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Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Sun Oct 09, 2005 at 04:07:16 PM EST
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Saddam Hussein's trial will begin October 19. Knights Ridder reports on the rules of the Iraq tribunal trying Saddam Hussein:

Once the court is finished with the first case, Saddam will likely face another trial for allegedly committing similar crimes in other communities, mostly Shiite Muslim and Kurdish areas, the official said. ....If he is sentenced to death in the Dujail case, he will also begin his appeals process, the official said. Should he lose his appeal, he'd be executed 30 days later. That could occur, the official continued, "before all the cases have been decided."

Who made the court rules?

The court rules are based on a statute written while the U.S.-led Coalition Provisional Authority led the country. Officials handed the procedures to an Iraqi-led government in June 2004.

Saddam is not getting a jury, but a trial by five judges. He has co-defendants. His trial begins October 19, but is expected to hit a delay as motions are argued. [Via Raw Story.]

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    Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End | 9 comments (9 topical)
    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#1)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:50 PM EST
    Talk about dead man walking ... Why can't Saddam get a proper trial? Instead, he will probably become a martyr.

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#2)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:51 PM EST
    Before the trial ends, and before he can say anything embarrassing that will reach the public.

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#3)
    by peacrevol on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:51 PM EST
    As long as it's a purely Iraqi trial, they can do what they want. The problem is it wont be truly 100% Iraqi. There has already been far too much American influence on the whole process. They were the ones persecuted by the guy, so I think they should decide what to do with him. It's not our place to say whether he has a fair trial or not, b/c that may not be what their people want. They dont operate under the US constitution and personally, I know absolutely nothing about their constitution, and I really could care less. They have a govt now, and we should be hands off in their govt affairs. The only reason we should even be over there is for protection until they can protect themselves.

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#6)
    by Al on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:51 PM EST
    Charley, apart from the natural disgust that most people feel about a sham trial where the execution is a foregone conclusion, there are actually practical reasons why it is a bad strategy for the US to be seen encouraging this sort of thing. First, as I pointed out above, it is quite conceivable that Saddam might be elevated to martyr status in Iraq, continuing to fuel the killing of American troops there. Second, the credibility of the US takes yet another severe blow. How credible do you think all this talk of bringing freedom to other countries is when the fellow you're overthrowing is condemned before the trial even begins? And he's not even getting a jury. I think DavidD is right. Saddam knows he's a dead man, so he would want at least to expose as much as he can to vindicate himself.

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#7)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:52 PM EST
    Hey Charley, What is it with you right wing trolls and the idea that those of us on the left sympathize with Hussein? Earth to numbnuts: NO ONE on this board sympathizes with Saddam - he was a monster. What we're concerned with is the integrity of the process. And it's a real concern that his execution will be very swift, not in the name of swift justice, but to prevent him from testifying to some things that will embarrass the Bush junta and those who deify Reagan. Remember, Saddam was a staunch ally of ours and we turned our heads away from some extremely heinous crimes that he committed - until he got greedy and grabbed the Kuwaiti oilfields. Come back when you're ready (if ever) to have an intelligent discussion.

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#8)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:52 PM EST
    There are SEVENTEEN TONS of Hussein gov't paperwork in our national archive. A real trial, EXPOSING that data is what is needed, not a lynching. The Kurds deserve a full airing of the evidence the United States is holding (that they turned over to us). But what chance of that is there, when the so-called President of the United States is harboring a terrorist who blew up a civilian airliner, and torturing and occupying with a violence in many ways worse than Hussein's? There is some evidence the USPNAC is using chemical warfare agents in Iraq, and we KNOW they are using thermobaric anti-personel bombs. That's a warcrime in itself, and an easy rival to Hussein's actions. Hussein was installed by the CIA. No one disputes that. He was armed by Reagan to carry on the Iraq-Iran war, which killed a million human beings and accomplished only that. For the US, it was a racist program from the start, and it is hard to argue that the Highway of Death warcrime and Food for Oil were not also that kind of general genocidal policy. On a related topic, the same CIA trained Osama Bin Laden AND possibly Zarqawi. If that's true, a big part of the connection between those two is through the CIA, and a big part of our problems are the direct results of past "US" actions.

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#9)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:53 PM EST
    Charley, Your inability to engage in any kind a subtle, savvy discussion is genuinely disturbing. Nobody here is sympathizing with anyone, but with a THING -- that being due process, the foundation of a free nation's judicial process. DO. YOU. UNDERSTAND. THE. DIFFERENCE? And please provide quotes from this site, written by lefties, that offer the kind of "sympathy" you cite. That means they shouldn't contain any mention of due process and concern for the process, but only say basically "I love the Iraq insurgents killing innocent people". And you better be able to find a lot of them or your premise is b.s. (which I think it is anyway, but maybe you're right, so show me). Peace out, my fellow free American. (And on a personal note, to all who read this, send out some good vibes, prayers, chants, thoughts, whatever your spirit can offer, for my little brother, who's on his way to the Afghan/Pakistan border for a year stint in that forgotten war. Saw him last week, and we could all tell he was wired and worried and stressed out of his mind. He was talking a mile a minute, we thought he was going to explode. In Baghdad, at least he had the Green Zone part of the time. In Pashtun country, he'll have next to no protection.)

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#10)
    by Dadler on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:53 PM EST
    Charley, The distinction would be, 30 days is in no way an adequate appeal time for a death sentence, and you well know this. And OF COURSE I think S.H. is a murderous thug who deserves whatever fate he gets. But then I don't let that revenge mentality take over, because other normal folks are going to have to live under that system, and they deserve better. Also, think along the lines of the ACLU defending the rights of Nazis to march in public. Think real hard on that one. That is what we're talking about here. Deep in my raging self, I'd love to club them down and scream "freedom" victoriously, but life don't work that way and I'm an adult and I know that, so I defend due process because it, ultimately, is more important than the fate of S.H., far more important. BTW, do you have no opinion in our own complicity with S.H.? Do you think it all overblown lefty propaganda? Do you simply deny it. If S.H. deserves summary execution, then don't his minions deserve it also, much less the powerful foreign governments that propped him up for so long, knowing the madness and butchery he was sending Iraq into? Thinking beyond revenge -- which we all, as mortal creatures clawing our way through physical existence -- feel at times, myself included. Maybe that's too savvy or sublte or inobvious, but "the true face of the left" is a much less interesting and farcical concept. I'm dealing with you and your argument, period, not some generalized notion of what I choose to label "the true face of the right". And seriously, give me those quotes, not just references to a few, which I genuinely didn't understand. I'm actually interested to see what you come up with. How about five of them, as a random sampling? Mazel, my diametrically opposed hermano.

    Re: Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End (none / 0) (#11)
    by Talkleft Visitor on Sat Dec 17, 2005 at 01:04:53 PM EST
    Charley, the troll, wants to blame PIL for being in the streets PROTESTING SADDAM HUSSEIN AND RONALD REAGAN'S SUPPORT OF HIM in 1988. Charley the troll wants to blame PIL for being in the streets protesting Bush sr.'s blocking of war crimes resolutions against Hussein at the UN. Charley the troll wants to blame PIL for not supporting the traitor George Bush, who has lied incessantly (ah, music to charley's racist ears). "Iraqi's are caucasians," and therefore blowing up 100,000+ innocent Iraqi Arabs isn't racism! That's a howler I'll remember as I go into the streets YET AGAIN, to oppose the war criminals charley bootlicks. Thanks, charley!

    Saddam May Be Executed Before Trials End | 9 comments (9 topical)