Big Al
09-07-2005, 04:16 PM
Iraqi Leader: Saddam Confessed to Crimes
By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Iraq's president said Tuesday that
Saddam Hussein had confessed to killings and other "crimes" committed during
his regime.
President Jalal Talabani told Iraqi television that he had been informed by
an investigating judge that "he was able to extract confessions from
Saddam's mouth" about crimes "such as executions" which the ousted leader
had personally ordered.
Talabani said that some of the confessions involved cases under
investigation but he did not specify them. Saddam faces his first trial Oct.
19 for his alleged role in the massacre of Shiites in Dujail, a town north
of Baghdad in 1982.
Saddam could face the death penalty if convicted in the Dujail case.
The Iraq Special Tribunal is also investigating Saddam's alleged role in
other atrocities, including the 1988 gassing of thousands of Kurdish
civilians in Halabja and the 1991 suppression of the Shiite rebellion in the
south.
Iraqi authorities plan to try those cases separately.
Saddam met with his lawyer for the first time since the trial date was
announced, said Abdel Haq Alani, a legal consultant to Saddam's eldest
daughter, Raghad, who lives in Jordan.
"The meeting took place on Monday, but I'm not at liberty to disclose the
contents of the talks," Alani said earlier in the day, before Talabani's
statements.
Alani, an Iraqi lawyer who practices in Britain, reiterated in a telephone
interview that neither Saddam nor Dulaimi have been officially informed of
the trial date.
Talabani's interview was aired late at night and it was impossible to reach
other officials, the Iraqi tribunal or Saddam's attorneys for comment.
Without a full explanation of what Saddam said, it is difficult to determine
whether such a confession would cancel the need for a trial or spare Saddam
from the gallows.
It was unclear whether Saddam "confessed" or simply acknowledged he had
ordered killings or other actions but considered them legal. Whether those
actions were crimes in a legal sense would have to be determined by a trial.
Saddam's lawyers could argue, for example, that Talabani's comments were
prejudicial, an argument that might not sway the court but would have
resonance abroad and within the country's already disaffected Sunni Arab
minority, of which the former president is a member.
Sunnis, who form the core of the insurgency, are already enraged by alleged
killings of Sunni civilians by the Shiite-dominated security forces - a
charge the government denies - and by the draft constitution which was
approved Aug. 28 by the Shiites and Kurds over the objections of Sunni
negotiators.
The perception that Saddam was being convicted before a trial could add the
Sunni anger.
Saddam's legal team said it plans to challenge the starting date as allowing
insufficient time for a proper defense. Defense lawyers also said they would
challenge the trial's legitimacy.
Saddam has been in U.S. custody at an undisclosed site in Baghdad since his
capture in December 2003, eight months after his regime was overthrown by
U.S. forces.
The former dictator is expected to face about a dozen trials for alleged
crimes committed by his regime, including the gassing of Kurds in Halabja
and the 1991 suppression of a Shiite uprising in the south.
By OMAR SINAN, Associated Press Writer 42 minutes ago
BAGHDAD, Iraq -
Iraq's president said Tuesday that
Saddam Hussein had confessed to killings and other "crimes" committed during
his regime.
President Jalal Talabani told Iraqi television that he had been informed by
an investigating judge that "he was able to extract confessions from
Saddam's mouth" about crimes "such as executions" which the ousted leader
had personally ordered.
Talabani said that some of the confessions involved cases under
investigation but he did not specify them. Saddam faces his first trial Oct.
19 for his alleged role in the massacre of Shiites in Dujail, a town north
of Baghdad in 1982.
Saddam could face the death penalty if convicted in the Dujail case.
The Iraq Special Tribunal is also investigating Saddam's alleged role in
other atrocities, including the 1988 gassing of thousands of Kurdish
civilians in Halabja and the 1991 suppression of the Shiite rebellion in the
south.
Iraqi authorities plan to try those cases separately.
Saddam met with his lawyer for the first time since the trial date was
announced, said Abdel Haq Alani, a legal consultant to Saddam's eldest
daughter, Raghad, who lives in Jordan.
"The meeting took place on Monday, but I'm not at liberty to disclose the
contents of the talks," Alani said earlier in the day, before Talabani's
statements.
Alani, an Iraqi lawyer who practices in Britain, reiterated in a telephone
interview that neither Saddam nor Dulaimi have been officially informed of
the trial date.
Talabani's interview was aired late at night and it was impossible to reach
other officials, the Iraqi tribunal or Saddam's attorneys for comment.
Without a full explanation of what Saddam said, it is difficult to determine
whether such a confession would cancel the need for a trial or spare Saddam
from the gallows.
It was unclear whether Saddam "confessed" or simply acknowledged he had
ordered killings or other actions but considered them legal. Whether those
actions were crimes in a legal sense would have to be determined by a trial.
Saddam's lawyers could argue, for example, that Talabani's comments were
prejudicial, an argument that might not sway the court but would have
resonance abroad and within the country's already disaffected Sunni Arab
minority, of which the former president is a member.
Sunnis, who form the core of the insurgency, are already enraged by alleged
killings of Sunni civilians by the Shiite-dominated security forces - a
charge the government denies - and by the draft constitution which was
approved Aug. 28 by the Shiites and Kurds over the objections of Sunni
negotiators.
The perception that Saddam was being convicted before a trial could add the
Sunni anger.
Saddam's legal team said it plans to challenge the starting date as allowing
insufficient time for a proper defense. Defense lawyers also said they would
challenge the trial's legitimacy.
Saddam has been in U.S. custody at an undisclosed site in Baghdad since his
capture in December 2003, eight months after his regime was overthrown by
U.S. forces.
The former dictator is expected to face about a dozen trials for alleged
crimes committed by his regime, including the gassing of Kurds in Halabja
and the 1991 suppression of a Shiite uprising in the south.