Special report:Tension escalates in Iraq

Special report: Saddam Hussein's Fate

    WASHINGTON, Dec. 27 (Xinhua) -- The White House said on Wednesday that the coming execution of the toppled President Saddam Hussein would trigger a wave of reprisals from his supporters in Iraq.

    "Certainly that's something that the multinational forces are aware of and Iraqi forces are certainly aware of," White House spokesman Scott Stanzel said one day after Saddam Hussein was sentenced to death.

    Iraq's highest appeals court announced on Tuesday it had upheld the death sentence for the former Iraqi president, who would be executed within the next 30 days.

    Saddam, who was deposed by the U.S.-led invasion of Iraq in 2003, was sentenced to death on Nov. 5, 2006 for crimes against humanity after killing of 148 people in Dujail village following a failed assassination attempt on him in 1982.

    "We've seen in the past that the enemies have worked to use any excuse to foment violence, and that's something that we're monitoring, for sure," Stanzel said in Crawford, Texas, where President George W. Bush is spending the end of the year.

    The spokesman denied any U.S. government involvement in deciding when Saddam is to be hanged.

    "That is a matter for the Iraqi people, and we are observers to that process. They are a sovereign government, and they will make their own decisions regarding carrying out that justice," he said.