Posted on 06/20/2004 8:16:13 AM PDT by kattracks
LONDON (AP) — Iraq could execute former leader Saddam Hussein after trying him, the director of the country's war crimes tribunal system said Sunday.Salem Chalabi, who is in charge of setting up a special tribunal to try members of the ousted regime, said that once the Iraqi government gains sovereignty on June 30, it will have the power to end U.S. occupation chief L. Paul Bremer's suspension of the death penalty in Iraq.
"The Iraqi government has to affirmatively take that step to lift the suspension," Chalabi told British Broadcasting Corp. television's "Breakfast with Frost" program. "If the suspension imposed by Ambassador Bremer is lifted then there is the possibility of the death penalty being imposed" on those convicted of murder or rape.
Chalabi said tribunal officials were "negotiating quite intensively with the coalition forces" about taking custody of Saddam and detained members of his regime after the handover of power. He said the prisoners would probably be transferred to Iraqi custody "relatively soon after the transition."
He said it could be as long as a year before trials can begin. Investigations must be launched first and charges filed, he said.
Chalabi, who spoke from Baghdad, said "hundreds if not thousands" of Iraqis had come forward to give officials information about crimes by the former regime.
Swell. Do it. Blow him away.
You're thinking of Ahmed Chalabi.
FMCDH(BITS)
If ever anybody's crimes justified using the death penalty, Saddam's do. I will be real surprised if they DON'T execute him. The question is, how will they do it?
It's hard to know what's going on with Chalabi. Maybe he's the most cunning manipulator in history, managing to gull the entire CIA for years singlehandedly. Or maybe he's just an out-of-favor scapegoat who's undergoing death by covert leak. None of the people who are saying these things about him are offering much in the way of proof or even their own identity.
Arabs have a very different idea what "truth" is. To an Arab, the "truth" is whatever the Arab can get you to believe. It's a very different way of thinking and people need to keep that in mind.
(Insert notation here that George Stephanapolous is a DNC operative and has NO BUSINESS being on a "news" show. Also that little Georgie is really starting to show his bias. Just like Arabs, ABC's idea of what "truth" is us just like Arabs. And the truth is that George S. is a democratic hack and so is the American Broadcating Company)
Be careful. Not to defend Chalabi but...
Saddam's WMD development programs have been discovered and they were active before the war. At least one WMD artillery shell has been used by the Iraqi terrorists and it didn't arrive as a gift from Allah. There is also very good evidence that at least one member of the Iraqi military was knowledgeable about the 911 planning by al-Qaeda.
This article refers to Salem Chalabi. The fellow you're thinking of is Ahmed Chalabi. I think this AP article seeks to create confusion in the just the way that you have fallen for. Why? to generate sympathy for Saddam Hussein by implying that the evil Ahmed Chalabi wants him to be executed.
Well frickin' DUH! So What.
Thanks for that article. Not that I want to sound sadistic, but hanging seems too good for him.
"The question is, how will they do it?"
I'm afraid they'll exhibit their usual lack of creativity. But in accordance with the customs of "arab street" a lot of exaggeration can be expected.
If he is tried and found guilty of capitol crimes,seeing that he is "one of them", he will most likely be sentenced to death "by old age".
However, IMHO, I don't think the Iraqis will find him guilty unless pressured or bribed to do so by the US.
These are Arabic Iraqis we are talking about. They could well attempt to exonerate Saddam Hussein for his deeds while the head of government and the Ba'athist regime, and call for him to be entered on the ballot as the head of state of the reconstituted Iraqi Republic.
And you thought we didn't have enough %&$#@(*)! nightmares about Iraq already. It is a very improbable world.
The news just out today is that al-Qaeda had deals with Saudi Arabia and Pakistan before and after the 911 attack on the U.S. The deals were money from Saudi Arabia and freedom of operation from Pakistan in trade for a "we won't attack you" promise from bin Laden. Any chance that a similar agreement was struck between Saddam and bin Laden? I think so. There may have been no love lost between bin Laden and Saddam but there certainly wasn't any conflict. The most logical Saddam-bin Laden deal would be support for chemical and biological weapon development by al-Qaeda in trade for peace in Iraq. If so, those weapons would be aimed at you and your family.
You need to connect the dots. We didn't do that pre-911. We cannot fail to do so next time when the stakes are potentially massive casualties from a chemical, biological or, heaven forbid, a nuclear attack on the U.S.
It's a tough and dangerous world right now and we don't need any mushy-headed liberals like Kerry in charge of protecting us. We need strong leadership and we have it. Let's keep it that way for at least another 4 years. Things will look a lot different and I believe a lot better by then if we can stay the course laid out by the Bush Administration.
Try and execute?
or they could simply announce they are setting him free on the site of his former statue.
Perhaps there really is something known as the 'arab street' mob
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