Posted on 12/22/2006 1:12:23 AM PST by CutePuppy
Keep Saddam in U.S. Custody, Ramsey Clark Pleads
By Nathan Burchfiel
December 21, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - Referring to his client as "calm, dignified [and] thoughtful," a member of Saddam Hussein's defense team urged President Bush Wednesday to keep the toppled Iraqi dictator in U.S. hands to prevent him from being mistreated in Iraqi custody.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a longtime anti-war activist and self-described pacifist, told reporters in Washington, D.C., he wanted Bush to refuse to turn "President Saddam Hussein" over to Iraqi officials.
"If they are delivered to people designated by the present government of Iraq, they won't last long," Clark said of Saddam and his co-defendants.
An Iraqi court last month sentenced Saddam to death. He is being held by U.S. forces while awaiting the outcome of an appeal. The lawyers have until Dec. 23 to file appellate briefs, and the court could decide on Saddam's fate within days of those filings.
An execution would likely occur within 15 days of the appellate court's ruling, unless he wins the appeal or the United States refuses to turn him over to Iraqi officials.
Claiming that Saddam and the others would be tortured and brutalized before their deaths, Clark said Bush had the "highest moral and legal obligation not to surrender these people."
Keep Saddam in U.S. Custody, Ramsey Clark Pleads By Nathan Burchfiel CNSNews.com Staff Writer December 21, 2006
(CNSNews.com) - Referring to his client as "calm, dignified [and] thoughtful," a member of Saddam Hussein's defense team urged President Bush Wednesday to keep the toppled Iraqi dictator in U.S. hands to prevent him from being mistreated in Iraqi custody.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a longtime anti-war activist and self-described pacifist, told reporters in Washington, D.C., he wanted Bush to refuse to turn "President Saddam Hussein" over to Iraqi officials.
"If they are delivered to people designated by the present government of Iraq, they won't last long," Clark said of Saddam and his co-defendants.
An Iraqi court last month sentenced Saddam to death. He is being held by U.S. forces while awaiting the outcome of an appeal. The lawyers have until Dec. 23 to file appellate briefs, and the court could decide on Saddam's fate within days of those filings.
An execution would likely occur within 15 days of the appellate court's ruling, unless he wins the appeal or the United States refuses to turn him over to Iraqi officials.
Claiming that Saddam and the others would be tortured and brutalized before their deaths, Clark said Bush had the "highest moral and legal obligation not to surrender these people."
He also criticized the death sentence handed down Nov. 5 and likely to be upheld by the appellate court, saying it would be "foolhardy and provocative of violence to the extreme to go forward" with it.
"The consequence of execution will be greater violence," Clark said. "I don't think you can rationally expect anything else."
Clark earlier branded the entire trial inherently flawed and unfair . He maintained that position Thursday, calling it "egregiously vindictive."
"The stunning illegality and unfairness of the trial has already been overwhelmingly condemned by international law experts," Clark said. He called for an "independent international group of legal experts to fully review the trial."
Clark stopped short of calling for Saddam's release, instead saying "you'd have to wait in Iraq until things settled down" to conduct a fair trial.
Clark said that as he awaited hanging, the former dictator was "calm, dignified, thoughtful," and "at peace with himself."
'Get out now!'
Clark said that while executing Saddam would incite more violence in Baghdad and elsewhere in Iraq and the Middle East, removing U.S. forces would bring calm to the region.
"You will have less violence if you remove the U.S. troops immediately," he said, promising to work toward bringing troops home immediately.
In a fundraising letter posted recently on his website, Clark said it was his "New Year's resolution to work together in unrelenting efforts to end this criminal war and bring all U.S. troops home from Iraq NOW!"
The U.S. military, he said, had "failed to stop the growing Iraqi resistance."
Clark, who served as attorney general during the Lyndon Johnson administration, criticized incoming Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi for not making Iraq a top priority during her first 100 hours.
She "never mentions Iraq," Clark noted.
During the press conference, Clark criticized Bush administration policy on the Israel-Palestinian conflict and Iran, saying Washington's approach toward the Middle East has encouraged internal violence and ill-will toward the U.S.
He echoed calls made by the Iraq Study Group to engage Middle Eastern countries including Iran and Syria in discussions on Iraq and said the U.S. should be responsible for paying "reparations" for the damage it has caused in that country.
Copyright 1998-2006 Cybercast News Service
Give Ramsey and Saddam to the Iraqis.
Nah, the Kurds.
They're Iraqis.
I much prefer your suggestion!
Ramsey Clark...a despicable, American hating traitor!
Isn't it fun to see how the worm turns?
Wait a minute, I thought that to people like Ramsey Clark, our people are nazis, torturers, etc, the very devil incarnate. Wouldn't Saddam be better off away from such people?
And to think this creep was once the highest-ranking official in our justice system. I'm betting that Clarknutbar is terrified of getting disbarred when this is all over.
Think of it as withdrawing the troops guarding Saddam, Mr. Clark, that is essentially what we are going to do.
Oh, the sweet irony.
Put him in the electric chair.... and let Clark sit on his lap...
I tell ya what. I am willing to let Saddam have life imprisonment in a nice country-club prison somewhere -- as long as we get to execute Ramsey Clark instead.
!!!
Hillary & Ramsey '08
Ramsey baby, just how safe do you think poppy would be in a prison here in the US? His days are numbered anyhow. He's going one way or another.
No matter who her running mate is, we must keep these two tied together. They are birds of a feather.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, a longtime anti-war activist and self-described pacifist anti-American, communist and dictator loving bottom feeder.
Much mo better.
Ah, what the hell. Isn't Spandau Prison vacant these days? Just lock his ass there until he kills himself.
Unfortunately, there's no whey that'll happen.
Sorry for the cheesy joke.
Garde la Foi, mes amis! Nous nous sommes les sauveurs de la République! Maintenant et Toujours!
(Keep the Faith, my friends! We are the saviors of the Republic! Now and Forever!)
LonePalm, le Républicain du verre cassé (The Broken Glass Republican)
Very clever, nonetheless.
Then they beg for mercy and the shelter of the United States Constitution and its guardians.
The Kurds would make jerky out Saddam and feed it to the dogs.
Yes.
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