White House Wants Saddam Tried as Soon as Possible

[kskiska]

PHILADELPHIA (Reuters) - President Bush (news - web sites) is under pressure from Republican allies to have Saddam Hussein (news - web sites) put on trial swiftly, a move they hope might boost support for the Iraq (news - web sites) war before the November presidential election.

Putting a spotlight on Saddam's record of execution and torture could help shore up public support for the invasion damaged by a U.S. prison abuse scandal, Sen. Arlen Specter (news, bio, voting record), a Pennsylvania Republican, said on Wednesday.

Specter said he has been lobbying Bush, Vice President Dick Cheney (news - web sites) and White House Chief of Staff Andrew Card to expedite Saddam's trial to as early as August.

(snip)

"To try Saddam would put a lot of other issues in perspective," said Specter, who accompanied Bush on a visit to Philadelphia. "What Saddam did sort of fades from memory... Our prestige is on the line."

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http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=578&e=1&u=/nm/20040623/ts_nm/iraq_usa_saddam_dc

[wtmusic]

1. This is funny

They *just* realized they're going to have to turn him over, Sunnis could gain control, and Saddam walks...

Funny only because of admin ineptitude

[geek tragedy]

2. But, but, but

isn't he going to be tried by Iraqis and be under their 'legal' custody?


Snort.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

3. They talked about this on CNN yesterday

They estimated it would take months of sifting through the evidence before Saddam could be put on trial, and that's AFTER the new government has an opportunity to set itself up.

[4morewars]

4. Michigan Man Wants Bush*/Cheny,et al Tried as Soon as Possible

I live in my own little world,but it's OK, everyone here knows me !

[Spazito]

5. If Saddam is tried under international law, he will have a right of

discovery and we all know that there is a lot to "discover" with regard to the US relationship with Saddam, ala Rumsfeld's pic with him. There is the old saw; "Be careful what you wish for, you just might get it" and the Repubs would do well to heed it. So far, everything they have tried to boost bush's polls has done the opposite as will this attempt, imo.

[hatrack]

6. Would that be, perhaps, BEFORE November 2nd?

Just thought I'd ask . . .

[Bonhomme Richard]

7. Saddam will never see a public trial.

Not going to happen. The last thing shrub or the repugs want is Saddam with a vocal forum. Can you imagine the amount of verifiable info he would put out about bush, Reagan , WMD's and where he got his.
Not going to happen

[legin]

17. Saddam has a family

I'm sure that even Saddam cares about somebody.

That's how it used to operate in the Roman Empire. That's how it used to operate during the Show Trials in the Soviet Union in the thirties, none of the Old Bolsheviks who were about to be executed rocked the boat even though they had the perfect platform to do so.

Think that bit in the Godfather II.

[aden_nak]

8. Saddam on trial is BAD for the Appointee in Chief

Arlen Specter is either completely out of the loop (possible) or else believes that Bush needs to go, but can't come out and say that in his party (also possible). He's had moments of non-partisan clarity in the past, so I'm willing to grant him either possibility. But on to the meat and potatoes.

Trying Saddam Hussein before the election would spell utter doom for Bush and his entire gang of midweight thugs and political miscreants. Assuming the trial even remotely resembled a caricature of justice, there would be a lot of muck that gets raked up and splattered right in Bush's face.

Reagan and Bush 41's involvement with Saddam, for one thing. Rummy's chummy handshake, for another. The supply of weapons, information, the unofficial White House "OK" to invaid Kuwait. . . Look. Hussein isn't a complete idiot. He may be a world class prick, but he knows the score as of right now. He knows he's going up the river. And if you think for a moment that he wouldn't use the trial to wound our wonderboy president, you're dead wrong.

Saddam's only real Weapon of Mass Destruction would be unleashed during even a cursory review of his rise to power, and his ability to have stayed there. I fully suspect that he would use the trial to take a last, brutal stab at Bush and his political family. That is, presuming he isn't doped up or roughed up before/during each day's session. The damage he could cause to the Bush PR machine is enormous.

Bring it on.

[Miss Authoritiva]

24. All excellent points, and Specter may indeed be loopy, but

as always, it all depends upon who's writing the script. With the right stage setting, brisk choreography, and a very restrictive cast (ie, no high-level US officials), a reasonable facsimile of a trial could be over and done with in time for the November elections.

On the other hand, look at what has happened during the prolonged Milosevic trial at the World Court, where even Tony Blair and Bill Clinton are subject to being called as witnesses. However, the United States was given the right to censor evidence in the Milosevic trial! So even the World Court can be very US friendly.

www.wsws.org/articles/2003/dec2003/cens-d31.shtml

[shoelace414]

9. Well. the trials of

"the few bad apples" happened really fast.. way too fast. I wonder why?

[CO Liberal]

10. CO Liberal Wants Pretzelboy Tried as Soon as Possible

:kick:

[dArKeR]

11. My white house wants Bush, Cheney, Rumsfeld Tried as Soon as Possible!

Harken, TX National Guard, Halliburton, Nicaragua, Venezuela, Cuba, 9/11, Iraq, Carlyle, GOP Crime Family Racketeering in the American Whore Media, Medicare Bill, scientific data fraud, terrorism data fraud, Florida Racketeering and collusion with Supreme Court...

[pinto]

12. My House wants Ashcroft tried as soon as possible.

[progressivebydesign]

13. Anything for the election! N/T

[daleo]

14. I think the Iraqi puppet govt will pick out some non-political crime

Try Saddam on it, find him guilty, sentence and execute him. If they can pin a rage murder on him, for example, and try him strictly on that one, they could sentence him to death, and solve BFEE's Saddam problem right away.

There is no way they want a trial that could expose all the BFEE chicanery (many of the Iraqi puppets probably have long involvement with the BFEE as well).

That is not to say Saddam may not have a trick or two up his sleeve, though.

[DeepModem Mom]

15. Bill Schneider just said on CNNI that public wants to see TV trial

of Saddam more than any other trial (citing a poll, I think -- maybe a Republican poll), and that the WH thinks that such a trial, with days of testimony about Saddam's abuses, would really help election prospects. (The whole time Schneider was talking, CNN International had printed "Bush re-election more uncertain than ever" at the bottom of the screen.) If this is what Rove has determined, Saddam may be the next OJ.

[Jacobin]

16. I'm waiting for Bush's* Trial. That will be the good one

[Canuckistanian]

18. This is bogus

The only party with a legitimate case against Saddam is the Iraqi people.

Saddam has never committed any crime against The United States. Indeed, he was an ally for many years in his war against Iran.

So how does an uninvolved party get to decide when/how/why Saddam gets to be tried?

:wtf:

[BadGimp]

19. They want the spectacle

to detract form the Quagmire

eom

[Demeter]

20. The World Wants the White House Tried As Soon As Possible

in the Hague. For War Crimes, Crimes against Humanity, Breaking the Geneva Convention, Theft and Pillage, and more.

[indepat]

21. I agree: all Iraqi-involved war criminals should be on trial by August

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

22. Yeah, and I want pigs to have wings so I can win a bet

about them flying.

[Ksec]

23. For them to be politicizing the deaths of thousands is just awful

Imagine a party that uses the deaths of thousands of tortured and murdered Iraqis for political gain...how telling.

[Disturbed]

25. Iraqi Trial for BushCo

This trial should take place ASAP.