Clark says Saddam death penalty will unleash 'catastrophic' violence

[Team Infidel]

Media: AFP
Byline: n/a
Date: 05 October 2006

WASHINGTON - Ramsey Clark, a former US attorney general who is one of
Saddam Hussein's lawyers, said Thursday that any death sentence against the
former Iraqi president would increase violence in the strife-torn country.

"It seems clear that a guilty verdict will set off catastrophic violence"
and that a death sentence would be even worse, Clark told a Washington
press conference.

"It's hard to know how many Iraqis, dozens, hundreds, thousands, will die
because of the sentence," he said.

A date for a verdict in the crimes against humanity trial against Saddam
and seven co-accused, which opened in October, 2005, is due to be set soon
after the trial resumes on October 16.

If Saddam is found guilty and sentenced to death, Iraqi law lays down that
he should be executed within 30 days, said Clark.

The US attorney general from 1967-69 reaffirmed his belief that the court
is illegal because it was set up only to try Saddam. He criticised the
judges because they were "selected, trained, paid, protected by the United
States."

Saddam and his co-defendants, including a half brother Barzan al-Tikriti,
are on trial for a crackdown on a Shiite town of Dujail following an
assassination attempt in 1982.

He faces a separate trial for genocide against Iraq's Kurdish minority in
the 1988 Anfal campaign.

 

[Chief Bones]

Not Guilty ... not likely .......

I would pose the question ... Knowing Saddam's history as far as genocide against his own people, how in the world could anyone think Saddam will ultimately be found NOT GUILTY?

IF the trial is carried out with 'truthful' testimony and credible evidence, there is no way that he WON'T be found GUILTY (even of the lesser crimes [which also carry a death penalty]).

Even IF he escapes retribution for the lesser charges, the genocide charges have been proven again again and again. Usage of Chemical Weapons could not be carried out without his direct orders, and the world was a witness to his usage of chemical weapons against his own people, and that was documented by many media people and media cameras.

What a guilty finding will mean to the Iraqis themselves is anybodies guess. Even Clark is making a guess.

 

[SNowblind]

If Saddam is found guilty and sentenced to death, Iraqi law lays down that
he should be executed within 30 days

That would be useful in the U.S.