Thursday - March 02, 2006

Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day (so far)

Now we know why they lost an empire. The Brits have tripped over their shoestrings again. This time paying for phone sex for several Iraqis. Then again, it may have been a sneaky plan by the cunning Brits to keep the natives quiet. Yep, that sounds about right. Give them free phone sex and they’ll be too busy to make bombs. Sounds like a plan to me. Mheh-heh ....

Phones Stolen In Iraq Used For Sex Chatlines
Thursday March 2, 2006

(GUARDIAN - UK)

It certainly was not part of Britain’s plans to win the hearts and minds of the people of Iraq. But the Foreign Office has been apparently paying for an adult sex chatline in a Baghdad street for 17 months without knowing it. The Foreign Office has had to tell MPs that an investigation into how a diplomat lost two satellite phones in Iraq has nothing to do with terrorism but more to do with a budding entrepreneur and a telephone porn network.

FO officials had already admitted that the lost phones had cost them £594,000 in unauthorised phone bills but it is now bracing itself for an extremely critical report from the Commons public accounts committee on how it came to pay phone bills, which at one stage hit £212,000 in one month, without asking questions. Sir Michael Jay, permanent secretary at the FO, told MPs: “All the pattern of usage of these phones ... points to some kind of criminal activity ... It was almost as though they were taken and used as a kind of mobile phone booth at the end of the street where anybody could come along and use them.

“After that, they appear to have been used for a couple of scams based on what are known as personal numbers and premium numbers.” Sir Michael said the premium rate numbers were used for betting agencies or adult phone lines, and that one of the FO phones had been “on virtually full time with the person who is, as it were, making the call getting some benefit from it.”

Sir Michael said initial inquiries had revealed a series of blunders. The phones were already activated when they were sent to Baghdad and they were not properly logged in - so no one realised at first that they had been stolen. None of the bills were initially challenged until people realised the phones had gone missing. The rules at all embassies have now been changed and no phone is sent abroad already activated for use.

Edward Leigh, chairman of the committee, told him: “In terms of this mobile phone being on permanently at the end of a street in Iraq, that gives a whole new meaning to winning hearts and minds in Iraq, but it is quite serious.” Austin Mitchell, Labour MP for Great Grimsby, whose phone had been swiped and used to dial a betting agency, asked if the FO had tried to get its money back.

Since the disclosure, Richard Bacon, Tory MP for Norfolk South, has made further inquiries: “It appears that they haven’t been able to find the culprit or trace the phone. You would have thought having spent hundreds of millions of pounds setting up a sophisticated listening centre at GCHQ it would be very easy to trace a satellite phone and who was operating it in Iraq. But it doesn’t appear anything was done. It just beggars belief that the FO kept paying the bills.”

Sir Michael has promised to try to get the money back. But so far the only thing FO staff appeared to have done is to try to ring the premium rate number. Sir Michael told MPs they did not get a reply.

Posted by The Skipper     on 03/02/2006 at 10:51 AM   
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   Monday - February 27, 2006

Cheeseburger To Go!

When last we left our Doofus Dictator he had pitched a hissy fit and declared he would starve himself to death by going on a hunger strike. That was eleven days ago and sure enough Ol’ Sodomy didn’t have the guts to go through with his threat. You might say he was broken by “the mother of all hunger pangs”.

Fair enough. Feed that sorry SOB a plate of pork chops and ham hocks. Then take his sorry, whining ass outside and shoot him. This is the last time I’m gonna give this order so make it so. Don’t make me come over there and pop a cap in this miserable excuse for a human being for you ....

Saddam Ends Hunger Strike Before Trial Resumption
Mon Feb 27, 2006 10:09 AM ET

BAGHDAD (Reuters)

Saddam Hussein has ended a hunger strike he began earlier this month to protest against the conduct of his trial, his chief lawyer said on Monday, a day before the ousted Iraqi leader is due back in court. Saddam, on trial since October for crimes against humanity, complicated already chaotic proceedings at the last hearing on February 14 by saying he and seven co-accused were refusing food.

“The president maintained his hunger strike for 11 days but was forced to end it for health reasons,” Khalil Dulaimi, who met Saddam for seven hours in Baghdad on Sunday, told Reuters. The 68-year-old former president has accused the court of forcing him to attend hearings that he wished to boycott.

Dulaimi said U.S. prison officials overseeing Saddam’s custody had contacted defense lawyers over the hunger strike to “prevent any adverse health impact.” He said the ex-leader had lost some weight but gave no details.

Chief prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi said Saddam’s refusal to eat was in protest at being kept separate from his co-defendants in holding cells at the court before proceedings began.

“During the last two sessions he was isolated from other defendants before attending the court room,” he said. “He was put in a special room with basic services.” Moussawi said court officials would change the arrangement. Dulaimi said Saddam showed “high morale” when he met him alone to deliberate defense strategy after his lawyers walked out of the trial last month in protest at court proceedings.

The defense team was banned from meeting Saddam after the walkout, but chief judge Raouf Abdel Rahman has lifted the ban to enable Saddam’s lawyers to return for Tuesday’s hearing. Saddam’s defense team had accused Abdel Rahman of bias and had said it would not return to court until he resigns. Dulaimi said he would ask the court to postpone the next session, citing worsening security in Iraq. More than 200 people have been killed since a Shi’ite mosque was bombed on Wednesday.

“We hope the court will ... postpone tomorrow’s hearing for the sake of preserving the lives of lawyers, witnesses and everyone concerned,” Dulaimi said. The trial has been buffeted by the killing of two defense lawyers and charges of political bias. Two months ago the previous chief judge quit, complaining of government meddling.

Prosecutors will now devote two days to reading documents from Saddam’s era in power, the last evidence that will be heard before specific charges are formulated, court sources said. The memoranda, letters and court orders will allegedly link Saddam and his co-accused to the deaths of 148 Shi’ites from the town of Dujail in reprisal for a 1982 attempt on his life there.

The tribunal is then expected to recess for another two to three weeks while are drawn up. Dulaimi said the defense would present a formal case against Abdel Rahman on the grounds that his Kurdish background meant it was difficult for him to show impartiality. Saddam, who ruled Iraq for three decades, faces death by hanging if convicted.

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/27/2006 at 12:47 PM   
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   Thursday - February 23, 2006

Up In Flames

The media calls it a “civil war”. I call it “destabilzation by Iran and Syria”. Don’t kid yourself, there are outside forces at work here and have been for three years. The Sunnis hate the Shiites, the Shiites hate the Sunnis and both hate the US and Israel. A whole lotta hating going on over there.

Caught in the middle are our troops and the Iraqi people who have been oppressed and led like sheep for generations. The Iraqi people are taking a knife in the back from their Arab neighbors. Maybe it’s time to go with Plan B (Classified) and give the Iranian and Syrian government something to keep them occupied and out of Iraq?

Mosque Attack Pushes Iraq Toward Civil War
Feb 23 3:27 AM US/Eastern

SAMARRA, Iraq (AP)

Insurgents posing as police destroyed the golden dome of one of Iraq’s holiest Shiite shrines Wednesday, setting off an unprecedented spasm of sectarian violence. Angry crowds thronged the streets, militiamen attacked Sunni mosques, and at least 19 people were killed. On Thursday, Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad blamed the United States and Israel for the destruction of a Shiite shrine’s golden dome in Iraq, saying it was the work of “defeated Zionists and occupiers.”

Speaking to a crowd of thousands on a tour of southwestern Iran, the president referred to the destruction of the Askariya mosque dome in Samarra on Wednesday, which the Iraqi government has blamed on insurgents. “They invade the shrine and bomb there because they oppose God and justice,” Ahmadinejad said, referring to the U.S.-led multinational forces in Iraq. Meanwhile, with the gleaming dome of the 1,200-year-old Askariya shrine reduced to rubble, some Shiites lashed out at the United States as partly to blame.

The violence - many of the 90 attacks on Sunni mosques were carried out by Shiite militias - seemed to push Iraq closer to all-out civil war than at any point in the three years since the U.S.-led overthrow of Saddam Hussein. Many leaders called for calm. “We are facing a major conspiracy that is targeting Iraq’s unity,” said President Jalal Talabani, a Kurd. “We should all stand hand in hand to prevent the danger of a civil war.” President Bush pledged American help to restore the mosque after the bombing north of Baghdad, which dealt a severe blow to U.S. efforts to keep Iraq from falling deeper into sectarian violence.

“The terrorists in Iraq have again proven that they are enemies of all faiths and of all humanity,” Bush said. “The world must stand united against them, and steadfast behind the people of Iraq.” British Prime Minister Tony Blair also condemned the bombing and pledged funds toward the shrine’s reconstruction. U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzad and the top American commander in Iraq, Gen. George Casey, called the attack a deliberate attempt to foment sectarian strife and warned it was a “critical moment for Iraq.”

No one was reported wounded in the bombing of the shrine in Samarra. But at least 19 people, including three Sunni clerics, were killed in the reprisal attacks that followed, mainly in Baghdad and predominantly Shiite provinces to the south, according to the Iraqi Islamic Party, the country’s largest Sunni political group. Many of the attacks appeared to have been carried out by Shiite militias that the United States wants to see disbanded.

In predominantly Shiite Basra, police said militiamen broke into a prison, hauled out 12 inmates, including two Egyptians, two Tunisians, a Libyan, a Saudi and a Turk, and shot them dead in reprisal for the shrine attack. The bodies of three Iraqi journalists, including a well-known correspondent for Al Arabiya television, were found Thursday near Samarra, police and the Arabic network said. Al Arabiya’s Atwar Bahjat and two colleagues from the al-Wassan media company had been in the city to cover the bombing when they disappeared Wednesday night, the network said.

- More on this story here ...

BEFORE:



AFTER:

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/23/2006 at 09:10 AM   
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   Tuesday - February 14, 2006

Saddam’s Hissy-Fit, Day 93

This circus just never ends, does it? I think we ought to have a contest to determine which recent trial gets the coveted Most Full Of Shiite Courtroom Drama Award. Ol’ Soddy is now going on a hunger strike and his brother shows up for court in his underwear. For the second day in a row.

Does that trump Michael Jackson showing up for court in his pajamas? Or is OJ’s bloody glove still at the top of the list? Of course we also have to take into consideration Scott Peterson and the “I was fishing” defense.

My, oh my! So many asshats in court today and so little time to cover them all. As for Sodomy Hussein, let the jerk starve. In fact, place steaks, entrees, desserts and other delicious foods outside his jail cell at all times. Now that’s justice ....

Saddam In Hunger Strike Protest
Tuesday, 14 February 2006, 13:26 GMT
BAGHDAD (BBC)

Deposed Iraqi dictator Saddam Hussein has told a Baghdad court that he and his seven co-accused are on hunger strike in protest at their treatment. “We have been on a hunger strike for three days,” Saddam Hussein declared as he appeared in the courtroom. The session, which ran for about three hours, heard testimony from three former regime officials. The trial has been adjourned until 28 February.

The defendants deny charges over the 1982 massacre of 148 people in Dujail. The first witness to take the stand was a former intelligence officer who testified from behind a curtain to protect his identity. Saddam Hussein’s half-brother and co-defendant Barzan Ibrahim al-Tikriti cross-examined the witness briefly, then launched into a largely uninterrupted speech for almost 30 minutes, denying any connection to the massacre.

He attended court dressed for a second day in his long underwear to signal his rejection of the court. The second witness was another intelligence official, Fadil Mohammed al-Azzawi. He complained that he was there against his will and could not offer any testimony. “I reject being a witness in this case because I do not have information… I was forced to come to court,” he said.

Mr Azzawi also said he had only signed a previous witness statement because he had not had his glasses with him and had been unable to read it. A former culture minister, and personal aide to Saddam Hussein, Hamed Youssef Hamadi also appeared. He was shown a piece of paper recommending rewards for six officials for their part in the Dujail arrests bearing the hand-written word “agreed”.

When asked to identify the handwriting Mr Hamadi said: “It looks like President Saddam’s.” At the start of the session, Saddam Hussein shouted in praise of the Iraqi people, saying “Long live the great Arab nation” and “long live the mujahideen,” before taking his seat. The former leader was wearing the dark suit he usually reserves for court appearances, rather than the traditional Arab dress he adopted on Monday.

He once more denounced the court as a puppet of the US and said he and his co-defendants had begun the hunger strike to protest against their treatment. Monday saw two other former aides to Saddam Hussein refusing to testify against him. Former head of the presidential office Ahmed Khudayir and ex-intelligence chief Hassan al-Obeidi both said they had been brought against their will.

The prosecution made an attempt to link Saddam and other senior members of his Baath Party regime to the Dujail massacre through documentary evidence. The lawyers produced execution orders said to be signed by the former president.

The defendants had vowed not to appear in court until the return of their lawyers, who are calling for the removal of Judge Raouf Abdul Rahman and boycotting the proceedings. The new chief judge took over last month after the resignation of his predecessor Rizgar Amin and has adopted a more hardline approach to the defendants.

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/14/2006 at 08:37 AM   
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   Monday - February 13, 2006

The Delusions Of Dictators

Sodomy Hussein is living in a dream world. He has been for quite some time. Absolute power not only corrupts absolutely, it also messes up your head real bad. Being surrounded by “yes men” and suck-ups for thirty years will do that to you. Pretty soon you lose your grip on reality. Ol’ Sod is simply in the last stages of terminal insanity. It would be a far better thing if someone would just put a bullet in the back of his head and be done with it. This attempt at a trial is turning into a circus with Soddy playing it for everything it’s worth. My solution is simple: gag him, bind him, try him, hang him. The end.

Saddam Launches Courtroom Tirade As Trial Resumes
February 13, 2006
BAGHDAD (AFP)

A fiery Saddam Hussein is back in court after boycotting his trial on charges of crimes against humanity, but said he had been forced to appear. Real people. Real success stories. Yahoo! Personals. See Stephanie and Mike’s story.

“Down with the traitor, down with traitors, down with Bush.. long live the ummah (Islamic nation)… long live the ummah..long live the ummah..,” roared the ousted Iraqi dictator as soon as he arrived in court on Monday.

“I was forced into the courtroom,” Saddam angrily told chief judge Rauf Rasheed Abdel Rahman. Barzan al-Tikriti, his half-brother and former secret police chief, frequently interrupted the session as guards were seen pushing him down into his seat in the dock.

The surprise appearance jolted the proceedings after the Iraqi strongman’s chief attorney told reporters earlier Monday that Saddam and his seven co-defendants planned to continue skipping the hearings.

“No international law can force people to attend trials,” Khalil al-Dulaimi, head of Saddam’s defense team, told AFP. “Unless you change the law and turn it into the law of the jungle.”

First the defense lawyers and then Saddam himself walked out of the court in protest during a stormy session on January 29 in protest at the new presiding judge’s decision to forcibly expel Barzan for being disruptive.

All eight defendants face the death penalty if convicted over the massacre of more than 140 Shiites after an attempt on Saddam’s life in 1982 in the town of Dujail. They pleaded not guilty on the first day of the trial in October.

The high-profile trial has frequently descended into farce, with stormy sessions featuring long outbursts or walkouts by the defendants and their counsel as well as the resignation of the previous chief judge.

- More courtroom shenanigans here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 02/13/2006 at 04:59 AM   
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   Sunday - January 29, 2006

Disorder In The Court

Below are excerpts from the heated exchange between Saddam Hussein and chief judge Raouf Abdel-Rahman after the defense team walked out and the court appointed new lawyers. The ousted leader rejected the new lawyers and demanded to be allowed to leave the trial. Ol’ Soddy is intent on making an ass out of himself and will settle for nothing less than throwing a temper tantrum and whining that he wants to go home. It’s a pity we can’t lend the Iraqis Judge Judy for a few weeks. She’d bring the hammer gavel down on Soddy’s head fer sure ...

From Associated Press, translated from Arabic:
January 29, 2006, 10:41 AM EST

Saddam: “We refuse. This is right of the defendant. (Sound goes out). This is my right. I cannot be forced to accept a court-appointed lawyer. ... Let me talk to you according to law, the defendant has the right to a lawyer, and the defendant has the right to attend the court session. If he (the defendant) does not attend, the court has the right to issue a judgment in absentia. That means you cannot force me to stay in the courtroom, because this is a right. I am not asking for more than my rights, and you also have the right to issue a judgment in absentia.”

* After more arguments:

Abdel-Rahman: “The judges’ panel has stated the law. These are practiced judges and know _”

Saddam (interrupting): “Practiced? I have practiced law. For 35 years I administered your rights. Thirty-five years. ... So I know my rights and the rights of others. So, permit me to leave the courtroom.”

* After one of the court-appointed defense lawyers tries to interrupt:

Saddam: “We reject you, and if you remain, then you are evil.”

Adbel-Rahman: “We will not allow you to cross the line with anyone.”

Saddam: “You can’t force me. You can’t force me. This is my right.”

Abdel-Rahman: “I’m not forcing you. But I won’t allow you to cross _”

Saddam (interrupting): “Don’t force me. Don’t force me. This is my right.”

Abdel-Rahman: “I’m implementing the law.”

Saddam: “So that I don’t annoy you and you don’t annoy me.”

Abdel-Rahman: “You’re not annoying me.”

Saddam: “I respect you as an Iraqi. And I will keep respecting you until you give you Iraqi-ness away.”

Abdel-Rahman: “God willing, I’m a sincere Iraqi.”

Saddam: “God willing. So allow me to leave. I cannot tolerate remaining here, at least for this session, until things are resolved properly.”

* After Saddam turns as if to leave, holding a Quran and other papers under his right arm:

Abdel-Rahman: “The court has decided to eject him from the room.”

Saddam: “Don’t say ‘eject.’ An Iraqi respects his elders. For 35 years I led you, and you say, ‘Eject him?’”

Abdel-Rahman: “I am a judge and you are a defendant. And you have violated order in the court. I am implementing the law. The judge implements the law.”

* Arguing back and forth, as Saddam insists he is not being ejected but is leaving.

Saddam: “I spoke to you on the basis of law.”

Abdel-Rahman: “You want to leave? The court ejects you.”

Saddam: “You can’t say that.”

* After further arguing, guards escort Saddam from the room.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/29/2006 at 11:42 AM   
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   Thursday - January 26, 2006

Most Ridiculous Item Of The Day (so far)

Keep this under your hat. If even a word of this lawsuit gets out, the ACLU will be all over it like fleas on a dog. Ol’ Sodomy lost the war and his country so now he is unleashing the real weapons of mass destruction ... lawyers. Be afraid. Be very afraid ...

Saddam To Sue Bush And Blair
Jan. 25, 2006 at 12:01PM
(WASHINGTON TIMES)

Defence lawyers for Saddam Hussein Wednesday distributed copies of a lawsuit against President Bush and Prime Minister Tony Blair for destroying Iraq.  The suit accuses Bush and Blair of committing war crimes by using weapons of mass destruction and internationally-banned weapons including enriched uranium and phosphoric and cluster bombs against unarmed Iraqi civilians, notably in Baghdad, Fallujah, Ramadi, al-Kaem and Anbar.

The Amman-based legal team had said Sunday that the ousted president intended to start legal action against the two leaders of the Iraq war in the International Criminal Court in the Hague, but the text of the suit was made available Wednesday. The suit also accuses the U.S. president and British prime minister of torturing Iraqi prisoners, destroying Iraq’s cultural heritage with the aim of eliminating an ancient civilization, and inciting internal strife.

Bush and Blair were also accused of polluting Iraq’s air, waters and environment. The lawsuit demanded that Bush and Blair appear before court to answer the charges filed against them and requested the harshest punishment in line with Dutch legislation and the rules of international and humanitarian laws. It also requested compensation for all material and moral damage inflicted on the Iraqi people.

Posted by The Skipper     on 01/26/2006 at 06:48 AM   
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   Friday - December 30, 2005

Farris Hassan’s Day Off

There’s an old saying in my family that “God looks after fools and drunks.” He must or else we’d have a lot fewer of both real damn quick. This idjit pushed his luck to the limit. In fact, he has probably used up all of his luck for the rest of his life. I have no idea why on Earth this kid is still breathing. Thank God I was never this stoopid when I was his age ... ... ... ... OK, you caught me - there was that one weekend in October, 1964 but she promised never to tell anyone and I’m sure the Chinese Army (Taiwan) has forgotten all about it by now. I hope.

Florida Teen Skips School, Sneaks to Iraq
16-year-old survives his experiment in ‘immersion journalism’
December 29, 2005 (CNN)

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)—Maybe it was the time the taxi dumped him at the Iraq-Kuwait border, leaving him alone in the middle of the desert. Or when he drew a crowd at a Baghdad food stand after using an Arabic phrase book to order. Or the moment a Kuwaiti cab driver almost punched him in the face when he balked at the $100 fare. But at some point, Farris Hassan, a 16-year-old from Florida, realized that traveling to Iraq by himself was not the safest thing he could have done with his Christmas vacation.

And he didn’t even tell his parents. Hassan’s dangerous adventure winds down with the 101st Airborne delivering the Fort Lauderdale teen to the U.S. embassy in Baghdad, which had been on the lookout for him and promises to see him back to the United States this weekend. It begins with a high school class on “immersion journalism” and one overly eager—or naively idealistic—student who’s lucky to be alive after going way beyond what any teacher would ask.

As a junior this year at a Pine Crest School, a prep academy of about 700 students in Fort Lauderdale, Hassan studied writers like John McPhee in the book “The New Journalism,” an introduction to immersion journalism—a writer who lives the life of his subject in order to better understand it. Diving headfirst into an assignment, Hassan, whose parents were born in Iraq but have lived in the United States for about 35 years, hung out at a local mosque. The teen, who says he has no religious affiliation, added that he even spent an entire night until 6 a.m. talking politics with a group of Muslim men, a level of “immersion” his teacher characterized as dangerous and irresponsible.

The next trimester his class was assigned to choose an international topic and write editorials about it, Hassan said. He chose the Iraq war and decided to practice immersion journalism there, too, though he knows his school in no way endorses his travels. “I thought I’d go the extra mile for that, or rather, a few thousand miles,” he told The Associated Press. Using money his parents had given him at one point, he bought a $900 plane ticket and took off from school a week before Christmas vacation started, skipping classes and leaving the country on December 11.

His goal: Baghdad. Those privy to his plans: two high school buddies. Given his heritage, Hassan could almost pass as Iraqi. His father’s background helped him secure an entry visa, and native Arabs would see in his face Iraqi features and a familiar skin tone. His wispy beard was meant to help him blend in. But underneath that Mideast veneer was full-blooded American teen, a born-and-bred Floridian sporting white Nike tennis shoes and trendy jeans. And as soon as the lanky, 6-foot teenager opened his mouth—he speaks no Arabic—his true nationality would have betrayed him. Traveling on his own in a land where insurgents and jihadists have kidnapped more than 400 foreigners, killing at least 39 of them, Hassan walked straight into a death zone. On Monday, his first full day in Iraq, six vehicle bombs exploded in Baghdad, killing five people and wounding more than 40.

- There’s even more to this story here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/30/2005 at 05:17 AM   
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   Tuesday - December 20, 2005

More Torture Photos from Iraq

The poor children.............

The poor, poor children.  The humanity of it all.  I can’t take it anymore.

Posted by Drew458     on 12/20/2005 at 06:10 PM   
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   Friday - December 16, 2005

Democracy Lives In Iraq

In Iraq, the votes are in and the people await the results of the election to select 275 members of the new Parliament that will govern Iraq. Sunnis even turned out in large numbers, knowing full well that if they didn’t they would have no representation in the new goverment.

Voter turnout was very heavy with early estimates placing it at roughly 70% of the population. That’s an even better turnout than we get here in America and we don’t have to risk getting blown up or shot just to cast a vote.

Speaking of America, I certainly hope the Iraqis have better luck with their sore losers than we have had here. John Kerry (who spent Christmas in Cambodia many years ago) made a statement Wednesday night that if Democrats win back the House of Representatives in the 2006 elections that there should be immediate impeachment proceedings brought against President Bush.

I will be willing to trade the Iraqis John Kerry, Ted Kennedy and two players to be named later for Saddam Hussein. At least “Ol’ Sodomy” knows when he’s beaten. Have we got a deal, fellows?

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/16/2005 at 10:13 AM   
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   Thursday - December 15, 2005

A New Beginning

After two years, it is finally happening. The votes are in and the counting has begun. Another hard-earned milestone on the road to freedom and democracy in Iraq has been reached as Iraqis elect their first permanent Parlliament. Violence was light and voter turnout was heavy. I wish the people of Iraq all the best in their new venture. I only hope they stay the course and don’t allow another Saddam Hussein to snatch their freedom away ...

Iraq Extends Voting Amid Strong Turnout
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)

Iraqis voted in a historic parliamentary election Thursday, with strong turnout reported in Sunni Arab areas and even a shortage of ballots in some precincts. Because of the large turnout, the Iraqi election commission met in emergency session and extended voting for one hour after long lines were reported at some sites, said commission official Munthur Abdelamir.

Heavy participation by Sunni Arabs, who had shunned balloting last January, bolstered U.S. hopes of calming the insurgency enough to begin withdrawing its troops next year. Some preliminary returns were expected late Thursday, but final returns could take days, if not weeks.

Meanwhile, several explosions rocked Baghdad throughout the day, but overall the level of violence was low. A large blast near the heavily fortified Green Zone slightly injured two civilians and a U.S. Marine, the U.S. military said. A civilian was killed when a mortar shell hit near a polling station in the northern city of Tal Afar, and a grenade killed a school guard near a voting site in Mosul.

A bomb also exploded in Ramadi, a mortar round struck about 200 yards from a polling place in Saddam Hussein’s hometown of Tikrit, and a bomb was defused at a voting site in Fallujah, despite promises by major insurgent groups not to attack such places. But violence was light overall and did not appear to discourage Iraqis, some of whom turned out wrapped in their country’s flag on a bright, sunny day, and afterward displayed a purple ink-stained index finger — a mark to guard against multiple voting.

- Read more on this great day for Iraq here ...

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/15/2005 at 10:29 AM   
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   Monday - December 05, 2005

Antics At Saddam’s Trial Continue

Saddam Hussein continues to make an ass out of himself and now he has the help of a former US Attorney General. Ramsey Clark tried to continue the “this court is illegitimate” argument and was smacked down both for his ridiculous argument and for not speaking to the court in the national language of Iraq. Will Liberals never learn? Clark is a poster child for Leftist, dictator-lovers everywhere. First of all, he has no business in the Iraqi court if he doesn’t speak Arabic and to tell the duly appointed judges of a free Iraq that they are “illegitimate” crosses the line and borders on arrogance. Something he shares with Saddam ....

Saddam’s Defense Team Walks Out of Court
Dec 5, 4:26 AM (ET)
BAGHDAD, Iraq (MYWAY NEWS)

Saddam Hussein’s defense team walked out of the courtroom Monday shortly after the former leader’s trial resumed because the judge refused to allow former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark to challenge the tribunal’s legitimacy in an address to the court. After the lawyers walked out, Saddam told the judge: “You are imposing lawyers on us. They are imposed lawyers. The court is imposed by itself. We reject that.”

Clark said he needed only two minutes to present his argument. But Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin said the tribunal had been established under the law by an elected Iraqi government and that only Saddam’s chief lawyer could address the hearing. Amin said the defense should submit its motion in writing and warned that if the defense walked out then the court would appoint replacement lawyers.

“We reject the appointment of court employees to defend us,” Saddam said. He and his half brother Barazan Ibrahim then chanted “Long live Iraq, long live the Arab state.” When the judge explained that he was ruling in accordance with the law, Saddam replied: “This is a law made by America and does not reflect Iraqi sovereignty.”

A guard tried to calm Ibrahim but he angrily told them to leave him alone. The defense maintained that the court could not proceed to issues of substance before the matter of legitimacy and other procedural matters were resolved. Saddam’s chief lawyer, Khalil al-Dulaimi, demanded that the court halt its proceedings until the challenge is ruled on. The judge replied that the proceedings must go on while the challenge is being deliberated.

Clark spent about 15 minutes trying to address the court, but the judge wouldn’t let him, arguing that Arabic is the only recognized language of the court. “We will give you enough time to address the court at a suitable time,” said the judge. At that point, Saddam snapped: “The American occupation continues.”

Posted by The Skipper     on 12/05/2005 at 04:54 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq • Judges-Courts-Lawyers •  
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   Tuesday - November 29, 2005

Naughty, Naughty Dictator

This is what mass-murderers are reduced to these days. It’s bad enough he hid in a hole in the ground for months, then emerged lice-infested and crying like a whining coward but now that he is on trial he is behaving like a spoiled child. Where have all the good mass-murdering dictators gone to? At least Hitler had the dignity to shoot/poison himself and his “bride” before the roof caved in.

This is almost embaressing to see what used to be a miserable, strutting peacock of a brute forced to whine and cry because they took his pencils away. Hang him and be done with it. The man is a craven coward and is an embaressment to the entire human race. Can’t they just charge him with “conduct unbecoming a formar mass-murderer who has seemingly lost the last shred of dignity he ever possessed”? Guilty! Hang him! Case closed! Next ....

Hussein Is Unruly as Trial Resumes
Charged With Ordering Executions, Former Dictator Complains About Guards, Supplies
BAGHDAD (WASHINGTON POST)

Saddam Hussein, the dictator who once held the power of life and death over millions of Iraqis, was reduced Monday to squabbling over pens and paper during his trial on charges of ordering wholesale executions during his rule.

Scowling and jabbing, Hussein used the defendant’s dock as a pulpit from which to lecture the judge on how to treat foreigners. He complained that while being brought to the courtroom by U.S. guards, he had been handcuffed, forced to walk up flights of stairs and stripped of papers and writing implements.

When the chief judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, said he would tell the guards to give him writing implements, Hussein thundered: “Don’t tell them—I want you to order them! They are foreigners and occupiers and invaders.”

The grievances that led to Hussein’s bluster paled in comparison with the charges that could send him to the hangman and with the symbolic importance of the trial to Iraq’s stumbling new democracy. The ousted president left it to his lawyer to challenge the validity of the U.S.-engineered tribunal, and, outside the court, newly arrived co-counsel Ramsey Clark, a former U.S. attorney general, questioned the likelihood of Hussein getting a fair trial.

At the end of the day’s proceedings, the trial was recessed until Dec. 5 to give some of Hussein’s seven co-defendants time to find replacements for two defense attorneys who were assassinated after the initial court session almost six weeks ago. Some defense attorneys stayed away from the courtroom on Monday, apparently fearing that they, too, would be killed.

- Read the rest at WAPO if you can stand it

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/29/2005 at 11:45 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq •  
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   Wednesday - November 09, 2005

Meanwhile, On The Syrian Border …

Meanwhile in Iraq, US forces mopped up the border town of Husaybah where Syria has been funneling foreign fighters into Iraq. If it were left up to me, I’d let the Marines keep moving into Syria and mop up that pesthole too. Maybe let the Air Force “soften up” the Syrians a little first with a two-month long carpet bombing exercise. I’m sure the jarheads can occupy themselves while the flyboys level Damascus ...

Marines Say Iraqi Town of Husaybah Secure
BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP)

U.S. and Iraqi forces secured the town of Husaybah after four days of fighting along the Syrian border and neutralized al-Qaida-led insurgents there, the Marine commander said Tuesday. “The city of Husaybah has been cleared and is secure at this time,” Col. Stephen W. Davis told The Associated Press by telephone. “Right now we are not getting any reports of resistance within the city” although pockets of fighters may reappear, he said.

About 2,500 U.S. troops and 1,000 Iraqi soldiers on Saturday began the assault on Husaybah, described as a major entry point for foreign fighters coming from Syria bound for Baghdad and other Iraqi cities. One of the goals of the operation, known as “Steel Curtain,” was to break the hold of al-Qaida and its Iraqi allies in the area before next month’s elections, in which Iraqis will choose a new parliament.

One U.S. Marine was killed during weekend in the operation, U.S. officials said. The military said earlier this week that at least 36 insurgents had been killed since the assault began. Davis said coalition forces have detained more than 150 military-aged men and they were being screened. He said three insurgents—two Saudis and a Kuwaiti—were killed by Iraqi troops Sunday when they tried to slip into a camp for displaced civilians dressed as women.

He said the Marines and Iraqis would establish a long-term presence in Husaybah to prevent insurgents from returning and would move on to other areas in the Euphrates Valley where al-Qaida and their allies were believed holed up. In a statement earlier Tuesday, the U.S. military said troops “continue to detain insurgents as they fight their way through the city. A number of the detainees have been foreign fighters who originated from various countries within Asia and Africa,” the statement added.

Posted by The Skipper     on 11/09/2005 at 06:21 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq •  
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