Saddam could be hanged within days

  Former Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein, sentenced to death for his role in 148 killings in 1982, will have his sentence carried out by Sunday.

   Preparations for the execution of Saddam Hussein began taking on a sense of urgency as U.S. and Iraqi officials suggested that he could be hanged within a span of days rather than weeks.

   U.S. troops would turn Saddam over to the Iraqi government within 36 hours, and the former dictator would be executed before Sunday, CBS news reported. The network also quoted an Iraqi national security adviser as saying the execution would be both observed by international witnesses and videotaped.

   The international news service Reuters reported Saddam was allowed to meet with two half-brothers who are also in American custody. He bade them farewell and gave them letters for family, the news service reported.

    If the American administration insists in handing the president to the Iraqis, it would commit a great strategic mistake, which would lead to the escalation of the violence in Iraq and the eruption of a destructive civil war,  al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press.

    It's up to the government of Iraq to carry out the execution,  said Armand Cucciniello, a spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Baghdad.