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| Iraq |
| Chemical Ali still not swinging - here's why |
| 2007-10-29 |
| In late June, three of Saddam Hussein's senior military officials were found guilty of war crimes, including the notorious Chemical Ali. Iraqi law required that they be executed no more than 30 days after Iraqi courts rejected their final appeal. That deadline has passed, but the men are still alive and in US custody. The reason is questions raised by prominent Iraqi officials and a spirited behind-the-scenes deliberation between senior Iraqi and US officials over the death sentence of one of the men, Sultan Hashem Ahmed al-Jabouri al-Tai, the former defence minister. Hashem's fate has become a test case for reconciliation and whether Iraq's fractious sects and political alliances can work together to resolve the thorny issues surrounding his death sentence. There are also doubts among some Iraqi officials about the fairness of his conviction and punishment. The heated arguments about Hashem's guilt beg the question: are Iraqis ready to stop the retaliatory killings of members of the former regime? It seems some of them are. "We need to show there have been enough deaths. We are tired of it, we need to stop it," said a senior adviser to President Jalal Talabani. |
| Posted by:Seafarious |
| #9 #8 right here |
| Posted by: Beavis 2007-10-29 14:45 |
| #8 BTW ... where's Izzy? |
| Posted by: doc 2007-10-29 14:37 |
| #7 #4 Better be because he's singing like the proverbial canary. Dittos mojo.. Ima STILL hopeful one of these Saddam wankers will point us to sum WMD that wasn't spirited out to Syria or elsewhere. |
| Posted by: Red Dawg 2007-10-29 13:55 |
| #6 It appears to me that Gen. Petraeus may have over-stepped his authority with the offer to Hashem in the letter Read the wording again. It was very carefully chosen .... |
| Posted by: lotp 2007-10-29 12:32 |
| #5 Or waiting for a suitable pay-per-view deal up in Erbil. |
| Posted by: eLarson 2007-10-29 12:13 |
| #4 Better be because he's singing like the proverbial canary. |
| Posted by: mojo 2007-10-29 10:36 |
| #3 It appears to me that Gen. Petraeus may have over-stepped his authority with the offer to Hashem in the letter and now the only honorable thing is to deliver on the promise as best he can. Taking Hashem out of the country is a big problem, so perhaps all Petraeus can do now is appeal to the Iraqis and let them sort it out. If I were Petraeus I'd feel a bit dirty if they ultimately execute Hashem. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2007-10-29 10:27 |
| #2 Maybe some of that Saddamite cash has been trucked back into Iraq from wherever it's been hiding since 2003. |
| Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418 2007-10-29 03:03 |
| #1 Heh, heh. Pretty good trick getting him to turn himself in like that. "Oh, no, WE won't arrest you. We'll just turn you over to these guys over here..." A legal nicety worthy of an apparatchik. |
| Posted by: gromky 2007-10-29 01:12 |
