Shortly after the first Gulf War, filmmaker Jon Alpert traveled to Baghdad and became one of the last American journalists to interview Saddam Hussein. The interview was originally slated to air on ABC but it was never broadcast. [includes rush transcript] In Baghdad, the Iraqi government has announced plans to investigate why Saddam Hussein was taunted in the final moments before his hanging. Cell phone footage shows that masked guards chanted the name of Shiite leader Muqtada al Sadr and then told the former Iraqi president to go to hell. The treatment of Hussein has sparked protests around the world. Former NBC News anchor Tom Brokaw said Hussein’s execution "resembled the worst kind of nightmare out of the old American West." Britain’s deputy prime minister, John Prescott, said the manner of Hussein’s killing was deplorable. Well, today on Democracy Now! we are going to continue our coverage of the execution of Saddam Hussein by airing one of the last televised interviews Hussein did with an American journalist. The interview took place in 1993 in Baghdad shortly after the first Gulf War and was conducted by our colleague here at Down Town Community Television, the 15-time Emmy Award winner Jon Alpert. Until now, it has never been aired in the United States.

• Jon Alpert, 15-time Emmy Award winning documentary filmmaker and the founder of Downtown Community Television.
• Excerpts of Jon Alpert’s interview with Saddam Hussein in 1993.