NEW YORK, Dec. 30 (Xinhua) -- The execution of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein is unlikely to change the situation in Iraq, Harvard professor Joseph Nye said Saturday.

    "Given the numbers of people he killed, it is difficult to feel sorry for Saddam Hussein," Nye told Xinhua in a written interview.

    "Unfortunately, his execution is unlikely to change the situation in Iraq where an incipient civil war is pitting Sunni against Shia Muslims," said Nye, professor of international relations and former dean of Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government.

    "Sunni insurgents will simply take the execution of Saddam by the weak Iraqi government as confirmation of their suspicions about the largely Shia government," the professor said.

    Nye, renowned for his 2004 book, Soft Power: The Means to Success in World Politics, served as deputy to the under secretary of state for security assistance, science and technology in 1977-1979 and as assistant secretary of defense for international security affairs in 1994-1995.