Late October/early November, perhaps.
Gee, I wonder if anything else might be happening in a few weeks?
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Iraqi Minister: Saddam Faces Trial Soon
Monday September 6, 2004 2:16 AM
KUWAIT CITY (AP) - Saddam Hussein and other detained members of the deposed Iraqi regime will face trial within ``a few weeks,'' Iraq's minister of state said in Kuwait on Sunday.
``The trial of Saddam and the others on the black list will start within a few weeks ... before the end of this year and before (Iraqi) elections,'' Qassim Dawoud told reporters during a visit to Kuwait City.
He did not mention any dates.
Dawoud also said U.S. authorities will have no influence over the trial process, which he expected to take a long time.
``We have deprived ourselves from having any influence on Saddam's trial,'' Dawoud said. ``How could we allow foreign entities to interfere in Saddam's trial?''
Since his capture last December, Saddam has been held in U.S. detention at an undisclosed location awaiting trial on broad charges of killing rivals, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait and suppressing uprisings.
Kuwait is also preparing papers on war crimes that Saddam's occupying army is alleged to have committed after it invaded in August 1990.
Iraqi forces are accused of killing about 1,000 Kuwaitis and other nationals, sabotaging Kuwait's oil wells, and looting the national archives. They were driven out of the country by a U.S.-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War.
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Qassim Dawoud, Iraq's Minister of State asks:-
"How could we allow foreign entities to interfere in Saddam's trial?"
How indeed? Well, how about the way reported by the New York Times back in March 2004:-
"Following a White House directive, the Justice Department is sending a high-level team of prosecutors and investigators to Iraq to take charge of assembling and organizing the evidence to be used in a war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein, administration and Iraqi officials said in recent days.
The previously undisclosed directive signed by Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, directs the government to take the initiative in preparing a case against Mr. Hussein that will ultimately be run by Iraqis. The order, issued in January, gives the Justice Department the authority to act as the lead agency in the effort.
The first officials in a delegation of about 50 lawyers, investigators and prosecutors from the Justice Department are leaving this weekend for Iraq, a Justice Department official said. The group will be assigned to a new office called the Regime Crimes Adviser's Office under the American occupation authority."
The US agrees it's a tricky business; after all:-
"The effort to develop a case involves a delicate balancing act for the administration, which is trying to turn over as complete a brief as possible for the Iraqis to use against Mr. Hussein without appearing to dominate the process in a way that could undercut the independence of the Iraqi authorities. "We're trying to balance a bunch of interests here," said one senior administration official. "We intend to bring quite a few resources to the table but not too many so it looks like a completely American process.""
I suspect that the one area of the trial forbidden to 'foreign entities' will be assisting the defence. So far, Hussein has had no access to a lawyer, his defence team have been told that his courtroom lawyer must be Iraqi; Salem Chalabi has deferred the decision on whether non-Iraqi lawyers will be permitted to assist the defence in any capacity.
Quote:
"Kuwait is also preparing papers on war crimes that Saddam's occupying army is alleged to have committed after it invaded in August 1990."
The one thing Kuwait must not leave out of their deposition is the fact that premeture babies were thrown out of incubators and left to die on the floor.
Gee, I wonder if anything else might be happening in a few weeks?
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Iraqi Minister: Saddam Faces Trial Soon
Monday September 6, 2004 2:16 AM
KUWAIT CITY (AP) - Saddam Hussein and other detained members of the deposed Iraqi regime will face trial within ``a few weeks,'' Iraq's minister of state said in Kuwait on Sunday.
``The trial of Saddam and the others on the black list will start within a few weeks ... before the end of this year and before (Iraqi) elections,'' Qassim Dawoud told reporters during a visit to Kuwait City.
He did not mention any dates.
Dawoud also said U.S. authorities will have no influence over the trial process, which he expected to take a long time.
``We have deprived ourselves from having any influence on Saddam's trial,'' Dawoud said. ``How could we allow foreign entities to interfere in Saddam's trial?''
Since his capture last December, Saddam has been held in U.S. detention at an undisclosed location awaiting trial on broad charges of killing rivals, gassing Kurds, invading Kuwait and suppressing uprisings.
Kuwait is also preparing papers on war crimes that Saddam's occupying army is alleged to have committed after it invaded in August 1990.
Iraqi forces are accused of killing about 1,000 Kuwaitis and other nationals, sabotaging Kuwait's oil wells, and looting the national archives. They were driven out of the country by a U.S.-led coalition in the 1991 Gulf War.
------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Qassim Dawoud, Iraq's Minister of State asks:-
"How could we allow foreign entities to interfere in Saddam's trial?"
How indeed? Well, how about the way reported by the New York Times back in March 2004:-
"Following a White House directive, the Justice Department is sending a high-level team of prosecutors and investigators to Iraq to take charge of assembling and organizing the evidence to be used in a war crimes trial of Saddam Hussein, administration and Iraqi officials said in recent days.
The previously undisclosed directive signed by Condoleezza Rice, President Bush's national security adviser, directs the government to take the initiative in preparing a case against Mr. Hussein that will ultimately be run by Iraqis. The order, issued in January, gives the Justice Department the authority to act as the lead agency in the effort.
The first officials in a delegation of about 50 lawyers, investigators and prosecutors from the Justice Department are leaving this weekend for Iraq, a Justice Department official said. The group will be assigned to a new office called the Regime Crimes Adviser's Office under the American occupation authority."
The US agrees it's a tricky business; after all:-
"The effort to develop a case involves a delicate balancing act for the administration, which is trying to turn over as complete a brief as possible for the Iraqis to use against Mr. Hussein without appearing to dominate the process in a way that could undercut the independence of the Iraqi authorities. "We're trying to balance a bunch of interests here," said one senior administration official. "We intend to bring quite a few resources to the table but not too many so it looks like a completely American process.""
I suspect that the one area of the trial forbidden to 'foreign entities' will be assisting the defence. So far, Hussein has had no access to a lawyer, his defence team have been told that his courtroom lawyer must be Iraqi; Salem Chalabi has deferred the decision on whether non-Iraqi lawyers will be permitted to assist the defence in any capacity.
Quote:
"Kuwait is also preparing papers on war crimes that Saddam's occupying army is alleged to have committed after it invaded in August 1990."
The one thing Kuwait must not leave out of their deposition is the fact that premeture babies were thrown out of incubators and left to die on the floor.
