...Kill all the lawyers.

Many might remember those words crooned in a popular song by the Eagles in the 90s, released prior to their reunion tour and penned by Don Henley:

The more I think about it, Old Billy was right Let's kill all the lawyers, kill 'em tonight

Of course, 'ole Billy' is William Shakespeare, and the phrase comes from Henry VI. The context was to remove the lawyers so nefarious actions could proceed.

That brings us to recent developments in Baghdad in conjucntion with the trial of Saddam. CNN reports today that a second lawyer has been murdered, this one a counselor for one of Hussein's co-defendents and former VP Ramadan. That's the second barrister associated with the trial to be slain since mid October.

Interestingly, the article quotes a legal advisor to Saddam's daughters, Abdul Haq al-Ani, who uses these killings as rationale for moving the trial abroad:

"The trial cannot take place while lawyers are being assassinated," al-Ani said

Does the name al-Ani ring any bells? I wonder if he's related to Muwafak al-Ani, who's last assignment was the Iraqi Embassy in Bejing China. This same man was ejected from the Iraqi Embassy in the Phillipines in 1991 for being suspected of involvement in a plot to bomb the Thomas Jefferson Center in Manila.

Or perhaps he's related to Ahmad Khalil Ibrahim Samir al-Ani, a diplomat at the Iraqi Embassy in Prague in 2000-2001 when Mohammed Atta made a couple of trips for as yet unknown reasons. The FBI and CIA steadfastly maintain Atta was not in Prague when the Czech intelligence says they met, but they haven't explained his other Prague trips.

I'm no expert on Arabic or Iraqi linguistics, but I understand the definite artcle used sometimes refers to tribal membership. If there is indeed a tribal connection between these men it would seem significant. More to the point--the lawyer-killing might be a plan by Saddam's inner circle defense team as a vehicle to prove he can't get a fair trial in Baghdad, and that it must be moved out of the country. In other words, an inside job. After all, what hope does Saddam have if he's tried by the Shia dominated government?

UPDATE 11/12

A member of the Saddam defense team is blaming Coalition Forces for the murder of Ramadan's lawyer. Uh, ok. Why would we kill anyone associated with the trial, when WE COULD JUST KILL SADDAM anytime we wanted to? The Fox News story includes this claim made by Saddam's lawyer regards who the Iraqi government claimed might be responsible (which I tend to agree with):

Al-Dulaimi, speaking in the insurgent hotspot of Ramadi, brushed aside government suggestions that pro-Saddam insurgents or religious extremists were behind the killings.

This is really a no-brainer. The Ba'athists have probably been instructed to create a security situation non-conducive to a fair trial in Iraq. The next move involves getting international organizations to demand Saddam's trial be moved out of the country. Matter of fact, the Fox story already hints at this:

"I don't understand how you can have a fair trial in this atmosphere of insecurity, with bombs going off," said Richard Goldstone, the first prosecutor at the U.N. tribunal for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia and one of the world's most prominent jurists.