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Iraq
Saddam's cousin blasts 'illegal' trial
2003-12-17
Saddam Hussein's cousin has said the former Iraqi president should not stand trial for crimes committed during his time in power.
Well, gee. There's an impartial observer for you...
Izz al-Din al-Majid, who was once Saddam's bodyguard, told Aljazeera.net on Tuesday that he would not get a fair trial in Iraq. "I totally refuse the idea of trying President Saddam Hussein - this is illegal. He is still the legal president of the Republic of Iraq. But if there is no escape from holding a trial, then it should be in The Hague," he said.
Personally, I find the idea of the people he tormented for 35 years putting him on trial to be kind of... you know — jolly.
Al-Majid defected with Saddam's sons-in-law Hussein and Saddam Kamil in 1995, but refused to return to Iraq in spite of a presidential pardon.
That's howcome he's still breathing...
And even though he opposed Saddam's regime, al-Majid objected to America's treatment of him. He said: "Though my differences with the president are known to everybody, I am terribly sad... If I had an army, I would immediately move to Baghdad to drive the occupiers and their supporters out of Iraq.
Posted by:Fred Pruitt

#6  "Al-Majid defected with Saddam's sons-in-law Hussein and Saddam Kamil in 1995, but refused to return to Iraq in spite of a presidential pardon."

Guess he wasn't as dumb as the Kamil brothers. Or else he didn't have any family that could be used as a lever. Wonder what Saddam told the brothers he would do to their families if they didn't come back. Bear in mind that this was Sammy's OWN family...
Posted by: mojo   2003-12-17 5:30:52 PM  

#5  I think part of the problem is a major misunderstanding. A trial implies an undertaking to determine the truth and so act on it.

Sometimes old familiar ideas do not work and you have to step outside the norm to set things to rights.

There is no conceivable way that Saddam can be found innocent of anything. In this case a the trial is really just an review of the reasons and justifications why the Iraqi people are going to hang this guy.

All the people crying about a "fair trial" either really do not understand what is going on or are trying to prevent the Iraqi people from ever being free.

Most of the noise coming from the latter, as without hatred and misery and evil about in the world these people have no justification for their existance.

Posted by: Michael   2003-12-17 12:33:01 PM  

#4  ...or sounds like he is planning a run for the Democrat primary.
Posted by: Les Nessman   2003-12-17 11:10:32 AM  

#3  Sounds like he's planning to run for office in Tikrit .....
Posted by: rkb   2003-12-17 8:26:58 AM  

#2  I love to be lectured on justice, by Baathist tyrants. How many of the Beast-of-Baghdad's victims received a fair trial?
Posted by: Vlad the Muslim Impaler   2003-12-17 4:57:12 AM  

#1  If Izzy had an army, it would throw down its weapons and scurry away to hide the very minute the 101st and 3ID looked at them closely. They saw what happened to Izzy's cousin.

So I guess he won't ever have an army!
Posted by: Steve White   2003-12-17 12:13:20 AM  

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