Iraq PM hits out at Saddam execution critics

Shorter al-Maliki: If you're gonna be so mean, I won't play with you anymore.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki has threatened to "review" relations with countries which have criticised the bungled execution of Saddam Hussein, saying the hanging was an internal matter.

As Maliki lashed out at critics of his government, 27 corpses of people killed execution-style in central Baghdad were found, providing more grisly evidence of Iraq's raging sectarian conflict.

"The Iraqi government could be obliged to review its relations with any state that fails to respect the wish of the Iraqi people," said Maliki in his first reaction to the ousted president's hanging in Baghdad on December 30.

"We consider the execution of the dictator an internal affair that concerns only the Iraqi people," said Maliki, speaking at a ceremony on the 86th anniversary of the Iraqi army.

Maliki also lashed out at those who criticised the execution.

"We find that this conduct is inciting sedition and flagrant interference in the internal affairs of Iraq and abuses feelings of the families of the victims."

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