Saddam's last message: Be fair and don't hate

"I call on you not to hate because hate does not leave space for a person to be fair and it makes you blind and closes all doors of thinking," Saddam said in the letter published on a website known to represent the former dictator's Baath Party.

"I also call on you not to hate the people of the other countries that attacked us and who separated the people from those who govern them," Saddam wrote.

The letter appeared to be what he would have said if he had been given an opportunity to address the court on the day he was condemned to death last month. An appeal against the sentence was refused on Tuesday.

Issam Ghazzawi, one of Saddam's lawyers, confirmed that the letter was authentic, saying it was written by Saddam on November 5 - the day he was condemned to death for ordering the killing of 148 people, including children, who had been arrested after an attempt to assassinate him in the northern town of Dujail in 1982.

"You should know that among the aggressors, there are people who support your struggle against the invaders, and some of them volunteered for the legal defence of prisoners, including Saddam Hussein," the fallen leader wrote in a clear reference to the former US attorney general Ramsay Clark, who joined his defence team. "Others revealed the scandals of the aggressors and condemned them.

"Some of these people wept profusely when they said goodbye to me," Saddam wrote.

But the Iraqi dictator couldn't resist casting himself in the role of martyr: "Here I offer myself in sacrifice. If God almighty wishes, it (my soul) will take me where he orders to be with the martyrs, If my soul goes down this path (of martyrdom) it will face God in serenity." He also called on Iraqis to unite...

"Oh brave, pious Iraqis in the heroic resistance. Oh sons of the one nation, direct your enmity towards the invaders. Do not let them divide you... Long live jihad (holy war) and the mujahideen against the invaders."

Earlier yesterday, the same website published a statement in which the Baath Party threatened to attack the US and its interests if Saddam is executed.

"The Baath and the resistance (fighters) are determined to retaliate, with all means and everywhere, to harm America and its interests if it commits this crime," the statement said, referring to the execution that the appeal court has just upheld.

The site is believed to be run from Yemen, where some exiled Baath members are based.

There were no big celebrations or protests against Tuesday's death penalty decision as many Iraqis, preoccupied with violence and shortages, had expected any appeal to fail.

"This is a just sentence because Saddam oppressed the Iraqi people but I think it came at the wrong time because we're living through a cycle of violence," said Mohammed Nasir.

With the government silent on how Saddam would die, speculation ranged from a swift hanging in days to a public execution broadcast on TV - though few believed the latter likely.

Political professor Hazim al-Naimi said the government appeared to want to dampen down media coverage. "They have had reconciliation conferences and there are others lined up, so they are playing a clever game by not commenting and letting it cool down," Naimi said.

CRISIS MEETING AS BUSH SUMMONS CHIEFS

PRESIDENT George Bush today holds a meeting crucial to determining the future of US policy in Iraq.

He will chair a National Security Council meeting with the vice-president, Dick Cheney, defence secretary Robert Gates, Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, national security adviser Stephen Hadley and General Peter Pace, chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, at his ranch in Crawford, Texas.

He is to announce his policy decisions in a speech between now and his State of the Union policy address to Congress on 23 January. Mr Bush has promised a new approach, yet even Mr Gates has acknowledged that "there are no new ideas in Iraq".

Indeed, some of the ideas under consideration - sending in more troops, embedding more US advisers in Iraqi units, engaging in more aggressive diplomacy - are not novel. And if Mr Bush does come up with a fresh approach after nearly four years of war, it will raise the question of why he had not thought of it before.

No decisions have been made about increasing US troops in Iraq, but there could be a short-term surge to quell ongoing violence.