Muwaffaq Ar-Rubay`i. The status of Ar-Rubay`i in the Iraqi puppet government since the occupation of the country reveals much about the true reality of governance--if you can call it that--in Iraq. I mean, puppet prime ministers come and go (from `Allawi, to Ja`fari, and now to Al-Maliki), and this guy remains as "the national security adviser" of the government--whatever that is. I mean, it is quite clear that he is there in that position in his capacity as the permanent puppet of occupation, not to to be confused with the changing and rotating puppets of occupation. Ar-Rubay`i spoke perhaps prematurely on Al-Iraqiyya TV station last night. He witnessed the the execution, and he said that Saddam looked "very terrified" and totally surrendered to the executioners. But Al-Jazeera's broadcaster pointed out today that his words were soon contradicted by the very footage that was released by the Iraqi government itself. Say what you want about Saddam, but he he did not look terrified in the footage. And the Iraqi media reported that he got into a fight with the guards just prior to the execution, which is not a sign of a "very terrified" man. Saddam's machismo and his acute case of megalomania, coupled with his high sense of his role in Iraqi history (and his role unfortunately has been enhanced by the horrors of the American occupation of Iraq) would prevent him from showing any fear on camera. And when I saw the Iraqi puppet prime minister, Nuri Al-Maliki signing the death sentence of Saddam. I could not help but think: here is a man who has just signed two death sentences: one for Saddam, and the other for himself.