaysians have a better idea of the barbarian's record of atrocities against his own people?

You should let Malaysians judge for themselves (whether the hanging was indeed 'barbaric') after listening to the hundreds of victims talk of their missing loved ones and the ones who were finally re-united with the skeletons of what was once their kin.

As Mark Twain once said, 'The only reason we don't cry at other people's funerals is because we are not involved'. Behind every one of those who died at Saddam's hand was a father, a son, a daughter or a child - a real life which had as much right to live life as any of us but which was snuffed out in an untimely manner.