Saddam's defense team will ask the judge to add Ramsey Clark to their team today. Clark is a former Attorney General under Johnson and proudly calls himself an anti-war super liberal, but why would he want to defend a murderous slug like Saddam?
"Our plan is to go to court in Baghdad on Monday morning representing the defense counsel as defense support. A fair trial in this case is absolutely imperative for historical truth to justice obviously,"
'Historical' is an intersting word choice. So far the Iraqi tribunal has only charged the Butcher with a crime committed in the early 80s. It's possible they didn't want to allow his defense team a chance to call former Reagan era officials, namely Rumsfeld, who supposedly helped Saddam in his fight against the Ayatollah.
If Clark does have an angle, I suppose it's to help the defense team defeat the first charge, forcing the tribunal to add a later charge where they'll get a chance to call Rummy and others. Embarrassing republicans is always job one for these guys.
Meanwhile Henchman One, aka al-Douri, is apparently alive enough to order hits on Saddam's trial judges and others. Due to such stuff, the lawyers are expected to request a three month delay today, and they'll probably get it. It might be for the best, since the December election will presumably create a legal government in Iraq which would provide more legitimacy.
If Clark tries to turn the trial into a Rummy-bash (aka Bush bash) I hope he sees the irony of such a thing. Saddam didn't allow trials of this nature, and people like Clark were killed.
MORE 12/2
Hitchens says Clark has already admitted Saddam's guilt on the first charge, using the obtuse argument the killings were justified due to the ongoing Iran-Iraq war. Let's keep this in perspective--the anti-war activist is using a war, started by Saddam, to justify the killing of 146 people. Some lawyer. Some peacenik. But hey- gotta get that first case thrown out no matter how it's done, because it's the only way to bring the real criminals to the stand...Rummy...Cheney... Bush (HW version). Right, Ramsey?
3 comments:
Thanks for the link to my blog...I will do the same...You're right about R Clark - might as well have Charles Manson be a chracter witness in the Ted Bundy trial!
linked - done - thanks
Appreciate it, C.R. Yep, the Saddam trial is pretty much a farce so far. In his testimony today, Saddam was even trying to help give away his location when he complained about "having to walk up four flights of stairs" to get to the courtroom.
Post a Comment