Transfer Could Include Saddam Handover

[maddezmom]

By EDITH M. LEDERER, Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS - The transfer of sovereignty to Iraq (news - web sites)'s interim government on June 30 will include control of prisons and could lead to the handover of Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) for trial by Iraqis, Britain's U.N. ambassador said.


AP Photo



Saddam has been held in an undisclosed location since his Dec. 13 capture by U.S. forces and is being interrogated by the CIA (news - web sites) and FBI (news - web sites). The United States considers him a prisoner of war and has said it intends to eventually hand him over to Iraqis for trial.


The control of prisons has become a highly sensitive issue following revelations of physical and sexual abuse of Iraqi detainees by U.S. soldiers at Abu Ghraib prison in Baghdad.


British Ambassador Emyr Jones Parry said Thursday that letting Iraqis run the prisons was "totally consistent" with the transfer of sovereignty. Asked whether that meant Saddam would be turned over to the interim government, the ambassador indicated it did.


"I think we've always said that at some stage, and as soon as possible, Saddam Hussein should be handed over to the Iraqis for trial by Iraqis. And the sooner we can do that the better," Jones Parry said.

~snip~
more: http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=540&ncid=736&e=3&u=/ap/20040604/ap_on_re_mi_ea/un_iraq_saddam

Wonder what the US officials will have to say.........

[Tellurian]

1. Saddam in protective custody?

<<Saddam has been held in an undisclosed location since his Dec. 13 capture by U.S. forces and is being interrogated by the CIA and FBI. The United States considers him a prisoner of war and has said it intends to eventually hand him over to Iraqis for trial.>>

I hope he makes it to trial. I'm sure he has plenty of stories to tell. Stories of great interest to the Bush Gang and the holier than thou Xtians that helped put him in the WH.

[JM]

2. Aw hell...So much for Fox's new Reality TV Pilot

Federal Prison Celebrity Poker starring Saddam Hussein and Manuel Noriega.

JM

[Tellurian]

3. Ummm...The Bushes worst nightmare..

IranContra and Iraq...

shades of deja vu!

Looks like the Bushes are going to be hoisted on their own petards.

[maddezmom]

4. yes, and bush* attorney represented Secord during Iran Contra

~snip~

"Jim Sharp -- He's not part of the very high-profile group of Washington lawyers," Toobin said. "He is a well-known Washington lawyer, however. . . . I knew him because in the late '80s in the Iran/Contra investigation he represented Richard Secord. . . . He's had a successful white collar crime practice for a long time, very solid lawyer. Not flashy, not famous, but not a huge surprise that the president would hire someone like him."

Secord. How many of you remember that name? A retired Air Force general, Secord was the chief operative for then-Marine lieutenant colonel Oliver L. North, back when North, working out of the basement of Ronald Reagan's West Wing, engineered covert sales of arms to Iran, with some of the proceeds being covertly used to provide arms to the Contra rebels in Nicaragua, and the rest covertly going into Swiss bank accounts.

~snip~
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A12357-2004Jun3.html

[Tellurian]

7. "but not a huge surprise that the president would hire someone like him."

Well, then Bush must have knowledge that hasn't been made public yet. Is the Noriega threat for real or was that a friendly pun floated earlier upthread?

Secord? doesn't ring any bells. But then, my lifestyle then involved school and a tiny microcosm of close friends. Ah, but Fawn Hall- I remember giggling at the thought of her stuffing classified documents into her boot avoiding detection by security.

[maddezmom]

8. here's a little snippet

~snip~

Secord brought important operational skills to the Iran/contra transactions supervised by North. He disclosed most of his operational exploits in testimony before Congress and to criminal investigators, but he lied when he claimed that he acted as a volunteer for the benefit of the United States and that he personally did not profit from his participation.

One of Secord's central purposes in establishing and carrying out the operations of the Enterprise was the accumulation of untaxed wealth in secret overseas accounts. Testimony and records obtained from the Enterprise's Swiss financial manager, Willard Zucker, show that Secord personally received at least $2 million from his participation in the Enterprise during 1985 and 1986, that he set up secret accounts to conceal his untaxed income, and that he later lied and encouraged others to lie to keep it concealed.

Secord was indicted in March 1988 for conspiring with North, Vice Adm. John M. Poindexter and Hakim to defraud the U.S. Government of money and services, and for theft of Government property. After the trials were severed and the main conspiracy counts dropped due to problems with classified information, the Grand Jury in April 1989 charged Secord with nine additional felonies as a result of his false testimony before Congress in 1987.

Secord pleaded guilty on November 8, 1989, to the felony charge of lying to Congress about illegal gratuities he provided to North.1 Secord entered his plea five days before he was to be tried on 12 felony charges. As part of his plea, Secord promised to cooperate in the pending trials and ongoing investigation of Independent Counsel.

~snip~
http://www.fas.org/irp/offdocs/walsh/chap_09.htm

[Tellurian]

9. no doubt Secord took the fall for BushI's involvement..

as soon as I saw evidence was with withheld because of classified documents...hmm..

Where is Secord now, or was he pardoned?

[macllyr]

5. Against Geneva Convention

As SH was granted prisoner of war status, I think the transfer to the Iraquis would be against the Geneva Convention. Especially if the death penalty is required during his trial.

Macllyr

[sniffa]

6. wiLL bush handover the gun too?