Posted on 12/29/2006 9:11:00 AM PST by AVNevis
Since it now seems very imminent, I decided that it was an appropriate time to start this up. Links to information and pictures (if we get them) can be posted here.
Better get the key back before he takes it with him to hell.
...don't they already celebrate "Devil's Night" there?
City of my birth...glad I'm not there anymore....
Fox is now reporting he has turned over his Final Will and rumors have it the six witnesses were reporting that they saw Saddam trying to dig another spider hole.
The part on the will is true but the rest is adding levity to the thread.
I would think that gravity would make it even more likely with a hanging.
Evening Pookie!
pass the popcorn, please. :)
"Better get the key back before he takes it with him to hell."
I think I know where this is going. lol.
Well, is *this* a black thread or a white one, lol?
Someone's got to get the hook. Shep's so over his head tonight it's embarrassing.
Or,
"Hangman, hangman slack your rope,
Slack it for a [squrleeeeech!]"
That and the month long days of fasting, møøselimb dawn to møøselimb sunset.
Isn't WTMJ the station that called the AG's race for Jim "Craps" Doyle's (WEAC/Potawatomi-For Sale) official whitewasher, Kathleen Falk?
I am at a loss in trying to stay up with the volume of posts! As I write this ther will be another 50 post to read! I have to stop now ... if I don't I will be a day behind!
Wow ... 2600 posts on the thread and he ain't even dead yet! Yippekayaa ...
Good for you! What time is dinner, and what should I bring :*)
MALVEAUX: One of Hussein's lawyers tell us the toppled Iraqi leader has been transferred from U.S. to Iraqi custody and could be executed very shortly. And a adviser to Iraqi's prime minister says the paperwork for Hussein's execution is in order.
HENRY: But on a day of conflicting reports about Saddam's fate nothing is certain until there is official word that he is, indeed, dead.
Let's check in with that member of Hussein's defense team right now Giovanni DiStefano, he's on the phone from Rome. And I first want to ask you, I spoke to you a couple of hours ago and you told me that you were getting word from a credible source that this execution could happen within a couple of hours. It's been a couple of hours. What do you know right this minute about Saddam Hussein's fate?
GIOVANNI DISTEFANO, SADDAM HUSSEIN DEFENSE ATTORNEY: We know nothing other than what I told you a couple of hours ago that obviously as lawyers, we have to make the provisions for the client and the family for in the event that the worst should happen.
Now, as I understand it, there is confirmation from the Defense Department in the United States that they say that as of now, they still have custody of Saddam Hussein. No I understand, that is the position because at the moment as we speak Nick Gillman, our lawyer from Washington, is in the District court in Washington before a judge with notice at the State Department there for a stay precluding the United States from handing him over.
So although he may have been physically handed over, the United States may very well have had a cause to effectively take him back in the event that Judge Sullivan grants the temporary restraining order, in which case, his life would then be spared at least for a period of time or until such further order of the court.
That is the position as we speak now. But if the execution takes place, if it does take place, obviously, we've put some steps in order that the bodies of the three people who are being executed will, of course, go to their families.
HENRY: OK, Mr. DiStefano, I just want to clarify a point that's very important. You told me early that you received an e-mail a few hours ago from the U.S. military saying that Saddam Hussein had been turned over from the U.S. to the Iraqi authorities. You're now saying that he may have been turned back to the U.S. authorities?
DISTEFANO: The e-mail certainly came not just to me, it came to other lawyers as well on the defense team there. That was timed at 4:47. But since the United States were on notice that there would be a hearing today, before a district judge in Washington, they may -- I just say may very well why they would have done -- had a cause to be able to take Saddam Hussein back in the event that the district judge granted a temporary restraining order, because if that didn't happen, if, in other words, they still gave Saddam Hussein to the Iraqis, despite a temporary restraining order, it would be a contempt of court and an impeachable offense for President Bush.
MALVEAUX: So just to be clear here, where is Saddam Hussein physically right now?
DISTEFANO: The State Department say that they still have control of him there.
MALVEAUX: Do you know where he is as his attorney, do you know where he is?
DISTEFANO: Well, I'm in Rome in Italy. The other lawyers are in Amman. We have one lawyer in Baghdad. You know, a whole state of confusion has arisen here.
We have conflicting e-mails, but the e-mail I prefer to believe is from the American government and the American government told us at 4:47 they handed him over to the Iraqis but an hour ago, the American governor said we still have control of Saddam Hussein.
I am saying why I believe that that may be the case. Because of the impending, on-going action which, as we speak, before the District court in Washington.
MALVEAUX: So, what is your understanding about what happens next here? When that transfer, the official transfer happens? Do you know if there will be pictures of Saddam Hussein's execution?
Will you get a heads-up on this? Will the United States, Iraqi authorities? Walk us through this procedure because it has been very confusing this afternoon.
DISTEFANO: Well, I mean, confusing is a key word there. Two weeks ago, there were 13 executions in Baghdad, of which two of them were shown on television.
In fact, all 13 were paraded on television but two were actually seen. So I don't know the position with Saddam Hussein (INAUDIBLE) because we're talking about three executions, not one.
HENRY: OK, now also, the New York Times.com is reporting that another one of Saddam Hussein's lawyers was asked to come collect his belongings. Can you confirm that?
DISTEFANO: I mean, there's nothing unusual in that. As we understand, that occurred early this morning because Saddam Hussein has an awful lot of stuff in his cell and the regulations, the American regulations, ironically, the health and safety regulations, said you couldn't have more than 25 kilos of stuff within your cell.
He had far more than that in documentation there and that was another state of confusion that arose there. We will not know until after I hear from Mr. Gilman who is in the District court, if a temporary restraining order has been granted then Saddam Hussein is going nowhere.
MALVEAUX: Is it true that Saddam Hussein's half brothers visited him in prison just yesterday and that he presented one of those brothers with a will to state his intentions? Are you aware that have?
DISTEFANO: Yes, I am. And of course, he is 70 years of age and there is nothing abnormal whatsoever. In the situation that he faces with a sentence of death and with a confirmation of sentence of death, it is the appropriate and correct and responsible thing to do. Remember, Saddam Hussein is a lawyer.
HENRY: OK, now earlier, you also told me that you had passed on and authorized a power of attorney to someone else in Baghdad to actually collect the body eventually from the Iraqi government. Can you talk about that first of all and secondly, what are the intentions of the Hussein family? My understanding they want the body to go to Jordan?
DISTEFANO: The body belongs to the family, belongs to the next of kin, it doesn't belong to the government. And that's the same of course under American law, English, Italian law, in any civilized law.
And in the event -- and I hope it's the unlikely event, but in the event that Saddam Hussein (INAUDIBLE) are executed, obviously the families want the bodies and they want the bodies sooner rather than later. And there is of course a power of attorney. Because you can't simply go and claim a body if you have no power of attorney.
MALVEAUX: How is Saddam Hussein spending his last hours? Do you know if he is talking with relatives? Is he reading? Is he eating? And when is the last time that you've actually talked with Saddam?
DISTEFANO: Well, I mean, that occurred more than two weeks ago. I mean, I'm still hoping and praying that there will be no execution and that the meeting on the 4th of January and other meetings that were scheduled by the American military will actually take place.
I pray that Judge Emmitt Sullivan does grant a temporary restraining order because if he does it will save a lot of people's lives, not just Saddam Hussein.
MALVEAUX: But in your discussions with fellow attorneys, do you know what is happening with Saddam Hussein? Do you know how he is spending his final hours?
DISTEFANO: Well, his final hours, what are the final hours of any person now, who knows? It's a state of confusion and I'm sure that Saddam Hussein will probably be as confused as what we all are as well.
HENRY: Can you tell us a little bit about the procedure? There were reports that there was a red card that Iraqi authorities will hand to Saddam Hussein directly. It's the red card used by Saddam's own secret police informing people that they were going to be killed, that he is going to get this red card.
And the judge in the appeals court has said they are very close to giving him this red card. What do you know about the procedure and how he will be notified?
DISTEFANO: I can only know the procedure by what occurred two weeks ago on the executions that there were no red cards that I saw and of course it's not a game of soccer and it would be wrong in my view, it would be vindictive and (INAUDIBLE) it's not what the Iraqi people or anybody would want if this man had received a fair trial, if he had received a proper trial and if he had been convicted in a fair trial, if he had been sentenced to death on fair trial, I'm sure you find that there would be a trickle of blood that would be instead of a river of blood that will occur if he executed under these circumstances.
MALVEAUX: Questions? OK. We thank you very much for your time. We're going to check back often with you throughout this hour and the following hour in THE SITUATION ROOM. We thank you very much Giovanni DiStefano, one of Saddam Hussein's attorneys.
http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0612/29/sitroom.01.html
More like "We Knew Ye FAR too well"
I lean away from the death penalty for the average petty joe, for several reasons, but some crimes are heinous enough, some people magnetic enough in their personality/cause, sometimes, their deaths are needed, like the lancing of a boil.
I never gloat. A person, as rotten as he spent his life, is still a person beloved of the Father.
Into your hands, I commend him, Father, for in truth, I am glad it is not my job to be his judge...a life poorly lived, and a causer of great grief. But in the time he has left, may he find his peace with you, and may you be the healing of his soul. Amen.
He (Shep) was starting to lose it there about the timing wasn't he?
LOL!
:)
You're not kidding. Hhe is asking "Why Now"?
What an idiot drama queen.
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