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BAGHDAD, Iraq, Aug. 23 — Defense lawyers for Saddam Hussein accused a former Kurdish militant of treason on Wednesday, arguing on the third day of Mr. Hussein’s genocide trial that chemical attacks on Kurds were legitimate acts against local militias conspiring with Iran. The emerging strategy — evident in comments from lawyers and two of Mr. Hussein’s six co-defendants — came on a day filled with continued testimony about Kurdish suffering during the Anfal military campaign against northern villages in 1988. The court adjourned until Sept. 11 at the request of defense lawyers who said they needed more time to...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - Saddam Hussein and his lawyers announced they would boycott his trial even as its final phase began Monday, saying the court was unfair and demanding better security after the slaying of a senior member of the defense team. The move means the trial could end with the same turbulence that has shaken it throughout its nine months of proceedings. It raises the likelihood that the former Iraqi leader will not be on hand to deliver his closing arguments to the court later this week, before the judges adjourn to consider their verdicts. The verdicts are expected in...

To carry out Saddam Hussein will poke violence, according to Ramsey Clark WASHINGTON - To carry out Saddam Hussein would do nothing but poke religious violences in Iraq, declared Tuesday Ramsey Clark. This former American minister for justice is currently member of the lawyer collective of the deposed Iraqi president. "This execution would ignite a country which burns already", it has says at the time of a press conference. "I hope that the American people will realize that time always has just required the end of the executions, and it is the case here." The prosecutors of the High...

BAGHDAD, Iraq - One of Saddam Hussein’s main lawyers was shot to death Wednesday after he was abducted from his Baghdad home by men wearing police uniforms, the third killing of a member of the former leader’s defense team since the trial started some eight months ago. Khamis al-Obeidi, an Iraqi who represented Saddam and his half brother Barzan Ibrahim in their trial, was abducted from his house Wednesday morning, said Saddam’s top lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi. His body was found on a street near the Shiite slum of Sadr City, police Lt. Thaer Mahmoud said. Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi confirmed...

Saddam, 7 Co-Defendants on Hunger Strike Jun 21 1:29 PM US/Eastern Email this story By JAMAL HALABY Associated Press Writer AMMAN, Jordan Saddam Hussein and his seven co-defendants went on a hunger strike Wednesday to protest the killing of an attorney on the defense team, Saddam's chief lawyer said. Khalil al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press, "President Saddam and other members of his leadership went on a hunger strike today to protest the killing of Khamis al-Obeidi." "They pledged not to end the strike until international protection is provided to the defense team," said al-Dulaimi, who was visiting Jordan.

ALARM - a lawyer of Saddam Hussein killed BAGHDAD - One of lawyers of Iraqi president deposed Saddam Hussein, Khamis Al-Obeidi, was killed by "terrorists", announced Wednesday public television Iraqia.

The Big Lie has been exposed again: While the Left preens as the champion of the oppressed, the defender of the weak, and the advocate of liberty, one of its most venerable contemporary exponents, Ramsey Clark, has become the foremost apologist for a blood-spattered dictator. Has Clark betrayed the Left? By no means. He has just revealed yet again that behind the rhetoric of love and peace is a thinly-concealed taste for the boot on the face and the shackles on the mind -- tools so favored by the regimes most beloved of the international Left, from Stalin’s Russia to...

AMMAN (Reuters) - The United States should free Saddam Hussein if it wants to end its problems in Iraq and earn the friendship of Arabs, the former Iraqi president's lawyer wrote in a letter to U.S. President George W. Bush. The chief lawyer for Saddam at his trial for crimes against humanity in Baghdad told Bush that Iraqis who supported their former leader were waiting for a bold decision from the world's most powerful statesman to free him. "I call on you (President Bush) to release Mr. President (Saddam) immediately to allow the Iraqis to decide his fate. Only then...

Michael P. Tremoglie is a writer who recently published his first novel "A Sense of Duty." His work has appeared in the Philadelphia Inquirer, Philadelphia Daily News, Human Events, Front Page and Insight magazines. E-mail him at elfegobaca@comcast.net ------------------------------------------------------- An incredible change of attitude towards the war in Iraq occurred when an unlikely person, in an unlikely place, effectively, if inadvertently, expressed his approval of the war. Ramsey Clark, leader of the vehement Bush-hating antiwar group International ANSWER, has been approved as a defense attorney for Saddam Hussein. Clark has been an advocate for Hussein for years now. He has...

BAGHDAD, Iraq, Dec. 5 - Amid the wrenching testimony of a survivor who told of the atrocities wrought by Saddam Hussein's secret police, the presence of a former American attorney general on Mr. Hussein's defense team in the trial court on Monday seemed to be one of the day's less bewildering things. Ramsey Clark, one of America's more renowned contrarians, made a mark notable even by his own singular standards on Monday when he delivered a lecture to the judges on the elements essential to a fair trial, including adequate physical protection for the defense lawyers. Earlier, flushed and indignant,...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) -- Saddam Hussein's defense team walked out of the courtroom Monday shortly after the former leader's trial resumed because the judge refused to allow former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to challenge the tribunal's legitimacy in an address to the court. After the lawyers walked out, Saddam told the judge: "You are imposing lawyers on us. They are imposed lawyers. The court is imposed by itself. We reject that." Clark said he needed only two minutes to present his argument. But Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin said the tribunal had been established under the law by an...

A FORMER American attorney-general advising Saddam Hussein’s legal team has helped to map out a defence strategy that includes prolonging the ousted dictator’s trial. Ramsey Clark, 77, who has pursued a career as a human rights lawyer since serving under President Lyndon Johnson from 1967-69, met Saddam last week. They discussed stalling the proceedings by inviting a new international lawyer to take part or by challenging the legitimacy of prosecution witnesses, many of whom have insisted on anonymity and will be screened off from the court. Khalil al-Duleimi, Saddam’s top lawyer, said the meeting took place on Monday after Clark...

International Law: Everyone has the right to an attorney. But as Ramsey Clark rushes to the side of Saddam Hussein, this may be a case where both the defendant and his counsel can plead insanity...."Clark has been using and aiding mass murders and other American enemies for the last 30 years," conservative pundit David Horowitz said in 2003 of a Clark trip in Iraq. "He should give it a rest." But that is unlikely. ...Clark has defended the who's who of mass murderers — not just Milosevic, but also Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, also accused of war crimes, as...

The media is buzzing about Ramsey Clark going to Iraq to serve on the defense team of Saddam Hussein. Every article called Clark “the former US Attorney General” and played up his role in the administration of an American President. Reuters called Clark a “U.S. civil rights lawyer”. The BBC called Clark “an outspoken critic of the trial” and a “left wing activist”. The New York Times did make mention of Ramsey Clark’s penchant for “offering legal advice to toppled foreign leaders”. According to the AP, Clark was just a “consultant” on Milosevic’s trial. Ramsey Clark is so much more...

Who is behind the killings of Saddam's defense lawyers? As we know, when terrorist assassinations occur, various groups often jostle to take 'credit.' But unless I'm mistaken, no group has claimed responsibility for these killings. A classic method of deducing the guilty party is, excuse my French, "a qui profite le crime?" - who profits from the crime? In this case, it's hard to see anyone profiting. Let's review the players: Saddam himself - why would he want to kill the people trying to save his neck? Saddam's Sunni supporters - Ditto. I suppose they might just generally want to...

NEWS ANALYSIS Ramsey Clark to the Rescue in Iraq: Maybe By Jim Kouri Nov 27, 2005 Ramsey Clark never met an enemy of America he didn't like. As the world prepares for the war crimes trial of the Butcher of Baghdad, former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein, none other than Ramsey "America is Evil" Clark is on the case -- at least he hopes he'll be on the case. Clark wants to join the legions of attorneys trying to save one of history's most brutal and vicious dictators. The hero of the American left rides again, this time into Iraq. To be...

MIDI - TICKET TO RIDE Hello, our friend, Ramsey Clark...how are you today? Saddam is needing your help...I think right away We'll buy your ticket to fly-y We'll buy your ticket to fly-y-y We'll buy your ticket to fly...do not delay It seems another defense attorney's been whacked Saddam is pleading to you...it's time to come back We'll buy your ticket to fly-y We'll buy your ticket to fly-y-y We'll buy your ticket to fly...do not delay We know he's a mass-murdering slime But there are rules...he gets a chance to be heard For you to just sit home...

BAGHDAD (Reuters) - The trial of Saddam Hussein and seven co-defendants resumes in a fortified Baghdad courtroom on Monday with former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark joining the team defending Iraq's overthrown president. Clark, a controversial figure who was the top U.S. attorney in the late 1960s before becoming an anti-Vietnam war activist and a defender of figures including Slobodan Milosevic, said he hoped to strengthen Saddam's defense. "Our plan is to go to court in Baghdad on Monday morning representing the defense counsel as defense support," Clark told Reuters in Amman on Sunday before flying to the Iraqi capital...

Clark Arrives to Assist Saddam Defense Iraqi police arrested eight Sunni Arabs in the northern city of Kirkuk for allegedly plotting to assassinate the investigating judge who prepared the case against Saddam Hussein, a senior police commander said Sunday. The announcement came as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark arrived in Baghdad, airport officials said, apparently to aid in Saddam's defense. Meanwhile, an Iraqi police commander said four aid workers, including two Canadians and a Briton, were kidnapped. Brig. Hussein Kamal, the deputy interior minister for intelligence, refused to discuss any details. Clark has been advising nearly a dozen international...

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Iraqi police arrested eight Sunni Arabs in the northern city of Kirkuk for allegedly plotting to assassinate the investigating judge who prepared the case against Saddam Hussein, a senior police commander said Sunday. The announcement came as former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark arrived in Baghdad, airport officials said, apparently to aid in Saddam's defense. Clark has been advising nearly a dozen international lawyers on Saddam's defense team. He has contended that Saddam's rights have been violated in the legal process following his capture. But a U.S. government official close to the court said the defense...