Saddam Defense Likely to Be Mix of Tactics
By JAMAL HALABY, Associated Press Writer
AMMAN, Jordan - Even fallen dictators deserve a fair trial, some of Saddam Hussein's lawyers argue. Others on the legal team say they're rallying to the cause of a symbol of Arab pride toppled by an imperial power.
That combination means the defense strategy during a trial expected to start next year is likely to be a mix of tactics, from trying to prove Saddam is not as vicious as many believe, to challenging the legitimacy of a court chosen while Iraq was under U.S. occupation.
"If we put a sufficient amount of traps in the functioning of this court, the Americans and the new Iraqi authorities might perhaps backstep," said French attorney Emmanuel Ludot, one of 21 lawyers who say they have been appointed by Saddam's wife Sajida.
Ludot said one goal is to have the U.N. propose other judges — and if that doesn't work challenge the current court at every step.
"Our job will be to work so that this tribunal doesn't function, that it be paralyzed as long as possible," Ludot told The Associated Press in Paris.
First, though, the team must persuade the Americans and the Iraqis they are Saddam's lawyers.
None are Iraqi, and Iraqi officials say an Iraqi must at least lead the team. U.S. authorities have refused to let the legal team or other lawyers see the Iraqi dictator, who was arrested in December — yanked from an underground hideaway by American forces — and is being held in a U.S.-controlled jail until Iraqis are ready to take physical custody of him.
No lawyer was at Saddam's side when he was arraigned July 1 in Baghdad on broad charges that included killing rival politicians over 30 years; gassing Kurds in Halabja in 1988; invading Kuwait in 1990; and suppressing Kurdish and Shiite uprisings in 1991.
Until defense lawyers are allowed to meet Saddam, a long-term strategy is unlikely to emerge, said Curtis Doebbler, the only American on a team that includes law professor Aicha Moammar Gadhafi, daughter of the Libyan leader, and lawyers from Belgium, Britain, France, Jordan, Lebanon and Tunisia.
Doebbler, an expert on international law, told reporters in Washington earlier this month his clients over the past decade have included Ethiopian refugees and political activists in Sudan.
"Whether it's a former president or whether it's a refugee, individuals have the same basic human rights," Doebbler said. "Even the people we dislike the most have a right to a fair trial."
Doebbler said he has asked the U.S. Supreme Court to declare the detention of the deposed Iraqi leader unconstitutional.
"Even the basic rights of due process, the basic rights of fair trial are being stomped on," Doebbler told AP in an e-mail exchange.
Issam Ghazawi, a Jordanian on the defense team, said he was defending Saddam because "in my conviction and personal view, he's innocent and all the allegations against him are false."
He also said that Saddam represents "Arab pride and dignity, and defending him is the least I can do."
The team leader, Jordanian Mohammed Rashdan, is a Saddam admirer who fought alongside Iraqis in the 1980-88 Iran-Iraq war.
Rashdan said he was collecting documents he said challenged accusations Saddam was responsible for the 1988 attack with chemical weapons on the Kurdish town of Halabja that killed at least 5,000 people.
"Tests on the chemicals used showed that it was material that the Iraqi army never possessed," he said, hinting that Iran carried out the attack. That echoed comments Saddam's regime had made about Halabja, but few others hold anyone but Saddam responsible.
"When we are in the trial, you will see the documents," Rashdan said.
Frenchman Ludot has said lawyers will look for ways to undermine the judges as part of their strategy. Rashdan has tried to link the head of the special Iraqi tribunal, Salem Chalabi, with Israel, saying he is a law partner of Mark Zell, a Washington lawyer and now a West Bank settler. Such a connection would anger many Arabs.
"Mr. Salem Chalabi can never be neutral, he can never be fair," Rashdan said. "Mr. Chalabi is a law partner with a Zionist."
There was no immediate comment from Chalabi. Zell, reached in Jerusalem, refused comment.
Another Jordanian lawyer, Ziad al-Khasawneh, said the team would attack the legitimacy of both judges "installed by the American occupation" and of the U.S.-led war that put Saddam in jail.
"It was an American-British aggression because the only justification, to rid Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction, was nonexistent, a big lie, since no such weapons were found in Iraq," al-Khasawneh said. "Therefore, Mr. President Saddam Hussein is Iraq's legitimate leader and his detention and trial are illegal."
Al-Khasawneh said the team was considering suing President Bush (news - web sites), British Prime Minister Tony Blair (news - web sites) and other American and British officials for launching an "unjustified aggression which resulted in toppling Iraq's legitimate leadership and plunging the country into chaos."
___ EDITOR'S NOTE: Associated Press writer Elaine Ganley in Paris contributed to this report.