Article

2004-07-30 Iraq-Jordan

Saddam trial will be "judicial masquerade": French lawyer

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Posted by Fred 2004-07-30 9:24:26 AM|| || Front Page|| [3 views since 2007-05-07] Top

#1 Well, M. Ribbit Ytram Frogg, at least he's getting a trial, unlike many of his slaves who went down the shredder.

Posted by Korora 2004-07-30 9:49:32 AM|| [http://basementburrow.blogspot.com] 2004-07-30 9:49:32 AM|| Front Page Top

#2 Mon Dieu! Monsieur Saddam must be allowed to mitigate ze false and malicious accussations by pointing out ze great economic benefits he has brought to certain French officials. Vive le Euro!

Posted by Highlander 2004-07-30 9:54:14 AM|| 2004-07-30 9:54:14 AM|| Front Page Top

#3 Damn, I was hoping for a "whimsical farce".

Posted by BH 2004-07-30 10:13:55 AM|| 2004-07-30 10:13:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#4 He's right. We should have just shot him on the spot. Saved all of us a lot of aggravation.

Posted by dreadnought 2004-07-30 11:00:55 AM|| 2004-07-30 11:00:55 AM|| Front Page Top

#5 Well, let's not get too smug and knock zee frog lawyer, because at least Monsieur Chamy is not working at odds with any French soldiers dying on the desert of Iraq, unlike lawyers from coalition countries...there's one US lawyer defending Uncle Saddam and also lawyers for Saddam have been recruited from Britain.

I think it's shameful quite frankly. Say what we will about corrupt ME regimes, but we have no room to talk about being on a higher moral level, when we educate morons in law schools with brains and no common sense, with lips that can quote legal precedent but with hearts that have no moral compass.

But here's the rationalization that the US lawyer gives...Talk about confusing law with justice-he puts refugees and murdering dictators on the same level, moral equivalence at its richest, why they're all God's children at the core...ah, the beauty of rule of law...Maybe some of these Western lawyers should let justice take its swift course and let God decide if Saddam is his child and worthy of mercy and forgiveness...My point is, Saddam has no shortage of legal advise from the usual suspect ME countries. There is no reason whatsoever for US/UK lawyers to volunteer their services[except to hug themselves over how "fair and impartial" they are] considering we have GI's who died trying to bring this piece of scum down.
http://www.sptimes.com/2004/07/25/Worldandnation/The_defense_of_Saddam.shtmlUntil defense lawyers are allowed to meet Hussein, 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, said 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."

Posted by rex 2004-07-30 11:18:54 AM|| 2004-07-30 11:18:54 AM|| Front Page Top

#6 I have a question - since when was this "Iraqi constitution" (the one that allowed presidential trial only for high treason) still in effect? I recall that the CPA-aided constitution applied.

Posted by Edward Yee 2004-07-30 12:47:40 PM|| 2004-07-30 12:47:40 PM|| Front Page Top

#7 "Saddam remains the legal president of Iraq and he is about to be tried in the framework of his functions,..

Apparently, this guy must believe that the "election" Hussein staged where he got 100% of the vote was really and truly legit...

Posted by Bomb-a-rama 2004-07-30 12:48:32 PM|| 2004-07-30 12:48:32 PM|| Front Page Top

#8 I don't think the CPA super-imposed constitution is operative since the hand-over, #6, or at least it won't be much longer.

I recall reading that Allawi's Justice Minister said that Iraq was planning to reinstate the death penalty[which Bremer had suspended], which it historically has always had on the books.

The Justice Minister also said that no matter what tricks the lawyers for Saddam would pull re: showing no direct evidence of Saddam's personal hand in crimes against humanity, he's toast, because Iraq has the death penalty on the books for any military commander who deserts his men, and the Justice Minister has the video tape of Commander in Chief Saddam Hussein in civilian clothes hiding in a spider hole. End of story. How do you say "Kaput" in Arabic, because that's what Saddam's sorry butt is according to the Justice Minister.

Posted by rex 2004-07-30 1:23:52 PM|| 2004-07-30 1:23:52 PM|| Front Page Top

#9 Thing is, he's right. Saddam is going to get the noose. We don't need the trial to determine that. The purpose of the trial is to make a public record of the evidence which justifies Saddam's summary execution.

It's not due process, but it is justice.

Posted by Mike 2004-07-30 1:54:23 PM|| 2004-07-30 1:54:23 PM|| Front Page Top

#10 I would highly recommend applying Saddam's sentence (a nice half-inch rope noose around his neck, and nothing under his feet but ten feet of air) to at least one of his lawyers, as well - this slimy piece of French excrement. As Mike said, it may not be due process, but it would certainly be justice.

Posted by Old Patriot 2004-07-30 6:39:16 PM|| [http://users.codenet.net/mweather/default.htm] 2004-07-30 6:39:16 PM|| Front Page Top

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