During training sessions for the judges in London, the judges questioned even the legality of their own tribunal.

They pressed their instructors about how history would judge their efforts, including asking what the reaction would be if they acquitted one or more defendants. (One of the eight defendants in Saddam’s trial was eventually acquitted.)

And far from being a rubber stamp for occupying forces, the Iraqi judges rejected a number of requests from their American legal advisers.

The article also scrutinizes Ramsey Clark and the clown anti-war lawyers who exploited the case:

The professional conduct of a platoon of private foreign lawyers hired by the major defendants—including Saddam defense counsel and former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark—was particularly vexing to the American advisers. Taking their cue from the trials of U.S. radicals in the late 1960s and early ’70s, those lawyers focused more on political arguments and theatrics than the facts of the case, the American advisers contend.

None of the private lawyers showed up in court more than a handful of times, leaving most of the heavy lifting to public defenders appointed by the court as standby counsel. Besides staging boycotts of the proceedings, some private counsel also disrupted the trial by intimidating lawyers for other defendants, the American advisers say.

One of the private lawyers’ favorite tactics was the threat of “serious repercussions” for counsel who didn’t stand to acknowledge Saddam as president when he entered the courtroom, Blinderman remembers.

The court put a stop to that by having the defen­dants enter the courtroom first and take their seats before the lawyers came in…

Previous Saddam trial blogging.

Flashback: Ramsey Clark’s bloody resume

Video:

Jeff Goldstein reflects on Saddam Husseined.

Andy McCarthy weighs in:

I had to turn off the TV-news.

This is a solemn, important moment. It’s not a joyous one. An evil man deserved to die. His elimination was necessary — not close to sufficient, but necessary — for achieving, over time, a semblance civilized stability in Iraq…

…This wasn’t victory. It didn’t end suffering. It was, in the heat of a war that has actually gotten more vicious and more uncertain since Saddam’s capture three years ago, the carrying out of an essential but unpleasant duty. It marginally enhances Iraq’s propects, and ours. But Saddam’s death (as opposed to his deposing) has no impact whatsoever on the deep dysfunction and hatred that is rending what passes for Iraqi society…

…Saddam’s death is a marker worth observing. It is not something to go up in a balloon over.

Meanwhile, the American Left is, yes, unhinged.

***11:30pm Eastern update…CNN and Arab media reporting that pictures/video expected soon…Iraqi state TV reporting it will air images…11:46pm Eastern…CNN correspondent says a witness reports there was “fear in Hussein’s face” as he headed to execution…Celebration…more execution witness details…refused to wear a hood…had a Koran…shouted “Allahu Akbar!”…FNC reports that a witness says Saddam struggled when taken from his cell…***

***
10:09pm Eastern. Fox News reporting that al Arabiya has announced that Saddam has been executed.

Allah Pundit: “Al-Hurra is reporting it too. I’m monitoring Al Jazeera in the expectation that they’ll have the video before American media does.”

Reuters:

U.S.-backed Iraqi television station Al Hurra said Saddam Hussein had been executed by hanging shortly before 6 a.m. (0300 GMT)
on Saturday.

Still and video cameras were in the chamber at the time of the execution. How long before it’s on YouTube?

Celebrations are on in Sadr City, according to Arab media and Fox News.

Sic Semper Tyrannis.

***

Bryan Preston sums up the tyrant’s bloody resume. Mark Coffey draws on Thomas Jefferson.

Lots of readers are peeved by CNN’s memorial tribute to Saddam. Reader Roger writes, “Did Gerald Ford get this much respect on CNN’s home page?”

Reader Jake e-mails: “A very telling CNN screenshot on your post about Saddam’s death…I noticed the page of “Family Photos” and had to browse them earlier…family snapshots of Saddam’s. Where are the pictures of the tens of thousands (or hundreds of thousands) of Saddam’s victims and their families?!? [Update] As of 11:20pm EST, the “Family Photos” post is now removed from the page.”

The New York Times, to its credit, does better:

Brian Maloney notes hand-wringing over at HuffPo.

The execution occurred outside the Green Zone, according to FNC. Two of Hussein’s co-defendants have also been put to death.

Lots of talking-head heat over the fairness and integrity of the Iraqi war tribunal. The Case Western Reserve University Law School has a blog and website with tons of key original docs related to the trial. Go here and judge for yourselves.

CNN reports Husssein’s hometown of Tikrit is in lockdown. Curfews elsewhere in Iraq will end sooner than anticipated.

President Bush issues written statement…standby. Here it is via LATimes:

Today, Saddam Hussein was executed after receiving a fair trial — the kind of justice he denied the victims of his brutal regime.

Fair trials were unimaginable under Saddam Hussein’s tyrannical rule. It is a testament to the Iraqi people’s resolve to move forward after decades of oppression that, despite his terrible crimes against his own people, Saddam Hussein received a fair trial. This would not have been possible without the Iraqi people’s determination to create a society governed by the rule of law.

Saddam Hussein’s execution comes at the end of a difficult year for the Iraqi people and for our troops. Bringing Saddam Hussein to justice will not end the violence in Iraq, but it is an important milestone on Iraq’s course to becoming a democracy that can govern, sustain, and defend itself, and be an ally in the War on Terror.

We are reminded today of how far the Iraqi people have come since the end of Saddam Hussein’s rule – and that the progress they have made would not have been possible without the continued service and sacrifice of our men and women in uniform.

Many difficult choices and further sacrifices lie ahead. Yet the safety and security of the American people require that we not relent in ensuring that Iraq’s young democracy continues to progress.

11:45pm Eastern. CNN Iraqi correspondent reporting first details about the execution. A witness says there was “fear in Saddam’s face.” Dancing and celebration around his body after execution.

Iraqi-Americans celebrate.

In the U.S.:

Lawyers for Saddam Hussein on Friday made a last-minute appeal to an American court to avert execution in Iraq, asking a judge to block his transfer from U.S. custody to the hands of Iraqi officials.

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.

The documents were being processed and were not immediately made public. The Justice Department had not yet responded to the request.

More:

The appeal is being heard by Clinton appointee Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly.

Allah notes an AP report saying Saddam will be dead by 10pm Eastern tonight.

850pm Eastern. The final countdown…check out the Pajamas Media execution watch….Jim Hoft tracks the final hours of Saddam.

Witnesses gathering in the Green Zone.

Daughter wants Saddam buried in Yemen.

Bill Ardolino, on his way to Iraq for his first embed tour, visited Kuwait’s “Not to Forget” Museum–a “timely place to be,” Bill notes, as Saddam Hussein’s date with the noose approaches.

Go check out his photos and interview.

The victims of Saddam’s atrocities deserve not to be forgotten.

Allah Pundit: “[D]on’t be surprised if there’s big breaking news this afternoon a little after 4 p.m. eastern time.”

Bob Owens hears the same.

Jules Crittenden, who reported from Kuwait and Iraq in 2003, reflects on Saddam’s impending execution:

It’s an odd thing, to be in your 40s, and yet to feel as though you’ve only just been born. Into this world of war. Saddam means a lot of things to a lot of people. To me, Saddam will always be tied to that kid in the ditch among the date palms at al-Hindiyah. A young soldier with a bullet through the side of his face, his eyes open, staring at nothing.

They were Tikritis, the Nebuchadnazzer Division of the Republican Guard, and they died for Saddam. Saddam didn’t have the decency to die for them, when he crawled out of his hole in December 2003, proclaiming himself the President of Iraq.

USA Today’s blogger Mark Memmott rounds-up MSM speculation on the execution.

Flashback: Memorial montage of the victims of the Dujail massacre

Rick Moran calls for treating this historic moment with gravity and sobriety:

I wish I could believe that hanging Saddam will make other tyrants pause and clean up their acts, hoping to avoid suffering a similar fate. But you and I know that is wishful thinking. What is more probable is that the dictators will redouble their efforts to stifle opposition thinking it will guarantee their security – at least from their own people.

But in the end, whether it’s having your neck snapped by a taut rope or dying peacefully in your bed, the criminal oppressors who cause so much human misery and suffering will all come face to face with their own mortality. And I have to believe that as the curtain rings down on their existence, the cold hand of fear will grip their failing heart as they contemplate an eternity that may include torments far surpassing those they meted out during their useless, failed existence on this planet.

The New York Times, decrying the “rush” to execution, wants the Mumia abu Jamal treatment for Saddam. Ed Morrissey puzzles over the editorial. Daniel Freedman listens to the Times’ broken record player.

Jesse Jackson is also shedding tears for Saddam.

Who will air the Saddam execution video?

The timing of Saddam’s date with the gallows was unclear, but late Thursday CBS, NBC and Fox News Channel reported that the former dictator, convicted this year in the deaths of 148 people in 1982, would be turned over by the American military to the Iraqi government within 36 hours and hanged before the start of a Muslim holiday on Sunday.

Several sources said Saddam’s execution would be videotaped by the Iraqi government, though it wasn’t clear whether it would be released to the public or broadcast.

“We will video everything,” Iraqi National Security adviser Mouffak al Rubaie told CBS News.

Judging by the Iraqi government’s release Tuesday of videotape of the hanging of 13 convicts, it could be a gruesome affair. Meetings were held Thursday in at least two network headquarters over how to handle the potentially graphic images.

ABC and CBS said they wouldn’t air the full execution if the video became available.

***
Previous:

Waiting for the Saddam verdict
The trial of Saddam Hussein

BBC:

The former Iraqi president was convicted by a Baghdad court for his role in the killing of 148 people in the mainly Shia town of Dujail in 1982.

His half-brother Barzan al-Tikriti and Iraq’s former chief judge Awad Hamed al-Bandar were also sentenced to death.

Former Vice-President Taha Yassin Ramadan got life in jail and three others received 15 year prison terms.

Another co-defendant, Baath party official Mohammed Azawi Ali, was acquitted.

One hundred and forty eight people from Dujail were killed as collective punishment for a failed attempt to assassinate Saddam Hussein in the town.

Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki hailed the conviction in a televised address, saying that the sentence was “not a sentence on one man, but a sentence against all the dark period of his rule”.

Update 8:13am Eastern: White House reax via Reuters…”The White House called the verdict handed down to former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein on Sunday a good day for Iraqis. “It’s a good day for the Iraqi people,” White House spokesman Tony Snow said.”

Tony Snow shoots down conspiracy theorists: “Preposterous.”

Celebration via Yahoo News:

“Jeers.”

***
On Thursday, I noted the moonbat conspiracy swirl over the impending Saddam Hussein trial verdict. A sentence will be handed down sometime later today. Instead of bashing the Bush administration, perhaps conspiratorial leftists should remind themselves of the victims of Hussein’s regime–like those who died in the Dujail massacre:

Here are the crimes Hussein is accused of, from the trial charging documents:

I, Judge Ra’uf Rashid Abdul Rahman, the Chief Judge of the First Trial Chamber of the Iraqi High Tribunal accuse you (Saddam Hussein Al-Majid) of the following:

At the time you were the President of the Republic of Iraq, the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces, and the Chairman of the former Revolutionary Command Council, and on July 8,1982 as you were visiting the town of Al-Dujayl, which falls under the administrative jurisdiction of Salah-al-Din Governorate, and under the claim that gun shots were fired against the cars escorting your motorcade, you issued orders to the military and security organizations, the Intelligence Service, the Popular Army, and the
Ba’th Party organization in Al-Dujayl to launch a wide scale and systematic attack to shoot and use all kinds of weapons and helicopters to kill, arrest, detain, and torture large numbers of the residents of Al-Dujayl (men, women, and children). Afterwards, you issued orders to remove their orchards and demolish their houses. Based upon these orders, the organizations and the troops killed nine people that day and the following day.

The nine slain individuals were Abbas Jasim Muhammad Rida Hattu Al-Salami, Karim Kadhim Ja’far Al-Zubaydi, Imad Hasan Mahdi Ja’far Al-Aswadi, Ra’d Al-Karbala’i, Muhammad ‘Abd Juwad Al-Zubaydi, Mahruz Muhammad Hadi Al-Kallabi, Hashim Adnan Jasim Al-Khaz’ali, Sadiq Majid Hamid Al-Khaz’ali, and Sattar Tawfiq Yahya Al-Khafaji. Groups of families totaling 399 individuals were arrested and detained at the Investigation and Interrogation Department (Al-Hakimiyyah) of the disbanded Office of the Head of the Intelligence Service and under the command of the accused (Barzan Ibrahim Al-Hasan), according to the documents attached to the case. The detainees were subject to torture by intelligence officers; during the interrogation and due to torture by electricity, battering of the head with metal rods, prevention from sleeping, and other
torture methods, a group of detainees died. The deceased were Ya’qub Yusif Hussein Al-Ubaydi, Jasim Muhammad Latif Al-Salami, Salih Muhammad Jasim, Qasim Ali Asad Al-Haydari, and Alwan Hasan Hussein Al-Salami. The other detainees were transferred to Abu-Ghurayb Prison under the supervision of the disbanded Intelligence Service. At the mentioned prison, torture continued and many of detainees were killed and died due to the usage of the aforesaid means of torture.

Those who died in detention were Mijbil Hasan Aziz Al-Marsumi Yasin, Hasan Hattu Al-Salami, Nufah Hasan Agha Al-Zubaydi, and the children Hisham Fakhri Asad Al-Haydari, Zinah Muhammad Hasan Al-Haydari, and Ali Majid Ya’qub Al-Kharbatli. Many of the surviving detainees (men, women, and children) were transferred to Liyyah Compound in the desert, which was designed to
shelter Bedouin nomads and their livestock in the area of Al-Samawah. They were detained at Liyyah for four years during which they were subject to torture and deliberate harsh health and living conditions in addition to deprivation of food and medication in the desert. As a result of these harsh conditions Hamid Mahdi Al-Khaz’ali died. A number of the members of detained families died and they are Abdul-al-Wahab Ja’far Habib Al-Ubaydi, Sabriyyah Abbas Ahmad Al-Ubaydi, Sabri Asad Abdallah Al-Haydari, and the children Muthanna Majid Ya’qub and Thabit Asad Ali Al-Haydari.

Based on your direct orders, the National Security Affairs Department of the disbanded Presidential Diwan referred 148 people to the dissolved Revolutionary Command Council Court headed by the accused Awad Hamad Al-Bandar. The people referred to the Revolutionary Command Council Court included some who had already died in detention due to torture in the Investigation and Interrogation Department (Al-Hakimiya) and Abu-Ghurayb Prison, including juveniles whose ages were less than 18 years. The names of these
people are Mahmud Hasan Muhammad Al-Haydari, Abbas Habib Kadhim Al-Marsumi, Mahdi Hussein Ali Al-Musawi, Habib Jasim Juwad, Hashim Ali Laftah Al-Zubaydi, Ahmad Abd Juwad Al-Zubaydi, Muhammad Abd Juwad Al-Zubaydi, Muhammad Hasan Mahdi Al-Aswadi, Fu’ad Hasan Mahdi Al-Aswadi, Khamis Kadhim Ja’far Al-Ubaydi, Hussein Ali Habib Al-Ubaydi, Hadi Abd-al-Wahab Ja’far Al-Ubaydi, Maytham Mahdi Abbas Al-Salami, Ali Anwar Hasan Al-Salami, Ja’far Ali Hussein Al-Musawi, Mu’ayyad Salim Majid Al-Haydari, Imad ‘Abbas Hassun Al-Haydari, Nasir Abdul Aziz Juwad Al-Zubaydi, Ahmad Jasim Muhammad Ridha Al-Hattu, Jasim Naji Abd Al-Aswadi, Hussein Salman Muslih Al-Khazraji, Hussein Dahham Sultan Al-Salami, Amir Dahham Sultan Al-Salami, Yusif Abd Ali Hasan Al-Ubaydi, Mahmud Jasim Abdul Hasan Al-Jumayli, Hafiz Muhammad Hadi Al-Kallabi, Ibrahim Salih Kadhim Al-Musawi, Muslim Abd Ali Najm Abbud Al-Salami, Ahmad Jasim Abdul Hasan, Mahdi Sa’id Abbud, Qasim
Muhammad Jasim Al-Zindah Al-Zubaydi, Salim Abbas Ali, and Haydar Jasim Hussein Al-Salami.

The defendant Awad Hamad Al-Bandar issued an irrevocable decision
sentencing all 148 people referred to the Revolutionary Command Council Court to death by hanging after conducting a brief trial that lasted only one session. The sentence was in accordance with decision number 744/C/1984 which was issued on June 14, 1984.

People who had already died from torture during interrogation were included in the list of 148 people which the Revolutionary Command Council Court tried and sentenced to death. In addition, the Revolutionary Command Council court sentenced to death and executed juveniles who had not yet reached the age of 18 in violation of article 79 of the (amended) penal code number (111) of 1969, the juvenile protection code number ( ) of 1983, and the amended Law of Criminal Procedure number (23) of 1971. The sentence also violated article 6, paragraph 5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, dated December 16, 1966, made effective on March 23, 1976, and which the Iraqi
Republic ratified on February 18, 1969. Article 6, paragraph 5 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states that sentences of death shall not be imposed for crimes committed by persons below 18 years of age. You promptly issued and signed Presidential Decree No. 778 on June 16, 1984 which ratified the abovementioned sentence for mass execution. On October 24, 1982, you issued Revolutionary Command Council Decree No. 1283 in your capacity as chairman of the disbanded Revolutionary Command Council. Revolutionary Command Council Decree No. 1283 confiscated the agricultural lands and orchards of Al-Dujayl residents and ordered those orchards destroyed. The bodies of the slain were concealed and were not handed over to their relatives. The fate of a number of detainees, including six juveniles, is unknown.

The names of the six missing juveniles are Muhammad Hasan Muhammad Al-Haydari, Muhammad Jamil Ayyub Al-Khazraji, Najm-al-Din Abd Juwad Al-Zubaydi, Isma’il Abbas Al-Khaz’ali, Talal Ya’qub Majid Al-Kharbatli, and Talib Jamil Ayyub Al-Khazraji…

Here’s a day-by-day of the Dujail trial.

Here’s a day-by-day of the Anfal trial.

A taste of the testimony that was mostly ignored:

A 56-year-old Kurdish-American woman told of seeing people sickened and dying during an alleged chemical attack carried out by Saddam Hussein’s forces, as his genocide trial resumed Monday after nearly a three-week break.

Katreen Elias Mikhail, a Kurdish Christian and former militia fighter, said four Iraqi planes unleashed a wave of bombs on the evening of June 5, 1987, on the Kurdish town of Qalizewa in northern Iraq, sending people fleeing for shelter.

“I smelled something dirty and strange,” she told the court.

Mikhail said she was stranded in an underground shelter with her friend Umm Ali and dozens of other people.

“Then, I heard comrade Abu Elias shout ‘is there a doctor here?’” said the dignified-looking woman, her left hand trembling.

“People were falling to the ground. They vomited and their eyes were blinded. We couldn’t see anything.”

“We were all afraid,” she said, her voice cracking. “It was our first time seeing bombs falling on our heads.”

Sitting in the witness stand, she said her friend Nashme told her that “the whole town was hit with chemical weapons.”

When the smoke subsided, Mikhail said she saw some people with “burn wounds and they were blind; I was able to see just a little.”

Mikhail appeared to lodge a complaint against Saddam and his cousin Ali “Chemical Ali” al-Majid, who are among the seven defendants charged in Operation Anfal, a campaign to drive Kurds from sensitive areas near the Iranian border in the 1980s.

The prosecution alleges that about 180,000 people were killed during the campaign.

During the proceedings, a defiant Saddam Hussein clutched the Quran, Islam’s holy book, and insisted that the judge address him as the “president of Iraq.”

The Iraqi government has imposed a curfew on Baghdad and two neighbouring provinces while awaiting today’s verdict. The Times of London reports:

Nouri al-Maliki, the prime minister, went on television to appeal for calm last night. He called on Iraqis to celebrate a guilty verdict in a way that “does not risk their lives”. He added: “We hope that the verdict will give this man what he deserves for the crimes he committed against the Iraqi people.” Maliki has previously said that Saddam should hang.

Mohammed at Iraq the Model is reporting on the lockdown.

Whatever the verdict, Saddam’s leisurely days munching Cheetos and exercising on his treadmill are about to come to an end.

A verdict in the first criminal case against Saddam Hussein is expected two days before a key US midterm vote that has become a referendum on the Iraq war — but any benefit for President George W. Bush’s Republican Party was unclear.

The verdict is to be presented on Sunday, just ahead of Tuesday’s vote in which Bush’s Republicans appeared poised to lose control of Congress…

… On the Internet, in US leftist discussion forums and among some bloggers, there is a strong suspicion that the date was chosen on purpose to benefit the Republicans.

“Given the Bush administration’s history of timing national security-related actions to the political calendar, has the date for the verdict’s release been set to provide maximum political benefit for the administration and congressional Republicans?” asked a blogger on the DemocraticUnderground.com discussion site.

Tom Engelhardt, writing in the leftist The Nation magazine, notes that the verdict comes “curiously enough, just two days before the midterm elections. It’s the sort of the thing that — you would think — any reporter with knowledge of the US election cycle … would at least note in an article. But no, you can search high and low without finding a reference to this in the mainstream media.”

US Ambassador in Iraq Zalmay Khalilzad rejects the charges, insisting that the date was set by Iraqi judges and that Washington had no role in the decision.

The chief judge at Saddam Hussein’s genocide trial has expelled the former Iraqi leader from court after he shouted out a verse from the Koran.

It is the fourth time in recent weeks the former dictator has been ejected from his Baghdad trial for alleged war crimes and genocide against the Kurds.

Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa cut off Saddam Hussein’s microphone and ordered bailiffs to escort him out.

A second defendant was also ejected and the trial continued in closed session.

The former Iraqi leader was heard to say “fight them and God will punish them” before the audio transmission was cut.

When the judge ordered Saddam thrown out of the court his co-defendants stood up to protest.

One of them, Hussein Rashid al-Tikriti, was ejected and punched a bailiff who had tried to force him into his seat.

Saddam Hussein has been ejected from his trial in Baghdad for the third time in a week after arguing with the judge. His removal came shortly after Judge Mohammed Oreibi al-Khalifa gave him a stern warning to behave himself.

The defence team representing Saddam Hussein and his six co-defendants are boycotting the trial in protest at what they say is government interference…

The former Iraqi leader was ejected after repeatedly refusing to be quiet in court. “You are a defendant and I’m a judge,” said Chief Judge al-Khalifa in response to his outbursts.

As co-defendants began to protest, he continued: “Shut up, no-one talk … the court decided to eject Saddam Hussein from court.” Co-defendant and former Iraqi defence minister Sultan Hashim Ahmad al-Tai was also removed, the Associated Press news agency reported.

The judge opened the proceedings with a stern lecture to the former Iraqi leader. “You are a defendant here. You have rights and obligations,” he said. “You can defend yourself, question witnesses … and I am ready to allow you, but this is a court, not a political arena. “By disrespecting the court, you are only damaging your cause.”

Saddam Hussein responded by reading out a long statement from a piece of paper, but courtroom microphones were cut off.

Ray Robison, a former member of the CIA-directed Iraq Survey Group (ISG), examined efforts by Saddam Hussein to build and hide weapons of mass destruction, and supervised a group of linguists to analyze, archive and exploit documents and materials of Saddam’s regime.

In this second of a three-part examination of a newly-released document captured in Iraq, Robison offers further evidence that in 1999 the Taliban welcomed “Islamic relations with Iraq” to mediate among the Taliban, the Northern Alliance and Russia, and that the Taliban reciprocated with an invitation to Iraqi officials to visit Afghanistan.

The document appears to be a notebook kept by an Iraqi Intelligence Service (IIS) agent, and apparently captured in 2003. The translation is provided by Robison’s associate, known here as “Sammi.” The notebook deals extensively with the meetings between a prominent Taliban supporter and former Saddam regime officials…

***

Meanwhile in Iraq, Austin Bay looks at a shoe bombing in Baghdad.

And Michael Barone reviews the Left’s bad week.

Who’s gonna eat his Cheetos and Doritos now?

“Iraq was not a breeding ground for terrorism. Our invasion has made it one.”
–Sen. Ted Kennedy

“Iraq was not a terrorist haven before the invasion.”
–Sen. John Kerry

According to a new report in the Weekly Standard by Stephen Hayes, new documents found in post-war Iraq confirm earlier reports that Saddam Hussein actively funded and trained Islamic terrorists:

THE FORMER IRAQI REGIME OF Saddam Hussein trained thousands of radical Islamic terrorists from the region at camps in Iraq over the four years immediately preceding the U.S. invasion, according to documents and photographs recovered by the U.S. military in postwar Iraq. The existence and character of these documents has been confirmed to THE WEEKLY STANDARD by eleven U.S. government officials.

The secret training took place primarily at three camps–in Samarra, Ramadi, and Salman Pak–and was directed by elite Iraqi military units. Interviews by U.S. government interrogators with Iraqi regime officials and military leaders corroborate the documentary evidence. Many of the fighters were drawn from terrorist groups in northern Africa with close ties to al Qaeda, chief among them Algeria’s GSPC and the Sudanese Islamic Army. Some 2,000 terrorists were trained at these Iraqi camps each year from 1999 to 2002, putting the total number at or above 8,000. Intelligence officials believe that some of these terrorists returned to Iraq and are responsible for attacks against Americans and Iraqis. According to three officials with knowledge of the intelligence on Iraqi training camps, White House and National Security Council officials were briefed on these findings in May 2005; senior Defense Department officials subsequently received the same briefing.

In the past, some have claimed that these camps were used to train Iraqi counter-terrorism units in anti-hijacking techniques. But it’s hard to square that with Hayes’ report that most of the trainees belonged to Islamic terrorist organizations located in northern Africa.

My friends at Power Line are on the story here and here. Rick Moran weighs in.

This is important news. It ought to be on the front pages. It won’t be. So spread the word.

***

AJ Strata weighs in on harnessing the power of the blogosphere to disseminate the news.

The trial of Saddam Hussein for alleged crimes against humanity resumed Monday in a heavily guarded courtroom, with the former Iraqi president trying to take command of the proceedings and angrily complaining about having to walk up four flights of stairs in shackles under foreign guard. A former U.S. attorney general sat with the defense team.

After a short session in which the first testimony was read into the record, Chief Judge Rizgar Mohammed Amin adjourned the trial until Dec. 5 to allow time to find replacements for two defense lawyers who were slain and another who fled Iraq after he was wounded.

Dressed in black trousers and a gray jacket, Saddam was the last of eight defendants to enter the courtroom, walking with a swagger, appearing confident and acknowledging people with the traditional Arabic greeting, “Peace be upon the people of peace.” He also carried a copy of the Muslim holy book, the Quran.

…Amin had ordered all handcuffs and shackles removed from Saddam and the seven co-defendants before they entered the courtroom. Mortar fire echoed through the center of the capital just before the session began.

Once inside, Saddam had a brief but heated exchange with Amin, complaining of having to walk up four flights of stairs in shackles because the elevator wasn’t working.

The judge said he would tell the police not to let that happen again. Saddam snapped: “You are the chief judge. I don’t want you to tell them. I want you to order them. They are in our country. You have the sovereignty. You are Iraqi and they are foreigners and occupiers. They are invaders. You should order them.”

Saddam also complained he was escorted up the stairs by “foreign guards” and that some of his papers had been taken.

“How can a defendant defend himself if his pen was taken. Saddam Hussein’s pen and papers were taken. I don’t mean a white paper. There are papers downstairs that include my remarks in which I express my opinion,” he said.

Saddam’s half brother and fellow defendant Barazan Ibrahim also complained to the judge that he had not received proper medical treatment since being diagnosed with cancer and that this amounted to “indirect murder.”

Saddam then complained that he had written three or four memos to the judge since the Oct. 19 session but received no response. The judge said he was unaware of them.

Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark and former Qatari Justice Minister Najib al-Nueimi sat with the defense team inside the heavily guarded room, along with Saddam’s chief lawyer, Khalil Dulaimi.

They must not be feeding Saddam enough Cheetos.

***

Patrick Hynes of ABP guest-blogging at Right Wing News:

In Iraq, the trial of Saddam Hussein will recommence today. The former president of Iraq is to face a series of trials for his crimes against humanity. Meanwhile, here in the United States, the manner in which Hussein was brought to justice – the U.S. led invasion of 2003 – faces a trial of its own. Senate Democrats have all but overtly charged President George W. Bush with lying Americans into war (though RWN readers know full well this implication is a cheesy and seditious political stunt.) These two events, occurring conterminously, provide the White House with a powerful opportunity, if played correctly, not only to regain the upper hand in the ongoing Iraq debate, but also, in my opinion, to end this silly debate permanently.

The White House only now has just begun to fight back. Why they allowed things to get this far is beyond reasoning. Nevertheless, here we are. And the president and his surrogates need to call his critics out on the carpet: They cannot retroactively oppose the Iraq War and agree with the prosecution of Saddam Hussein at the same time…

…Simply put, if George W. Bush lied us into war then the prosecution of Saddam Hussein is a sham; Saddam is the innocent victim of George W. Bush’s zealous war hawkery. This is true if Bush’s critics are of the moderate “one more resolution” variety, the moonbat “no war for oil” variety, or even the present day revisionists who supported the war once and told the same “lies” that Bush has told.

The question remaining is whether or not the Bush administration, which has been surprisingly cordial to its enemies has the gumption to challenge the likes of Harry Reid, et al on the deplorable position they have taken on Iraq.

***

Update: Jeff Goldstein has an exclusive look at Ramsey Clark’s legal pad.

***
Previous:

Protest photo of the day
The trial of Saddam Hussein
No Cheetos? It’s a guuulag!
Saggy Saddam in briefs
Ramsey Clark’s bloody resume