Men pray at the grave of Iraq's former president Saddam Hussein in Awja, near Tikrit in northern Iraq, 175km (110 miles) north of Baghdad, yesterday. - Reuters

BAGHDAD (Reuters):

A new clandestine video posted on the Internet showed the body of Saddam Hussein lying on a hospital trolley with a vivid red wound in his throat after being hanged.

The 27-second clip, seen yesterday, showed a sheet being removed to reveal Saddam's neck severely twisted and with a smear of blood on his left cheek.

It was the third illicit film — and fourth video altogether — to emerge since he was hanged on December 30 in an execution that inflamed sectarian passions in Iraq.

Iraq's Shi'ite-led government, which says it is struggling to avert an all-out sectarian civil war, is investigating another illicit film showing Shi'ite officials taunting Saddam on the gallows that has sparked anger among Saddam's fellow minority Sunni Arabs.

The Internet release of new grainy film, which appeared to have been taken by a mobile phone, came as U.S. President George W. Bush told U.S. lawmakers he has decided to send about 20,000 more troops to Iraq in a plan to be announced on Wednesday.

The White House said Bush, who is reshuffling his commanders and diplomats in Iraq, would address Americans on his new Iraq plan today at 9:00 p.m.

Gordon Smith, one of Bush's fellow Republicans who a month ago said he could no longer support the war, was among senators who attended a White House meeting to discuss the president's emerging strategy for Iraq, which Democrats have called an escalation of the war.

"It was clear to me that a decision has been made for a surge of, I suppose, 20,000 additional troops," Smith told reporters.

Smith said Bush told him and several other senators that the plan for the additional troops had originated with Iraqi Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.

Maliki had made commitments that the Iraqi government and military would take steps to strengthen security in exchange for more U.S. troops, Smith said.