Saddam’s Lawyers Ask US Court To Stop Execution
Saddam Hussein's lawyers have just filed papers asking a US court to grant a restraining order to stop the US from handing Saddam over to the Iraqis.
Hussein's lawyers filed documents Friday afternoon asking for an emergency restraining order aimed at stopping the U.S. government from relinquishing custody of the condemned former Iraqi leader to Iraqi officials, a spokeswoman for a federal court in Washington D.C. said.
I rather doubt that will work.
UPDATE: The AP is reporting that all of the official witnesses chosen to attend the execution of Saddam Hussein have gathered in the Green Zone in Baghdad. Officials say the hanging will be carried out sometime before 10 PM EST time (6 AM local time). American officials have made it abundantly clear that they do not want Saddam mistreated or abused, either before his death or after he has been pronounced dead.
An adviser to Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki said Saddam would be executed before 6 a.m. Saturday, or 10 p.m. Friday EST. The time was agreed upon during a meeting Friday between U.S. and Iraqi officials, said the adviser, who declined to be named because he is not authorized to speak to the media.
"Saddam will be handed over shortly before the execution," the official said. The physical transfer of Saddam from U.S. to Iraqi authorities was believed to be one of the last steps before he was to be hanged. Saddam has been in U.S. custody since he was captured in December 2003.
Al-Nueimi said U.S. authorities were maintaining physical custody of Saddam to prevent him from being humiliated before his execution. He said the Americans also want to prevent the mutilation of his corpse, as has happened to other deposed Iraqi leaders.
"The Americans want him to be hanged respectfully," al-Nueimi said. If Saddam is humiliated publicly or his corpse ill-treated "that could cause an uprising and the Americans would be blamed," he said.
UPDATE: A grim catalog of Saddam Hussein's crimes against humanity. It is only a partial list.
UPDATE: You know, it really is frustrating that it takes an event like Saddam's imminent execution for the Associated Press to run some of these stories about what Saddam did to Iraq:
Saddam's reign leaves destruction behind
"People overlooked their political deprivation and lack of participation, they only saw buildings sprouting here and there," said Iraqi economist Ghanim Hamdoun, who researched Iraq's 1970s economic experiment.
Under Saddam, imprisonment or summary execution of political foes was common. Political parties, unions and civic groups not controlled by Baathists were banned. Traditional bonds were reshaped to support a one-party state.
Millions of Iraqis, though, were able for the first time in their lives to wear designer clothes and vacation in London, Madrid or Paris. Others started tasting imported foods and driving Japanese, German or French cars — all at government subsidized prices.
Baghdad was a hub for Arab writers and artists who gathered at annual festivals. An Iraq-based foreign development fund provided economic aid to poor nations in Africa.
Tens of thousands of young Iraqis were sent to colleges in the West on state scholarships.
"Saddam seemed to be building an empire and only waiting to declare himself its emperor," said Hamdoun.
But the oil boom also ushered in an era of heavy-handed, centralized decision-making. In the 1975 state budget some $13.7 billion, or 27 percent of public expenditures, went to the army, police and other security forces.
Saddam suppressed opponents at home and embarked on military adventures abroad.
His 1980 invasion of Iran, portrayed as a fight against the Persians on behalf of all Arabs, set off an eight-year war that drained Iraq's economy and killed hundreds of thousands on both sides.
Weary soldiers returned home to few or no jobs. Soon the regime found itself in the throes of deep crisis. Iraqis protested the presence of millions of Arab workers, mainly Egyptians, brought by Saddam to run the factories, construction projects and farms while Iraqis were away fighting Iran.
Saddam wreaked havoc on Iraq and its people. The West, and Americans in particular, need to remember that. Some have pointed this out all along. Kofi Annan's massively corrupt leadership of the UN made the situation in Iraq much, much worse.
UPDATE: 9:27 EST, a Federal judge has refused to grant a restraining order to stop US forces from transferring Saddam into Iraqi custody. That is literally all the information I have, it is flash traffic with no links yet.
UPDATE: Here is the order. One sentence from Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly. Applicable word is "denied".
UPDATE: Iraqi media reports Saddam Hussein has been executed. That is all the information available at the moment.
War, World news | Gaius December 29, 2006
Other Links to this Post
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The Anchoress » The Execution of Saddam Hussein - UPDATED — December 29, 2006 @ 6:34 pm
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Blue Crab Boulevard » Saddam To Hang? — December 29, 2006 @ 6:58 pm
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A Blog For All — December 29, 2006 @ 10:07 pm
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AGITPROP: Version 3.0, Featuring Blogenfreude — January 1, 2007 @ 3:09 pm
By James, December 29, 2006 @ 9:08 pm
>American officials have made it abundantly clear that they do not want Saddam mistreated or abused,…
That is rather amusing considering the U.S. invaded a sovereign nation that hadn’t threaten the U.S., unlike, say Iran…”Death to the Great Satan”. Bin Laden is hiding in Pakistan but Bush won’t go after Bin Laden because Pakistan is a sovereign nation and that would be a bad thing to do. At least Bush is realizing that allowing a man who helped kill 3000 people on 9/11 isn’t all that important.
Talk about a pointless event.
You should have let him grow old and die off.
In summary:
1)Man who kills Americans can’t be gotten to because he’s hiding in a sovereign nation.
2)But it’s ok to attack a sovereign nation because you don’t like the leader but hasn’t attacked the U.S.
Shakespeare was right…”What fools these mortals be!”
By Gaius, December 29, 2006 @ 10:42 pm
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Just a quick question, James. Does it hurt to think for yourself? Or is it just easier to puke back someone else's talking points and pretend you can accomplish the act of thinking on your own?
Just asking.