Saturday, July 30, 2005

Saddam attacked - or not

Reuters has two confusing reports up this morning, one which says that Saddam Hussein was attacked in court yesterday by an unidentified bystander and another report which says no such incident took place.

Saddam's legal team claimed that he was attacked and he and the attacker exchanged blows. According to the defense team, no one did anything to stop it. A spokeswoman for detainee operations in Iraq, the U.S. military unit charged with overseeing the custody of prisoners including Saddam, said no such incident took place. "Nothing like that happened with Saddam whatsoever," Lieutenant Kristy Miller said.

An official in Baghdad who is familiar with the workings of the tribunal also denied that any scuffle took place between Saddam and another individual. He suggested it may be a defense team tactic. "If I was a defense lawyer for Saddam, I'd try every trick I could," he said.

Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general and one of the lawyers signed up to represent Saddam, said in a statement that Saddam's rights were being violated. "Continued interrogations or trial under these circumstances is a serious violation of standards of security of person and fair trial that are shared by almost every country in the world," he said. Really? Like in Iran, Syria, Saudi Arabia, Russia, China, North Korea, Viet Nam, Cambodia etc., etc., etc.?

TAGS: , ,

No comments: