Listen to me. I did not eat one stick of that salami when I was down in that rat hole hiding from the Bush infidels.
Posted on 07/01/2004 5:58:01 AM PDT by TexKat
LOL. Good one.
It truly is. Amazing vision by W & Co. It's going to be up there with the collapse of communism and the Soviet Union. I hope I'm around for at least 40 more years to see where it all ends up in the ME...
Listen to me. I did not eat one stick of that salami when I was down in that rat hole hiding from the Bush infidels.
Well, just imagine
if during the Klinton years
French and German troops
had kidnapped Klinton
and put him on trial. As much
as we hate Klinton,
it would piss off us
to see foreign troops control
his trip to justice.
I can't imagine
that these pictures of Saddam
will calm down rebels . . .
>Kuwaitis Redha Sardar, right, and Tareq Bu Hemit listen intently to reports that Saddam Hussein called Kuwaitis 'dogs' during his court appearance,<
I bet the Kuwaitis are steamed. "Dog" is a real slur in the Middle East, as dogs are considered to be very unclean.
Zaydoon al-Kafaji, 56, and other patrons of the Karadat Maryam coffee shop watch as former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein appears on satelite television at a courtroom hearing in Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, July 1, 2004.(AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)
Firas Adnan, his tongue cut off more than a year ago, talks to a reporter in his home in Baghdad, Iraq Wednesday, June 30, 2004. Just before the regime fell, the 24-year-old laborer quarreled with a Saddam loyalist, who punished him by chopping off his tongue. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)
DVDs showing the crimes of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein sit for sale in a market in a Shiite neighborhood of Baghdad, Iraq Thursday, July 1, 2004, as Saddam was scheduled to appear in court in an undisclosed location. (AP Photo/Karim Kadim)
Actually if you check the photo of when he was captured, his hair was dark then, just his beard was gray.
I had to go back and look at the picture to check and see if he had dyed his hair for the court appearance.
He probably dyed his hair while he was fleeing capture. His hair is un-naturally dark for a person of his age. He's "coiffed" for sure. Does the Geneva Covention say anything about "maintenance of personal appearance to bolster self-esteem?"
By Michael Georgy
BAGHDAD (Reuters) - For a moment they were startled into silence. Then instinctive fear gave way to fury among Iraqis in a Baghdad tea lounge as Saddam Hussein appeared on television -- not in a presidential palace but in court.
The watchers unleashed a barrage of abuse.
"Look -- the pimp is speaking," said janitor Muhammad Ali, one of the Shi'ite majority that was oppressed under the former president, using one of the harshest Iraqi insults.
"I heard he used to eat a whole deer during every meal and now he looks much thinner," he added with a smile. Ali comes from Hilla, where several mass graves have been unearthed.
The men had waited for hours for Saddam to face charges, killing time by recalling the military mishaps, United Nations sanctions and torture chambers Iraqis had endured during his three decades in power.
When the image of a Saddam who had clearly lost weight but still projected confidence appeared on an Arab satellite channel, the friends sat up in silence for about 30 seconds. One of them whistled in disbelief.
Saddam, captured last December after being ousted the previous April by a U.S.-led invasion, appeared before a young judge to face charges of crimes against humanity on Thursday in a special courtroom near Baghdad airport.
He showed his trademark defiance by refusing to sign legal documents presented to him and branded the proceedings "theater," saying the real criminal was U.S President Bush.
As footage was shown of Saddam taking notes, Ali said: "Look -- his secretary isn't even there to take notes for him any more."
"THEY CALL THIS PUNISHMENT?"
To the friends perched on the arms of chairs and backs of couches, the riveting footage of Saddam was a far cry from the towering figure in a military uniform who inspired fear in millions of Iraqis -- and in neighboring states.
Arkan Hinmis looked closely and noticed that Saddam was not wearing handcuffs and was sitting in a clean courtroom, unlike the grim chambers that ordered summary executions during his rule.
"This is no good. Why are his hands free? The court is nice. He looks comfortable. They call this punishment of a dictator?" the unemployed Iraqi asked.
For these men, it was a chance to release years of pent-up anger and frustration. But even seeing Saddam in the dock was not enough to make them forget past brutalities.
"Saddam had many palaces while his people were starving. But I hesitate to really speak because he still has agents," said Mustafa, who declined to give his full name.
The tea-room customers recalled the tale of a man said to have spat on Saddam's image on television and then been found out and executed after the then president talked to his son during a visit to a school.
One remembered how he was making a decent living in Kuwait for years before he was expelled from the Gulf state after Saddam's invasion troops were driven out in 1991. His friends joked that he was still afraid to speak out against Saddam.
Others welcomed the trial but said that in the chaos of post-Saddam Iraq, the fate of the toppled leader was the least of their worries.
"Saddam is a coward. He can't even defend himself after pretending he was a great leader for all those years," said 52-year-old merchant Riad Mohammed.
"Executing him won't give back what Iraqis lost over the years. What we need now is electricity. I only hope this trial is not designed to deflect attention away from our problems."
Yeah, and I am Ming, the Emperor of Mongo.
Arab-back style bird flipping.
Why do they let him have a belt?
"I am Saddam Hussein, the president of Iraq,"
Sure you are.
Kurdish men watch the first appearance of former Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein at the beginning of his trial in Iraq, at a teashop in Arbil, northern Iraq, July, 2004. Downcast but defiant, Iraq's former dictator appeared before an Iraqi judge Thursday, questioning his authority and saying the 'real criminal' was U.S. President George W. Bush. REUTERS/Sasa Kralj
BARBER SHOP III
In this image cleared by the US military, Saddam Hussein appears in a courtroom at Camp Victory, a former Saddam palace on the outskirts of Baghdad, Thursday, July 1, 2004. (AP Photo/Pool)
Iraq's deposed dictator Saddam Hussein appears before an Iraqi tribunal in Baghdad, July 1, 2004. Hussein appeared before an Iraqi judge on Thursday, questioning his authority and saying the 'real criminal' was U.S. President George W. Bush. Saddam, taken to the U.S.-guarded courtroom in handcuffs and chains, was read seven charges that may lead to formal indictment for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. REUTERS/Handout
By The Associated Press
Quotes by Saddam Hussein at his hearing Thursday:
ON BEING ASKED HIS NAME BY THE JUDGE:
"Saddam Hussein al-Majid, president of Iraq."
___
ON THE HEARING:
"You know that this is all a theater by Bush, the criminal, to help him with his campaign."
___
ON THE OCCUPATION OF KUWAIT:
"How could Saddam be tried over a Kuwait that said it will reduce Iraqi women to 10-dinar prostitutes? He defended Iraq's honor and revived its historical rights over those dogs."
___
ON SIGNING COURT DOCUMENTS AT THE END OF THE HEARING:
"Please allow me not to sign until the lawyers are present. Anyhow when you take a procedure to bring me here again, present me all these papers with the presence of lawyers. Why would you have me behave in a manner that we might call it hasty later on?"
___
ON WHETHER HE CAN AFFORD A LAWYER:
"According to the Americans, I have millions of dollars in Geneva, so I should be able to afford one."
The B.B.C. just interviewed George Galloway (the traitorous British M.P.). He was asked whether he was glad that Saddam had been in court, and replied that the best case would be a fair trial for Saddam, alongside Presidents Bush (both of them), President Clinton, Prime Ministers Blair, Major and Thatcher. Even the B.B.C. interviewer was surprised by the lunacy of Mr. Galloway's position.
Dan Rather petitioned the court to be a character witness.
We better keep an eye on those hand signals.
They might mean something.......
Thanks for the ping, TexKat! Great thread and you posted fantastic pics.
Your question about the belt was good. I wondered why he would be allowed to have a pen that could be used as a weapon instead of something like a stick of charcoal.
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