Will Saddam's trial be more amusing than Michael Jackson's?

[peptoabysmal]

Saddam boycotts his trial:

Saddam's lawyers said in a statement released in Jordan that their client did not show up in court to protest what they termed the mistreatment of him and his co-defendants in detention.

Saddam "pointed out that the defendants had been mistreated, not allowed private meetings with their counsel, denied time and facilities to prepare their defense, denied access to the evidence, and denied the 'equality of arms' because the prosecution that had almost unlimited resources at its disposal," the lawyers said.
Saddam Skips 'Unjust' Court in Protest

And about that mistreatment:
Saddam trial hears evidence of inferior cigarettes

"We were detained by one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet it was only after four months in detention that they gave me cigarettes," said Barzan, charged with crimes against humanity.

Too funny. LOL

 

[CFLarsen]

[tongue-in-cheek]
Well, since cigarettes are bad for you, aren't they technically torturing him?
[/tongue-in-cheek]

 

[peptoabysmal]

[tongue-in-cheek]
Well, since cigarettes are bad for you, aren't they technically torturing him?
[/tongue-in-cheek]

I think you're on something here... er.. ah.. cough... I think you're onto something here.

 

[bigred]

Too funny. LOL

Yeah a guy who tortured and butchered countless thousands of innocent men, women and children is being coddled. F-ing hilarious.

Gee I love how the lines between reality and "entertainment" are so blurred nowdays.

 

[Mason]

Is there any reason that he shouldn't be afforded every comfort that any other prisoner awaiting trial is afforded? Or, is it okay to just assume he'll be found guilty and go ahead and begin the abuse right away?

Seriously. If we're already going to treat him like he's guilty, why should we bother with a trial to begin with? If the trial should be treated as if it is legit, he should be treated like a suspect, not like a convicted mass-murderer, just like any other suspect on trial.

That pretty much means he should get his cigarettes for the time being, I guess.

I'm like, you know, just sayin, is all.

 

[WildCat]

Is there any reason that he shouldn't be afforded every comfort that any other prisoner awaiting trial is afforded? Or, is it okay to just assume he'll be found guilty and go ahead and begin the abuse right away?

Seriously. If we're already going to treat him like he's guilty, why should we bother with a trial to begin with? If the trial should be treated as if it is legit, he should be treated like a suspect, not like a convicted mass-murderer, just like any other suspect on trial.

That pretty much means he should get his cigarettes for the time being, I guess.

I'm like, you know, just sayin, is all.

Think about all the guards being exposed to second hand smoke! He is torturing the guards!

 

[Mason]

Think about all the guards being exposed to second hand smoke! He is torturing the guards!

Fair enough. Re-structuring the ventilation system in his cell for one of life's simple pleasures does go beyond what is reasonable for prisoners of almost any status.

Guards certainly shouldn't have to work under such foul conditions without at least a bottle of Febreeze at hand.

 

[CapelDodger]

There's a wonderful book by Mark Twain, Roughing It, about his years in the West. In it he recounts a story he heard in San Francisco (as I recall).

There was at this time (1860's) a great trade of guano from the Pacific islands off Peru or some such, and the sea-captains of the trade were great characters. The gunao island towns were without any law but theirs. So there's this well-regarded captain whose master mate is black, been with him for many years. Down in the Pacific, this mate is murdered in the street by a local bully-boy and his gang. The sea-captain. storms the bully-boy's ship, takes him prisoner and announces that he'll be hung the next day for murder.

Certain worthies of the town approached him and pressed on him that there should be a trial first. "He killed the ******, didn't he?" asks the sea-captain. True enough, the worthies replied, but for form's sake there should be a trial. Eventually the sea-captain agrees to a trial.

He then says "If you hold it in the afternoon, I may attend myself". The worthies are non-plussed. "Well, I'll be busy in the morning hanging and burying this ****".

 

[Euromutt]

Is there any reason that he shouldn't be afforded every comfort that any other prisoner awaiting trial is afforded?

Of course not! But the next question is, "every other prisoner in which system?" If Saddam were being treated by the standards he was all too happy to impose on countless others, he'd have been worked over with a chainsaw and his family billed for the gasoline months ago. So to hear him and his mates whinge that they're being given Basics instead of Davidoffs is legitimate grounds for ridicule, I think.

 

[Mason]

Of course not! But the next question is, "every other prisoner in which system?"

According to the article...

"We were detained by one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet it was only after four months in detention that they gave me cigarettes," said Barzan, charged with crimes against humanity.

"And then they were of the worst quality in the world."

Saddam and his co-defendants have frequently berated the Americans and their Iraqi allies over their treatment.

... the US system.

If Saddam were being treated by the standards he was all too happy to impose on countless others, he'd have been worked over with a chainsaw and his family billed for the gasoline months ago. So to hear him and his mates whinge that they're being given Basics instead of Davidoffs is legitimate grounds for ridicule, I think.

Have you ever tried a Basic? The lights aren't too offensive, but that's only because there's no flavour left to be offended by. At least it wasn't Marlboro. (Or was it?)

 

[shecky]

The most depressing thing is that it's already more amusing than the Michael Jackson trial.

 

[Dr Adequate]

Think about all the guards being exposed to second hand smoke!

So ... he DOES have chemical weapons!

 

[peptoabysmal]

Yeah a guy who tortured and butchered countless thousands of innocent men, women and children is being coddled. F-ing hilarious.

Gee I love how the lines between reality and "entertainment" are so blurred nowdays.

If Saddam had any cahones, he would have shot himself inside of his spider hole. Now he is a former dictator reduced to clown figure. Are justice and entertainment mutually exclusive terms?

 

[Dr Adequate]

Then yield thee, coward,
And live to be the show and gaze o' the time:
We'll have thee, as our rarer monsters are,
Painted on a pole, and underwrit,
'Here may you see the tyrant.'

(Shakespeare, Macbeth V viii)