Posted on 08/21/2006 1:06:30 AM PDT by HAL9000
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Saddam Hussein's trial on charges of genocide in connection with a crackdown on Kurds has begun.
MORE...
Saddam goes on trial for genocide against Kurds
BAGHDAD, Aug 21 (Reuters) - Saddam Hussein and six former army commanders went on trial in Baghdad on Monday on charges of killing tens of thousands of Kurdish villagers in a genocidal campaign that devastated northern Iraqi in 1988.
One of Saddam's co-defendants is his cousin, Ali Hassan al- Majid, known as "Chemical Ali" for allegedly ordering poison gas attacks.
Saddam's genocide trial begins in Iraq
BAGHDAD, Iraq - The second trial of Saddam Hussein began Monday, opening a new legal chapter for the ousted Iraqi leader, who this time around faces charges of genocide and war crimes from his scorched-earth offensive against Kurds nearly two decades ago.
The case against Saddam and six co-defendants is tied to the deaths of tens of thousands of people during the Iraqi army's "Operation Anfal" — Arabic for "spoils of war." Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty.
The 1987-88 crackdown was aimed at crushing independence-minded Kurdish militias and clearing all Kurds from the northern region along the border with Iran. Saddam accused the Kurds of helping Iran in its war with Iraq.
Kurdish survivors say many villages were razed and countless young men disappeared. They also accuse the army of using prohibited mustard gas and nerve agents, but the trial does not deal with the most notorious gassing — the March 1988 attack on Halabja that killed an estimated 5,000 Kurds. That incident will be part of a separate investigation by the Iraqi High Tribunal.
Saddam was the first defendant called into the court as the trial's first session began Monday morning — in the same courtroom where he spent months in his turbulent first trial. That case was over the killings of more than 148 Shiite Muslims from the town of Dujail in a crackdown launched after a 1982 assassination attempt on Saddam.
Verdicts for Saddam and seven co-defendants are expected in that case on Oct. 16.
Hal, ADN articles need to be excerpted and linked. Please repost about 1/2 of this. Thanks.
In 2004, William Ramsey Clark, who served as the 66th United States Attorney General under President Lyndon B. Johnson, joined the defense team in Saddam Hussein's trial before the Iraqi Special Tribunal. Clark returned to Iraq in late November 2005 to appear before the Iraqi Special Tribunal arguing "that it failed to respect basic human rights and was illegal because it was formed as a consequence of the United States' illegal war of aggression against the people of Iraq." On November 28, 2005 in a BBC interview while defending Saddam, Clark claimed that some of the acts of which the former Iraqi President was accused were done out of necessity, saying: "He [Saddam] had this huge war going on, and you have to act firmly when you have an assassination attempt" Read here
Clark has been criticized for his work by a number of organizations and individuals, while at the same time receiving praise from other groups (Amnesty International, the ACLU, the NAACP, etc) for his defense of the human rights of Palestinians and American Indians.[citation needed] As a lawyer, he has also provided legal counsel and advice to controversial figures, including:
Nazi concentration camp commandant Karl Linnas
Nazi War criminal Jack Reimer, charged in the killings of Jews in Warsaw.
The National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws
Advisory Board during late 1970s and early 1980s
Branch Davidian leader David Koresh
Antiwar activist Father Philip Berrigan
Political figure Lyndon Larouche
American Indian prisoner Leonard Peltier
Crimes of America conference in Tehran in 1980
Liberian political figure Charles Taylor during his 1985 fight against extradition from the United States to Liberia
Elizaphan Ntakirutimana, a leader in the Rwandan genocide
PLO leaders in a lawsuit brought by the family of Leon Klinghoffer.
Camilo Mejia, a US soldier who deserted his post in March 2004 in protest against the US war against Iraq.
Radovan Karadžiæ, accused Yugoslav war criminal.
Counsel to Slobodan Miloševiæ, former president of Yugoslavia, accused war criminal
Saddam Hussein, former president of Iraq and accused war criminal
Lori Berenson
and so on...
ADN Kronos (Excerpt) -
Baghdad, 21 August (AKI) - The second trial against the former Iraqi leader, Saddam Hussein is set to begin on Monday in a court in the Iraqi capital Baghdad. The case this time is in connection with Operation Anfal - an anti-Kurdish offensive in 1987 and 1988 which is said to have led to the deaths of about 100,000 people. Seven defendants including Ali Hassan al Majid, Saddam's cousin, who is known as "Chemical Ali", face charges of war crimes and/or genocide.Operation Anfal, or "Spoils of War", targeted Kurdish independence militias which the Iraqi dictator believed were helping Iran.
~ snip ~
The defendants are introducing themselves. Some stuff is getting bleeped out of the video feed.
"Comrade" Chemical Ali is in the dock now.
Thank you for your timely updates.
Saddam arguing about the definition of "Operation Anfal" (Spoils of war, bounty of war). Judge tells Saddam to stop interrupting.
Judge instructs defendants to stop referring to themselves by their old titles - "Your titles have been dropped".
One defendant pleads "I am a soldier" and blaming Iran. More arguments. Finally pleads innocent.
Others plead innocent.
Chemical Ali refuses to answer.
Prosecutor now reading the charges.
Defense attorneys give opening arguements - saying court has no legitimate legal basis.
Mother of all trials, is more like it. At least he got the "mother" of something.
I don't understand why this guy is being handled with kid gloves. Nobody knows how many murders he is directly responsible for, but it is certain that the number far eclipses those for which Osama bin Laden can be held accountable. This is surreal, almost as if Hitler were being tried by Judge Judy. Give him a fair trial and hang him already.
There's not as much shouting going on as in previous trial dates.
Verdict due Oct. 16? Could we have us an execution before Thanksgiving?
"I am a solider"
Didn't work at Nuremburg.
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