Monday - July 24, 2006

Starving Dictators And A Question

I have a question for you to ponder this morning ....

Think about that while you sit there with your bowl of Cheerios this morning. I’ll wait patiently for an answer while you chew ....

Hunger-Striking Saddam
Is Hospitalized
_{Sunday July 23, 2006 10:01 PM}

BAGHDAD, Iraq (AP) - Saddam Hussein was hospitalized Sunday and fed with a tube on the 17th day of a hunger strike to ensure he was healthy enough to continue with his trial, the chief prosecutor said. The procedure came as the ex-leader’s troubled trial nears a verdict that could lead to his hanging.

Prosecutor Jaafar al-Moussawi said he learned that Saddam’s health had become “unstable because of the hunger strike’’ during a visit to the U.S.-run prison where the former ruler and his seven fellow defendants are held. “We took him to the hospital, and he is being currently fed by a tube,’’ al-Moussawi told The Associated Press without elaboration.

Al-Moussawi said the feeding tube had stabilized Saddam’s health and the former president would appear in court as scheduled this week. Saddam was not scheduled to appear Monday when the trial resumes after a two-week break, because other defendants are to give their final summations.

It appeared that al-Moussawi had become concerned over the impact of televised pictures of a frail, weakened Saddam appearing in court and decided to check on the ex-president himself since the Americans were continuing to insist that a 69-year-old man’s health was unaffected despite two weeks without food.

The hunger strike was launched to demand better security for the defense team. Three of them have been assassinated since the trial began, most recently Khamis al-Obeidi, who was abducted and slain June 21.

The defense rejected an offer of the same security provided to the judges and prosecution lawyers: residence inside the Green Zone, the fortified Baghdad neighborhood where the court is located. Instead, they wanted bodyguards.

Saddam and the seven others have been on trial since Oct. 19 for the deaths of Shiite Muslims after a crackdown in the town of Dujail, which was launched after an assassination attempt there in 1982. They could receive the death penalty if convicted.

But Saddam’s lawyer Khalil al-Dulaimi said none of the defendants or their lawyers would appear Monday unless the court ``meets the minimum requirement ensuring a fair trial for the defendants.’’

Al-Dulaimi told The Associated Press that Saddam was “in high spirits and his health very good’’ despite the hunger strike. U.S. officials had acknowledged that Saddam and three other detainees were refusing food since the evening meal of July 7 but were drinking coffee and sweet tea. The Americans insisted that Saddam was still in good health despite two weeks without food, and that he had been advised by “medical professionals’’ of the dangers of not eating.

A spokesman for the U.S. detention command would not say whether Saddam had been hospitalized but said he was under medical supervision and was “voluntarily’’ taking nutrients through a feeding tube.

Posted by The Skipper     on 07/24/2006 at 07:26 AM   
Filed Under: • Iraq •  
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Not that very many people ever read this far down, but this blog was the creation of Allan Kelly and his friend Vilmar. Vilmar moved on to his own blog some time ago, and Allan ran this place alone until his sudden and unexpected death partway through 2006. We all miss him. A lot. Even though he is gone this site will always still be more than a little bit his. We who are left to carry on the BMEWS tradition owe him a great debt of gratitude, and we hope to be able to pay that back by following his last advice to us all:

1. Keep a firm grasp of Right and Wrong
2. Stay involved with government on every level and don't let those bastards get away with a thing
3. Use every legal means to defend yourself in the event of real internal trouble, and, most importantly:
4. Keep talking to each other, whether here or elsewhere

It's been a long strange trip without you Skipper, but thanks for pointing us in the right direction and giving us a swift kick in the behind to get us going. Keep lookin' down on us, will ya? Thanks.

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