Who Will Testify at Saddam's Trial? (Joe Conason - must read!)

[VolcanoJen]

http://www2.observer.com/observer/pages/conason.asp

Smokin' Joe Conason nails it again.

Excerpt:

An obvious prospective witness is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who acted as a special envoy to Baghdad during the early 1980’s. On a courtroom easel, Saddam might display the famous December 1983 photograph of him shaking hands with Mr. Rumsfeld, who acknowledges that the United States knew Iraq was using chemical weapons. If his forces were using Tabun, mustard gas and other forbidden poisons, he might ask, why did Washington restore diplomatic relations with Baghdad in November 1984?

As for his horrendous persecution of the Kurds in 1988, Saddam could call executives from the banks and defense and pharmaceutical companies from various countries that sold him the equipment and materials he is alleged to have used. He might put former President George Herbert Walker Bush on the witness stand and ask, "Why did your administration and Ronald Reagan’s sell my government biological toxins such as anthrax and botulism, as well as poisonous chemicals and helicopters?"

[jbfam4]

1. we can only pray that it is an open trial

and Joe's thoughts will come true. WE all know it will be closed due to classified information....yeah, right.

[DemoVet]

2. I'd like to nominate Johnny Cochran for the defense

He's already shown his skill at getting monsters acquitted of their crimes, and it doesn't seem to be costing him any sleep at all. When I first heard that Sah-dam (or Soh-dum, as Bush41 used to call him) had been nabbed I was glad, not just because he's a horrible awful person and certainly shouldn't be loose, but also because he has the ability, if given an open forum like a trial and a decent defense, of causing a lot of embarrasment and pain to a lot of Republican administration officials going back 20 years, not to mention the current crew. Conason's dream witness list will probably never testify but the issues raised by their tacit support of him from the early 80's through Gulf War 1, when he was an even more evil monster than he was when we invaded this year, would certainly put the neocons in an awkward position, now that their initial reason for invasion, i.e. vast stocks of WMD's, hasn't materialized. It's hard for them to pretend, now that they haven't found any, or any programs to develop them, or even any clear evidence that the Iraqis even wanted to begin developing them and sharing them with terrorists (or even finding Osama on Saddams speed dial list) that they invaded to save the Iraqi people from an oppressive dictator. They didn't seem to have any problem with him as long as he was killing Iranians and they could make a buck off it.
It just goes to show you how little planning goes into their little schemes once things get under way. Personally, if I were Cheney the last thing I would have wanted was a living, breathing, Saddam Hussein in open court with nothing to lose and a strong desire to do as much damage as he can to his enemies before he dies. He may actually be more dangerous to them now than he would have been if they had left him alone.
I'll bet Dickless is wishing that that GI had dropped a grenade on ol' Sah-dam.

[number6]

3. things I'd like to see

..

[MinnFats]

4. Saddam will never live long enough to make it to trial...

....there are just too many forces that could be embarrassed or otherwise put on the spot by precisely the situations Conason describes.
....somebody will "slip" him a cyanide pill in his cell. he'll die before he can reveal anything...

my bet: if they say it's suicide, it ain't suicide.

[pinkpops]

5. they'll probably let him live

after the lobotomy

[Judi Lynn]

6. You're right! Never thought of that.

Isn't it true a similar effect can be acheived through drugs?