Posted on 09/08/2005 5:36:05 PM PDT by Aussie Dasher
FORMER Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has admitted ordering the attack that killed more than 180,000 Kurds, an official of the Iraqi Special Tribunal said yesterday.
Not only did he admit ordering the attack against Kurds in the north of the country, but he boasted that the killings were legal and justified.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the case, said Saddam made the statement last month during questioning.
He goes on trial before the tribunal on October 19.
The official said Saddam demanded a court decide if he was justified in ordering the so-called Anfal campaign in 1987-88, which resulted in the ethnic cleansing of numerous Kurdish communities in the north of Iraq.
Saddam claimed Kurds in the region were aiding Iran in the war with Iraq that had dragged on for nearly a decade by then.
Late yesterday, Iraqi President Jalal Talabani said on TV that Saddam Hussein had confessed to killings and other "crimes" committed during his regime, including the Anfal operation.
"Saddam Hussein is a war criminal and he deserves to be executed 20 times a day for his crimes against humanity," said Mr Talabani, who heads the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan party.
He told Iraqi television that an investigating judge "was able to extract confessions from Saddam's mouth" about executions he had allegedly personally ordered during his 24 years in power.
He said Saddam had tried to assassinate him at least 20 times.
But Abdel Haq Alani, Saddam's family's legal consultant, said Mr Talabani's allegations sounded like he was trying to prejudice the trial.
"Let's not have a trial on TV. Let the court of law, not the media, rule on this," Mr Alani said.
The trial is likely to be the first of a series of legal proceedings against Saddam on numerous other charges.
The tribunal official's remarks appeared to contradict Mr Talabani's claim that Saddam had made a confession.
The official said that all the former dictator had done was acknowledge having taken retribution which was perfectly legal under his regime.
The latest revelation came as Iraq's Foreign Minister Hoshyar Zebari said the long wait for the start of Saddam's trial was a major contributor to instability in the country.
"There are still Ba'athist thugs at large in Iraq who still believe Saddam Hussein is coming back," Mr Zebari told The Independent newspaper in Baghdad.
"I believe that if he had been tried and sentenced before, by now we would have had better control of the security situation."
The Kurdish minister does not believe that Saddam's trial will last long "because there is no shortage of evidence".
"All the witnesses are there and ready to testify," he said.
Saddam has been confined in US custody at an undisclosed site believed to be somewhere in Baghdad since his capture in December 2003, eight months after his regime was overthrown.
i did too- or at least tried. blanco
There is never anything wrong when you see the world through demonic colored glasses.
"FORMER Iraqi leader Saddam Hussein has admitted ordering the attack that killed more than 180,000 Kurds, an official of the Iraqi Special Tribunal said yesterday."
This isn't going to help his case any.
"If the underwear does not fit, you must acquit!"
And that is only the baseline. As for all those he killed closer to Baghdad / in Baghdad ...
Oh no! But what about those kites the kids were flying.
I think Saddam probably killed more than that for his kid's birthday party.
And you are proud?
Hell will soon be getting a new tenant...
"That's nothing," remarked former Soviet leader Josef Stalin from his residence in Hades, Center of Earth, when asked what he thought of Hussein's admission. "I killed millions, millions!"
This is the guy that the lefties get all PO'd that we took out.
They say that Bush is the real villian.
well done... well done indeed!!! /Eddy Izzard
I was right. They are going to hang him more than once.
Other mass murderers have gotten away with it...
Pol Pot killed 1.7 million Cambodians, died under house arrest, age 72.
Well done there.
Stalin killed many millions, died in his bed. Well done, indeed!
And the reason we let them get away with it is because they killed their own people. And we're sort of fine with that. Oh, help yourself! You know? We've been trying to kill you for ages! So, if you kill your own people, right on, then.
But Hitler killed people next door.... stupid man.
After a couple of years... we won't stand for that, will we?
Pol Pot killed 1.7 million people, and we can't even deal with that. We think that if someone kills someone, that's murder, you go to prison. You kill 10 people, you get electrocuted. 20 people, you go to a hospital and they look at you through a small window forever. And over that, we can't deal with it. You know?
If somebody's killed 100 thousand people, we're almost going, "Well done! You killed 100 thousand people?! You must get up very early in the morning! I can't even get down the gym! Your diary must look odd: Get up in the morning, death, death, death, death, death, lunch, death, death, death, afternoon tea, death, death, death, quick shower.
Dressed to Kill Transcript
by Eddie Izzard
Sounds like a good start.
180,000 dead -- that is what Galloway hugs every night in his villa in Portugal. Accepting the same mass murdering exploits of a Stalin, Galloway should be proud that he moves in the same circles of Utopian relief as Saddam and company. Yes, Galloway, should want more Saddams and less relief for Africa, more WMD to conquer the west, more chocolates to be eaten. The man is stupid and the world of stupid people clamor for more -- a book, a line of Saddam chocolates, a new mass grave of countless dead. Galloway is here to pronounce that ghosts don't follow him, but chocolates do tempt him. Yes, a stupid man and worse than what anybody could expect. He has a sweet tooth for death -- and that means your death. So America should deny him access, let him savor the sweetness of chocolates and death elsewhere.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.