Posted on 05/22/2006 11:39:22 AM PDT by West Coast Conservative
The chief judge presiding over Saddam Hussein's war crimes trial shouted down the former Iraqi leader Monday, reminding Saddam he no longer had supreme power.
"You are a defendant now, not a president," Judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman told Saddam as the defence stage of the trial began.
The altercation came after Abdel-Rahman threw a defence lawyer out of the heavily guarded Baghdad courtroom.
Bushra Khalil had just returned to the proceedings after being ejected in early April. The judge ejected her again Monday for disregarding his orders by trying to make a statement.
As guards took hold of the Lebanese-born lawyer to lead her out of the room, Saddam objected loudly.
When Abdel-Rahman told him to be quiet, Saddam shouted: "I'm Saddam Hussein, president of Iraq. I am above all."
Saddam and seven former colleagues are on trial for ordering and carrying out the execution of 148 Shia men and boys of the town of Dujail during the 1980s.
They face a death sentence if convicted.
Many of the defendants have made frequent outbursts of defiance and anger in the courtroom.
A headline I would like to see addressed to Slick.
I'm glad to hear the judge is attempting to gain control of his courtroom. For months it's appeared to be controlled by Saddam and his henchmen.
Well, for those who have paid attention, defendant Bill Clinton has a date in court on Marcfh 27, 2007 with Peter Paul in Los Angeles Superior Court.
If Bill were that powerful, a lot of us would have been arrested or killed. Brown was an accident, Foster a suicide (but not at Fort Marcy), and I don't know about MacDougal. But Bill's not in office anymore, and he doesn't have that power.
When Saddam is a corpse, the situation in Iraq will improve dramatically and the terrorists will be isolated, as the Iraqi people will finally know once and for all that he's not comin' back. We can only hope that it will happen before the 1st Tuesday in November.
You have nailed it. It will be interesting to watch for thr next year.
That POS remembered enough to write a 900+ page autobiography, but curiously, when he gets in a courtroom he doesn't remember a thing.
These Iraqi judges seem so obsequious.
I think it would have been cool if the judge had responded with something like:
"In case you haven't noticed, sir, you don't even have the power anymore to decide what kind of toilet paper you get to use."
So I'm not familiar enough with the criminal justice system in America, thankfully. If a defendent here is just relentlessly disruptive to the proceedings, can't he be taken out of the courtroom? I mean, I know he has the right to face his accuser, but he's chosen not to avail himself of that right.
If it makes you feel any better, tell it to the hangman.
Not sure. I recall that Saddam refused to participate for a while and even attended in a bath robe once. The Iraqis seem really concerned about World perception that the trial is fair. I think they're pulling too many punches for that reason.
I can't imagine the Nazis being allowed to shout down the Nuremburg judges. This thug is cut from the same cloth as the Nazis.
I can hardly wait for the headline.
"Death penalty activists hold candle light vigil
as Saddam executed."
Who do we apply to in order to change "defendant" to "decedant?" (By legal action, of course.)
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.