Saddam verdict expected to take five years

[DuctapeFatwa]

Iraqi officials and judges involved in setting up Baghdad's new war crimes court have revealed that Saddam Hussein's trial will not be finished for five years, despite the clamour for speedy justice since his arrest last week.

The desire among many ordinary Iraqis for their former dictator to be tried rapidly must be sacrificed to the need for a full and open hearing that satisfies international legal standards, officials say.

Mouwafak al-Rubaie, the member of Iraq's new governing council who is responsible for setting up the war crimes tribunal, said: "Five years is the best estimate of how long it may take, from where we are now to actually reaching a verdict.

"It will obviously cause impatience among the Iraqi people, but I don't think that there is anything that can be done about that."

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/main.jhtml?xml=/news/2003/12/21/wsad21.xml&sSheet=/news/2003/12/21/ixnewstop.html

[rooboy]

1. Look, charge the bastard with three crimes...

then you can convict him and pass sentence. This smells too much like a "let's wait until George Bush is out of office" kind of approach. The Iraqi people are too broke to spend money on a five year trial.

[tsipple]

2. Translation: Saddam Good to Kick Around for 2 U.S. Elections!

You know, the International Criminal Court in The Hague can take the case right now. Why not?

[madrchsod]

3. he will be dead or

insane by this time next year. the bush klan is sending a warning to the leaders of the world -don`t fuck with the klan or we will imprison you.

[sistersofmercy]

6. Hit the nail on the head

Exactly what I think.

[pfitz59]

4. Drumbeat to war: 6 months!

Exposing evidence: 5 years! What...our "proof" for war NOW not sufficient to try Saddam NOW? How shaky is the case?

[cosmicdot]

5. posts 1 - 4, above, say it like it is

do we know the BFEE or what?

[teryang]

7. He was not expected to be captured alive!

<Jacques Verges, ...who, the Telegraph revealed last week, is representing Tariq Aziz, ...

...hinted yesterday that Saddam's defence would highlight the international support he received while, for example, gassing Kurds at Halabja.

During a visit to Amman to meet Mr Aziz's relations, he said "all Western heads of state" from that era should also go on trial if Saddam ended up in the dock.>

Have Poppy and Rumdum heard of the law of principals? Aiding and abetting makes one as guilty as the perpetrator.

[Journeyman]

8. We tried and executed the Nazi leadership. . .

in 18 months -- and there were 24 defendants in the dock. So I guess the question we have to ask is whether Saddam is 80 times greater a criminal than the collective Nazi leadership, or if the BushCo "Coalition of the Billing" is that much less competent than the Allied's Tribunal at Nuremberg.

[Whoa_Nelly]

9. Does the "5 years" mean...

that by "training" Iraqi lawyers and setting up a tribunal for Iraqis to decide Saddam's fate, that the US is actually planning on occupying Iraq for at least 5 years?

[Terwilliger]

10. or fifty

or never

[thissideup]

11. Shoot him now attempting to escape

[drb]

12. Five years.... hmmmm... let's see......

That would keep him out of circulation until Your Boy George is out of office, thus keeping Saddam from "accidently" spliing the beans about the BFEE involvement in the alleged crimes.

Pretty frickin' convenient, I calls it!!!