by TChris

Saddam Hussein is heading back to Iraq, and it looks like he's facing a speedy trial.

Already there are pretrial negotiations over permitting Saddam's foreign legal team to work in Iraq, whether to televise the proceedings and whether to reinstate the harshest penalty in Iraq's legal code: hanging by the neck until dead.

Hussein will make his first appearance before the war crimes tribunal Thursday, when he and eleven of his lieutenants will be informed of the charges against them. Iraq will take physical custody of the prisoners on Wednesday.

Upon their arraignment, the dozen U.S. military detainees will be given the status of Iraqi criminal suspects, which gives them the right to attorneys or appointed counsel, Chalabi said.

The linked article deems Saddam the Iraqi O.J. Simpson. Don't expect the same trial result. Here's one barrier to assembling a dream team:

"How can the defense team go to a country where it doesn't enjoy any protection? They will kill us there," said an angry al-Khasawneh [one of Saddam's would-be defense attorneys].