Team Infidel
Forum Spin Doctor
By HAMZA HENDAWI - Associated Press Writer
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (AP) The lawyer for Saddam Hussein said Tuesday
he will ask a tribunal for a three-month adjournment of the former Iraqi
dictator's trial for a 1982 massacre.
Saddam and seven senior members of his 23-year regime go on trial
Wednesday to face charges they ordered the killings of nearly 150 people
from the mainly Shiite town of Dujail following a failed attempt on Saddam's
life.
Khalil Dulaimi told The Associated Press he would ask during
Wednesday's opening session for more time to prepare Saddam's defense and
arrange for Arab and Western lawyers to join him in the defense team.
The defense also will challenge the court's competence to try
Saddam.
"We will dispute the legitimacy of the court as we've been doing
every day. We will claim it is unconstitutional and not competent to try the
legitimate president of Iraq," Dulaimi said.
"Saddam Hussein is Iraq's legitimate president while the court is
illegitimate because the U.S. invasion is illegal and everything that has
been built upon it is just as illegal."
The court is expected to grant an adjournment if the defense asks
for one, court officials have said.
Dulaimi met with Saddam for 90 minutes Tuesday at a location other
than the usual place of detention for the ousted Iraqi leader. Dulaimi would
not elaborate.
Saddam's location has been kept secret since his capture by American
troops in December 2003, but it is believed that he has been held at a U.S.
facility at Baghdad International Airport.
Saddam was in high spirits and "very optimistic" on the eve of the
start of his trial, Dulaimi said.
"I have just left him five minutes ago. His morale is very, very,
very high and he is very optimistic and confident of his innocence, although
the court is ... unjust," Dulaimi said.
If convicted, Saddam and his co-defendants could face the death
penalty, but they could appeal before another chamber of the special
tribunal set up to try the former leader and officials from his ousted
regime.
Court officials have said they are trying Saddam on the Dujail
massacre first because it was the easiest and quickest case to put together.
Other cases they are investigating _ including a crackdown on the Kurds that
killed an estimated 180,000 people _ involve much larger numbers of victims,
more witnesses and more documentation.
Saddam and his co-defendants are expected to hear the charges
against them during Wednesday's hearing.
An American adviser to Saddam's defense team said Tuesday the former
dictator's rights were violated after his capture. Former U.S. attorney
general Ramsey Clark said "the fundamental human rights that have been
violated" include Saddam's right to a lawyer of his own choosing, access to
facilities to prepare his defense, and access to a proper constituted court
to challenge the charges.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari complained Monday that the Iraqi
court took an unjustifiably long time to prepare its case and brushed aside
concerns that the court could be biased against the former dictator.
"I don't think there are any more clear-cut crimes in the world than
those committed by Saddam," said the Shiite Muslim leader, five of whose
close relatives, including an older brother, were executed by Saddam's
regime in the 1980s and 1990s.
He underlined, however, that the deaths in his family did not mean
he would get a sense of personal satisfaction if the former dictator is
eventually executed.
"I try to forget what happened to my brother and my cousins. It is
never an issue of revenge or personal malice," al-Jaafari said during a 2
1/2-hour meeting with journalists over "iftar," the sunset meal Muslims eat
to break their fast during the month of Ramadan.
Al-Jaafari's Shiite Dawa Party was blamed by the toppled regime for
the attempt on Saddam's life in Dujail, a Dawa stronghold. Of the estimated
17 party members who opened fire on Saddam's motorcade, eight were killed in
a shootout with troops from Saddam's elite Republican Guard. Nine others
escaped and fled to Iran.
Al-Jaafari, who took office in April as the head of a Shiite-Kurdish
coalition, said he wanted Saddam to have a fair and open trial, but made it
clear that he preferred the proceedings not drag on.
BAGHDAD, Iraq - (AP) The lawyer for Saddam Hussein said Tuesday
he will ask a tribunal for a three-month adjournment of the former Iraqi
dictator's trial for a 1982 massacre.
Saddam and seven senior members of his 23-year regime go on trial
Wednesday to face charges they ordered the killings of nearly 150 people
from the mainly Shiite town of Dujail following a failed attempt on Saddam's
life.
Khalil Dulaimi told The Associated Press he would ask during
Wednesday's opening session for more time to prepare Saddam's defense and
arrange for Arab and Western lawyers to join him in the defense team.
The defense also will challenge the court's competence to try
Saddam.
"We will dispute the legitimacy of the court as we've been doing
every day. We will claim it is unconstitutional and not competent to try the
legitimate president of Iraq," Dulaimi said.
"Saddam Hussein is Iraq's legitimate president while the court is
illegitimate because the U.S. invasion is illegal and everything that has
been built upon it is just as illegal."
The court is expected to grant an adjournment if the defense asks
for one, court officials have said.
Dulaimi met with Saddam for 90 minutes Tuesday at a location other
than the usual place of detention for the ousted Iraqi leader. Dulaimi would
not elaborate.
Saddam's location has been kept secret since his capture by American
troops in December 2003, but it is believed that he has been held at a U.S.
facility at Baghdad International Airport.
Saddam was in high spirits and "very optimistic" on the eve of the
start of his trial, Dulaimi said.
"I have just left him five minutes ago. His morale is very, very,
very high and he is very optimistic and confident of his innocence, although
the court is ... unjust," Dulaimi said.
If convicted, Saddam and his co-defendants could face the death
penalty, but they could appeal before another chamber of the special
tribunal set up to try the former leader and officials from his ousted
regime.
Court officials have said they are trying Saddam on the Dujail
massacre first because it was the easiest and quickest case to put together.
Other cases they are investigating _ including a crackdown on the Kurds that
killed an estimated 180,000 people _ involve much larger numbers of victims,
more witnesses and more documentation.
Saddam and his co-defendants are expected to hear the charges
against them during Wednesday's hearing.
An American adviser to Saddam's defense team said Tuesday the former
dictator's rights were violated after his capture. Former U.S. attorney
general Ramsey Clark said "the fundamental human rights that have been
violated" include Saddam's right to a lawyer of his own choosing, access to
facilities to prepare his defense, and access to a proper constituted court
to challenge the charges.
Prime Minister Ibrahim al-Jaafari complained Monday that the Iraqi
court took an unjustifiably long time to prepare its case and brushed aside
concerns that the court could be biased against the former dictator.
"I don't think there are any more clear-cut crimes in the world than
those committed by Saddam," said the Shiite Muslim leader, five of whose
close relatives, including an older brother, were executed by Saddam's
regime in the 1980s and 1990s.
He underlined, however, that the deaths in his family did not mean
he would get a sense of personal satisfaction if the former dictator is
eventually executed.
"I try to forget what happened to my brother and my cousins. It is
never an issue of revenge or personal malice," al-Jaafari said during a 2
1/2-hour meeting with journalists over "iftar," the sunset meal Muslims eat
to break their fast during the month of Ramadan.
Al-Jaafari's Shiite Dawa Party was blamed by the toppled regime for
the attempt on Saddam's life in Dujail, a Dawa stronghold. Of the estimated
17 party members who opened fire on Saddam's motorcade, eight were killed in
a shootout with troops from Saddam's elite Republican Guard. Nine others
escaped and fled to Iran.
Al-Jaafari, who took office in April as the head of a Shiite-Kurdish
coalition, said he wanted Saddam to have a fair and open trial, but made it
clear that he preferred the proceedings not drag on.