The Trial of Saddam Hussein and The Fallout of The War

The Trial of Saddam Hussein

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The fallout in the Middle East from the regime change in Iraq

Thursday, September 27, 2007

Saddam Offered Exile

Saddam Hussein was prepared to take $1BN and to go into exile before the Iraq war, thus preventing the invasion of Iraq and the fiasco that we see the US embroiled in today.

This story is apparently being propagated by none other than President George Bush, who allegedly told José Maria Aznar, the then prime minister of Spain, about it a month before the 2003 invasion.

During a meeting at his ranch in Crawford, Texas, on 22 February 2003, Bush told Mr Aznar that Saddam could also be assassinated, according to a transcript of their talks published yesterday in the Spanish newspaper El Pais.

Bush is quoted as saying:

"The Egyptians are speaking to Saddam Hussein. It seems he's indicated he would be prepared to go into exile if he's allowed to take $1 billion [£500 million] and all the information he wants about weapons of mass destruction."

Asked by Mr Aznar whether the Iraqi dictator could really leave, Bush replied:

"Yes, that possibility exists. Or he might even be assassinated."

Bush talked about pressuring countries that were members of the United Nations Security Council to support a resolution authorising force. Whatever happened, "we'll be in Baghdad by the end of March".

Mission accomplished!

Tuesday, September 25, 2007

Iran Shuts Some Iraq Borders

Iran closed major border crossings with northeastern Iraq on Monday, to protest against the U.S. detention of Mahmudi Farhadi an Iranian official that the military accuses of weapons smuggling.

Monday, September 24, 2007

Chemical Ali Trial

Ali Hassan al-Majid, aka "Chemical Ali", has today demanded that the trial accusing him and 14 other former regime officials for crimes against humanity be adjourned for a month.

Ali Hassan al-Majid, who is due to be hanged after his conviction for genocide in a separate trial, and his co-defendants are accused of having overseen the killing of up to 100,000 Shiites.

Majid and another defendant Ibrahim Abdul Razzaz said that their lawyers were afraid to attend the court, and had asked for protection from the US military which was refused.

Majid told judge Mohammed al-Khalifah al-Oreibi:

"My brothers here have some demands.

They said they would stop eating and drinking if their lawyers are not back. They need more negotiations (with the US military). I don't think this will take more than one month.

I ask that we adjourn the trial for one month so that we can come up with a solution
."

Judge Oreibi noted his comments but then went on to call the first witness of the day, an old man who spoke from behind a curtain.

Quote:

"The tanks started to shell our houses. There were lots of soldiers. I told my family to run away. The soldiers took my two sons.

They were rounding up all the young men of the village. One of the boys resisted so they shot him dead. I saw it with my own eyes. Many houses were destroyed
."

The trial continues.