Saddam’s Defense Team Statement

I was about to trans­late Saddam’s defense team last state­ment, but “

Saddam’s trial wouldn’t pass for jus­tice in a dictatorship

“You are not a dic­ta­tor. You were never a dic­ta­tor. The peo­ple around a per­son make him a dic­ta­tor. Not just you. This hap­pens everywhere.”

You can imag­ine the Amer­i­can mon­i­tors watch­ing this in numb dis­be­lief; you can imag­ine the chew­ing of the Down­ing Street curtains.

Under Iraq’s bizarre con­sti­tu­tion the judge was sacked by the politi­cians, and judge num­ber six is cur­rently try­ing and fail­ing to keep order in class. Seven peo­ple con­nected with the trial have so far been killed, includ­ing three of Saddam’s lawyers. His chief defence lawyer, Khami al-Obaidi, was abducted, tor­tured and mur­dered by men claim­ing to be from the inte­rior ministry.

How on earth can the Iraqis have faith in the impar­tial­ity of these pro­ceed­ings, when wit­nesses, lawyers and judges are being indis­crim­i­nately threat­ened, tor­tured, killed and sacked?