[Gucho]

Saddam's lawyer warns violence likely if tribunal is held

March 3, 2005 9:06 AM:

TOKYO (AP) - The family-hired lawyer who heads Saddam Hussein's defense team says Iraq is too dangerous for the trial.

In an interview with The Associated Press, he says authorities ought to put it off for at least a year.

The ousted Iraqi dictator has been held at an undisclosed location since his capture more than a year ago.

The lawyer (Ziad al-Khasawneh) is in Japan raising support for Saddam's defense. He says the murder of a tribunal judge this week underscores the danger. He says the judges and lawyers are going to need a "quiet area" to prepare, and with streets burning and people being killed, they can't get that in Iraq.

[Gucho]

CARRIER TAKEOFF — A U.S. Navy sailor, assigned plane captain duties with the "Checkmates" of Sea Control Squadron 22, signals the pilots of an S-3B Viking before launching from the aircraft carrier USS Harry S. Truman in the Persian Gulf, Feb. 14, 2005. The Truman Carrier Strike Group is on a regularly scheduled deployment in support of the war on terror. U.S. Navy photo by Airman Ricardo Reyes