Posted on 01/30/2005 9:30:35 AM PST by Dog Gone
In late December, I traveled to Amman, Jordan, and met with the family and lawyers of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein. I told them that I would help in his defense in any way I could.
The news, when it found its way back to the United States, caused something of a stir. A few news reports were inquisitive — and some were skeptical — but most were simply dismissive or derogatory. "There goes Ramsey Clark again," they seemed to say. "Isn't it a shame? He used to be attorney general of the United States and now look at what he's doing."
So let me explain why defending Saddam Hussein is in line with what I've stood for all my life and why I think it's the right thing to do now.
That Saddam and other former Iraqi officials must have lawyers of their choice to assist them in defending against the criminal charges brought against them ought to be self-evident among a people committed to truth, justice and the rule of law.
Both international law and the Constitution of the United States guarantee the right to effective legal representation to any person accused of a crime. This is especially important in a highly politicized situation, where truth and justice can become even harder to achieve. That's certainly the situation today in Iraq. The war has caused the deaths of tens of thousands of Iraqis and the widespread destruction of civilian properties essential to life. President Bush, who initiated and oversees the war, has manifested his hatred for Saddam, publicly proclaiming that the death penalty would be appropriate.
The United States, and the Bush administration in particular, engineered the demonization of Saddam, and it has a clear political interest in his conviction. Obviously, a fair trial of Saddam will be difficult to ensure — and critically important to the future of democracy in Iraq. This trial will write history, affect the course of violence around the world and have an impact on hopes for reconciliation within Iraq.
Saddam has been held illegally for more than a year without once meeting a family member, friend or lawyer of his choice. Although the world has seen him time and again on television — disheveled, apparently disoriented with someone prying deep into his mouth and later alone before some unseen judge — he has been cut off from all communications with the outside world and surrounded by the same U.S. military that mistreated prisoners at Abu Ghraib and Guantanamo Bay.
Preparation of Saddam's defense cannot begin until lawyers chosen by him obtain immediate, full and confidential access to him so they can review with him events of the last year, the circumstances of his seizure and the details of his treatment. They must then have time to thoroughly discuss the nature and composition of the prosecution and the court, the charges that may be brought against him, and his knowledge, thoughts and instructions concerning the facts of the case. And finally, they must have the time for the enormous task of preparing his defense.
The legal team, its assistants and investigators must be able to perform their work safely, without interference, and be assured that their client's condition and the conditions of his confinement enable him to fully participate in every aspect of his defense.
International law requires that every criminal court be competent, independent and impartial. The Iraqi Special Tribunal lacks all of these essential qualities. It was illegitimate in its conception — the creation of an illegal occupying power that demonized Saddam Hussein and destroyed the government it now intends to condemn by law.
The United States has destroyed any hope of legitimacy, fairness or even decency by its treatment of the former president and its creation of the Iraqi Special Tribunal to try him.
Among the earliest photographs it released is one showing Saddam sitting submissively on the floor of an empty room with Ahmad Chalabi, the principal U.S. surrogate at that moment, looming over him and a picture of Bush looking down from an otherwise bare wall.
The intention of the United States to convict the former leader in an unfair trial was made starkly clear by the appointment of Chalabi's nephew to organize and lead the court. He had just returned to Iraq to open a law office with a former law partner of U.S. Defense Undersecretary Douglas J. Feith, who had urged the United States overthrow of the Iraqi government and was a principal architect of U.S. postwar planning.
The concept, personnel, funding and functions of the court were chosen and are still controlled by the United States, dependent on its will and partial to its wishes. Reform is impossible. Proceedings before the Iraqi Special Tribunal would corrupt justice both in fact and in appearance and create more hatred and rage in Iraq against the American occupation. Only another court — one that is actually competent, independent and impartial — can lawfully sit in judgment.
In a trial of Saddam and other former Iraqi officials, affirmative measures must be taken to prevent prejudice from affecting the conduct of the case and the final judgment of the court. This will be a major challenge. But nothing less is acceptable.
Finally, any court that considers criminal charges against Saddam Hussein must have the power and the mandate to consider charges against leaders and military personnel of the United States, Britain and the other nations that participated in the aggression against Iraq, if equal justice under law is to have meaning.
No power, or person, can be above the law. For there to be peace, the days of victor's justice must end.
The defense of such a case is a challenge of great importance to truth, the rule of law and peace. A lawyer qualified for the task and able to undertake it, if chosen, should accept such service as his highest duty.
Clark was attorney general under President Lyndon B. Johnson.
As if Saddam needs demonizing.
Bones
Ramsey Clark wants to put President Bush on trial in Iraq.
In the interest of justice and demonstrating the abuses of the former Baathist regime:
Q - What would Ramsey Clark say if he was dropped feet first into one of those shredding machines that used to be in vogue with Saddam, Uday and Qusay?
A - 'AAAAAIIIEEIEEEEEEEEARRRRGHHHhhhhhhhh.......*pffft*'
Whatzat Ramsey? You say you don't think you can defend Saddam anymore?
Looks good on ya!
Ummmmm - NO.
On the day that Democracy is born in Iraq, it is fitting that Ramsey Clark should be published in the New York Times. Hitler's own American Propaganda machine has not mellowed with time: rather, it has merely found new dictators to idolize. So it is with greatest pleasure that I point to Ramsey Clark and call him a f***ing tool.
This is my immortal paen to immoral peons for the day. Thank You.
Why wasn't this in ScrappleFace?
We had a party when Kuntzler died.
I want to have another party!
Comdrade Clark missed his chance at litigatory fame by a few decades: Hitler took the long walk off the short pier, and Stalin died his miserable death, possibly poisoned. But what a great act Clark could have performed, arguing in defense of these two! He could have flung all of his eloquence out to the world and tried to put the blame on FDR and Truman in defense of the former, and added Eisenhower to blame in defense of the latter.
Instead, he is left with the miserable butcher of Baghdad as a client. Clark is a role model, however, for the Michael Moore's, Ted Kennedy's and others who have the rot of evil and duplicity in their souls.
His appeal to international and US Constitutional law are truly bizarre especially when he tries to lay blame on the President of the United States. He has based his life in support of the worst human butchers and has turned his back on his country and the society that gave him the foundations of law. I shall always include him among the most famous scumbags of all time.
Tough Titty, Kitty, you ain't gonna get your way. Go cry in your prune juice.
And I hope that the American military does not feel obligated to escort him in his daily travels during that period.
I think many of us could think of some choice words to describe that POS, but most are not printable. I rememeber years ago, watching Crossfire, with Bob Novak. I laughed when Novak told Clark to his face, "frankly Mr Clark, you nauseate me."
Loony as ever. Somewhere out there is an alternate universe missing one of its own muses.
I don't know anything about international law but I learned everything I need to know about lawyers and justice when O.J. walked.
Actually, you learned about juries.
Correct! It's very hard to be chosen by a jury if you're not a fool.
In a trial of Saddam and other former Iraqi officials, affirmative measures must be taken to prevent prejudice from affecting the conduct of the case and the final judgment of the court. This will be a major challenge. But nothing less is acceptable.
Dear Mr. Clark,
I believe that it is good for human beings to share prejudice against murderers. It is a natural thing in the real world which you, an American Aristocrat, are not part of.
Otis Mukinfus 1/30/2005
IOW, Ramsey Clark believes that people around the world have been brainwashed into seeing a kind and gentle man as a brutal dictator. But Clark, owing to his superior insight, can see what the rest of us cannot. Saddam, who at last report was spending his days eating muffins, tending a garden, and writing poetry, is merely another victim of the Vast Bush Administration-FOX News Conspiracy. He's a saint in dictators clothing.
Get a grip, Ramsey. Saddam is a self-demonizing organism.
War is an ugly thing, but not the ugliest of things. The decayed and degraded state of moral and patriotic feelings which thinks that nothing is worth war is much worse. The person who has nothing for which he is willing to fight, nothing which is more important than his own personal safety, is a miserable creature and has no chance of being free unless made and kept so by the exertions of better men than himself.
--John Stuart Mill
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