Posted on 10/10/2005 12:00:09 PM PDT by West Coast Conservative
Thousands of detainees in Iraqi jails should be able to vote in the constitutional referendum this week -- including former president Saddam Hussein, the country's Electoral Commission said.
Though details on Monday were scant, it raised the unlikely prospect of Saddam and his aides marking "Yes" or "No" to a constitution that specifically bans the "Saddamist Baath party."
Commission officials said ballot boxes would be sent to the U.S.-run Abu Ghraib prison and other camps where about 10,000 mainly Sunni prisoners are held, often without charge, on suspicion of joining a revolt. Sunni leaders have called for a "No" vote or a boycott of the ballot.
"All unconvicted detainees will have the right to vote in the referendum," the Commission's Adil al-Lami told a news conference, saying they would vote on Thursday, two days ahead of the national ballot on Saturday.
Asked whether Saddam himself could take part, Commissioner Farid Ayar told Reuters: "I don't know where he is. But if he's at Abu Ghraib ... or one of the other camps, then he would fall into that category."
A U.S. military spokesman declined to comment on the issue.
Saddam is believed to be held at a U.S. facility known as Camp Cropper at Baghdad airport. He refuses to recognize his ousting by U.S. forces and the legitimacy of a trial for crimes against humanity that is to start just four days after the referendum so it seems improbable he would vote, even if asked.
Saddam isn't going to like this one bit. Would love to see the look on his face when he is handed a ballot.
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