… and too many of us listen:
Afterwards, as he was being led out of court, Saddam angrily ordered two jailers in armored vests not to hold his arms. He squabbled with them for a minute and shoved one of them hard in the shoulder, and then they let him walk out untouched.
As for why the trial was postponed today:
The judge, Rizgar Mohammed Amin, who is Kurdish, told Reuters the main reason for the adjournment was that between 30 and 40 witnesses, some of them relatives of the men killed, had been too frightened to show up and testify.
Is that the real or whole reason? I don’t know. But the possibility of it gives me the shivers.
As one who stands in the first rank of those who hold the media in complete disdain, might I just say that there are many words that I might have chosen to use to describe Saddam’s performance today.For example:
A.Truculent
B.Bombastic
C.Argumentative
D.Hectoring
So what did the denizens of media world choose— Defiant.
Frankly if the whole media appartus was beamed up by space aliens tomorrow, the world would be a vastly better place. They are beyond useless.
Where are Kang & Kordos when you really need them anyway?
Roger:
I heard it had something to do with scurity concerns. I also think they need to make sure the case is very tight, no way Saddam can blame someone else.
We should not get too judgmental with the Iraqis however, look at how hard it is to get people to testify against drug dealers in this country.
And the Batthists really are like the mafia. They will do what they have to in order to intmidate people.
Maybe they need a witness protection program.
dougf:
I have to agree, they serve no useful purpose.
Leave it to the ITM brothers for a riveting account of Baghdadi reaction to the first day of trial.
http://iraqthemodel.blogspot.com/
Mohammed at ITM sounds a lot less discouraged than I do about the 45 day trial delay. In fact he doesn’t sound discouraged at all.
When they found him in that abandoned cesspool, they should have all used it for its original function, then filled it in.
“Is that the real or whole reason?”
The reason was, I thought, the defense asked for a continuance. Asked for 90 days, got 45. Would think most any court in the world would give one reasonable extention – diminishes the later complaint of not having enough time to prepare.
Could someone please copy and paste or make a screen shot and email to me Iraq the Model and other Iraqi sites during the trial? Blogspot is blocked in my area and I am very interested. Thanks.